Albert Whitman and Company, October 2019
Seventy-five days. Two very different women. One incredible race.
In the late 1800s, the world was enchanted with speed. Steamships raced across oceans, locomotives dashed across continents, and a famous novel by Jules Verne imagined a man circling the globe in only eighty days. A fearless New York reporter called Nellie Bly thought she could be faster. She set out on a ship heading east across the Atlantic and vowed to be back in seventy-five days! That same night, another New York reporter found herself on a speeding train to San Francisco. Her name was Elizabeth Bisland, and she’d just been given a most astonishing assignment: to travel around the world, going west, and to beat Nellie Bly. This is the true story of two remarkable women who didn’t just race around the world—they changed it.
The Notebook Series: A Race Around the World (a behind-the-scenes glimpse into my writing process)
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Awards and Accolades
Christian Science Monitor’s Best Children’s Books of 2019
A Mighty Girl’s 2019 Books of the Year list
2020 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist
Praise for A Race Around the World
Starred review, Kirkus Reviews Rose captures both the wonder of the world as the women experience it, as well as the dangers and miseries of their journeys. Her straightforward vocabulary and accessible narration will let young readers immerse themselves in the history….An absorbing account of a real-life adventure.
The story of two daring women is well told…An exciting story to inspire young adventurers.
— Christian Science Monitor
Author Caroline Starr Rose has written a fun and fascinating story of this amazing true event that will have youngsters enthralled waiting to see which of these women can pull off this amazing feat. The writing is crisp and the story is well-paced. Illustrator Alexandra Bye captures the sense of the time and places in the story perfectly with plenty of excellent details. This is a winner.
— Seattle Book Review
In her compelling and lyrical recounting of this historic contest, Caroline Starr Rose brings to life the magnitude of two women’s achievement in conquering the elements, technical setbacks, and the prevailing misconceptions about women’s abilities. Like any great travelogue, Rose’s story is peppered with scintillating details of narrow escapes, late and missed connections, and the sights, sounds, and tastes of the countries Nellie and Elizabeth traversed. Used to information that is relayed around the world in the blink of an eye and transportation that takes mere hours to travel across the globe, Children will be awed by this competition set in motion by the forerunners of these technologies and the precociousness of a fictional character. In Rose’s final pages, readers will find universal truths about the personal dynamics of winning and losing, the benefits of leaving their comfort zone, and meeting challenges on their own terms.
— Celebrate Picture Books