$12.00
Order Code: 9783
Class sets 10 or more paperback books: $10.00 each
Class set order code: S4969

Detroit in the 1890s doesn’t hold much promise for twelve-year-old Charlie, until he meets bicycle shop owner William Metzger. Will invites Charlie to work for him, and it is through Will that Charlie meets some of the pivotal figures in the emerging auto industry. Even better, when Charlie starts drawing the men’s design ideas, he finds his lifelong dream of being an artist becoming a reality. But Charlie’s past and his future soon collide, threatening to dismantle all that he has achieved.

Description

Detroit in the 1890s doesn’t seem to hold much promise for twelve-year-old Charlie, until he meets a bicycle shop owner named William Metzger. Will invites Charlie to work for him, and it changes the trajectory of Charlie’s life. Charlie’s mother has died, and he feels abandoned by his father and lost in the crowd of his siblings. The only thing he truly wants to do is draw, a skill for which he has remarkable talent. Someday he hopes to earn a living from it.

So Charlie begins living and working with Will, which gives his life purpose and introduces him to some new friends. It also puts him squarely in the circle of men in bicycle shops across the city who are experimenting with the internal combustion engine in an effort to make horseless carriages. Charlie meets Charles King, Horace and John Dodge, and Henry Ford, all of whom were pivotal figures in the emerging auto industry in Detroit, the automobile center of the world. Even better, when he starts drawing Will’s design ideas for both bicycles and motorcars, Charlie finds his lifelong dream becoming a reality.

But he still has a family, and they’re not ready to let him go just yet. Charlie’s past collides with his future, threatening to dismantle everything he has achieved. Fortunately, there are more people who love him than Charlie knows.

Charlie is a fictional character, but Will Metzger was a real Detroiter who opened the first automobile dealership in Detroit in the 1890s as one of the pioneers of the auto industry. This story provides a glimpse into the early days of that industry through the eyes of a boy lucky enough to have witnessed history in the making.

Details

Ages
10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Grades
5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Subjects
Novels
Pages
104
ISBN
978-0-88092-978-3
Order Code
9783