Silver People
Voices From the Panama Canal
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · March 29, 2016
In 1914, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A monumental engineering feat comes into view through the workers’ hardship and the rainforest’s vulnerability.
- Themes
- Canal construction, Workers’ lives and labor, Endangered rainforest
- Genres
- Central & South American History, Poetry for Teens, Conservation & Environment for Teens
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
New Found LandAllan Wolf48% match
The Other SideJuan Pablo Villalobos44% match
Sugar Changed the WorldMarc Aronson, Marina Budhos45% match
A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 1Howard Zinn50% match
Rima's RebellionMargarita Engle45% match
CuttlefishDave Freer45% match
VoyageAdèle Geras45% match
The Surrender Tree / El Árbol De La RendiciónMargarita Engle44% match
For younger readers: Africa Is My Home, Crossings
For older readers: Path Between the Seas
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
In 1914, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower. It was a miracle, this path of water where a mountain had stood—and creating a miracle is no easy thing. Thousands lost their lives, and those who survived worked under the harshest conditions for only a few silver coins a day.
Continue reading
From the young "silver people" whose back-breaking labor built the Canal to the denizens of the endangered rainforest itself, this is the story of one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, as only Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle could tell it.
Building at a Cost
A monumental engineering feat comes into view through the workers’ hardship and the rainforest’s vulnerability.
Come here for
- A human-scale lens on the Panama Canal’s construction
- History that holds labor and environmental loss together
Expect
- A sustained narrative about engineering on an immense scale
- Attention to the people and rainforest caught in its making
Where it sits
| Poetry for Teens | 80% |
|---|---|
| Central & South American History | 41% |
| Conservation & Environment for Teens | 37% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Boys & Men
- Central & South American History
- Caribbean & Latin America for Teens
- Poetry for Teens
Show all 6 publisher categories
- Botany for Teens
- Conservation & Environment for Teens
- Authors
- Margarita Engle
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- March 29, 2016
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Canal construction · Workers’ lives and labor · Endangered rainforest
- Reading lane
- Boys & Men