When a little girl who loves planes is sent to her bedroom for doing a loop-de-loop off the couch, she finds a secret door leading to a room filled with real flying machines and sets off on an exciting adventure.

A little girl who loves planes is sent to her bedroom for doing a loop-de-loop off the couch and finds a secret door leading to a room with real flying machines, seting her off on an adventure.

Whether dashing through the Plains, creeping over the Rockies, hurtling across the Great Basin, or threading the Sierra Nevada, the California Zephyr is an earthbound cruise ship bearing as many as 300 passengers, each with a story to tell over the train's 51-hour run from Chicago to San Francisco Bay. Veteran journalist and novelist Henry Kisor climbs aboard and introduces us to the men and women who ride the rails-some out of restlessness, some as a hobby, some seeking love and friendship. There are also the resourceful train crew, who tell tales of "dog-robbing" supplies in the yards, of coping with medical emergencies en route, and of keeping their good humor. Fans of Henry Kisor's mystery novels and other nonfiction books will find him to be an affable traveling companion. As we head westward with him, Zephyr becomes a personal journey into the heart of America. This new 2015 edition brings up to date the original 1994 hardcover, and includes scores of new photographs. "An indispensable traveler's aid," the New York Times Book Review called it.

A peg-legged youngster uses his bartering skills to trade for sails, anchors, a ship's wheel and other necessary supplies to fix his ship and make a friend in the process.

"Thorndike Press Striving Reader Collection."