Queen of the Falls

Queen of the Falls
written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, 2011. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. (9780547315812).

Author/ Illustrator Website: http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/home.html

Media: pencil

Awards and Honors: none

Annotation:  
As tall as a seventeen story building and unimaginably powerful, the Niagara Falls have long inspired awe in everyone who visits this natural wonder. This is the story of Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Personal Reaction:
      Chris Van Allsburg, well-known for his fantastical works of surrealistic fiction, tackles the story of Annie Edson Taylor the first person to ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. In 1901 Taylor was a 62 year old widow and retired charm school teacher, running low on money, when she decided that a trip over the falls might be just the thing to buoy her flagging finances. (Even though this is a true story, I was a bit perplexed as to how, after reading a newspaper article abut visitors to the falls, Taylor came to this conclusion.) Impressively enough, we learn that Taylor herself designed and commissioned a special barrel to be built that would be strong enough to withstand a trip over the falls and safe enough to protect her during the fall. She also had the forethought to hire a PR man who would drum up interest in her story and later manage her public appearances. 
   
     Taylor's trip over the falls was successful, of course, but her dreams of fame and fortune were not to be realized. She traveled the county fair circuits, making appearance and telling her story but the public wanted to see a real-life daredevil, not a "little old lady". Her manager steals her barrel, she gets it back, but gets a new manager who does the same, and she eventually has a new barrel made. She and her barrel end up in a park near the falls where she sells postcards of herself to passing tourists. 

     Taylor's story is pretty incredible. For a widowed woman of her age to attempt such a feat in 1901 is in itself quite amazing. But I had mixed feeling about the story: on one hand, this is an interesting argument for not judging a book by its cover, but Taylor's reasoning behind her stunt was just bizarre to me. Obviously financial gain was Taylor's primary concern, but how in the world she imagined such a dangerous stunt would be the answer to her problems was just plain weird. Its a shame that modern television reality shows weren't around in Annie Edson Taylor's time. If they were, she might just have realized her dreams.