From this book, students can take away the lesson that everyone has dreams, ambitions and goals…even little old ladies. I assumed that this book marked a startling departure for Mr. Van Allsburg. As the man behind the gentle surrealism of Jumanji or The Polar Express, a story about a real-life sixty-two year-old stuntwoman sounded like a whole new world. Yet in his Author’s Note at the end, Van Allsburg notes that “When I decided to write about Annie, I believed I was undertaking a project quite different from the fantasies and surreal tales I’d become accustomed to creating. This was not the case. There is something decidedly fantastic and not quite real about Niagara Falls, about Annie’s adventure, and about the stories that can unfold when imagination, determination, and foolhardiness combine to set humans off in pursuit of their goals.”

Annie Edson Taylor was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure. The artwork is amazing and beautiful. It is beyond stunning here. I can't believe how talented Chris is. A notable exception is Laika, the first dog to be sent into orbit, whose death during the 3 November, 1957 Sputnik 2 mission was expected from its outset. Soviet Space Dogs Legend of the White Canoe“, 1909, created just 8 years after Annie tumbled over Niagara Falls. Illustration is for a postcard, I think by Frank Vincent DuMond. Franz Stassen made four portfolios of illustrations for Wagner’s Ring operas waterfall

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But I can understand why she did it. Annie would not have felt invisible at the age of 42. She was running her charm school and had a place in the world. By pretending to the world that she was 42, she was proabably trying to reclaim some of the contentedness she felt at age 42. THE BIG STRUGGLE The Niagara Falls was used to make people plenty of money, both directly and indirectly. Below is a 1909 advertisement for a boat ride. Another advertisement shows how Niagara was used to sell hydraulic rams. There is probably a narrative reason why Chris Van Allsburg did not include the cat. A cat in a picture book is as important as a human character. Readers will be as anxious about the cat as they are about the woman, leading to a double climax in which the first survival inevitably saps emotion away from the second. ANAGNORISIS Researching Mrs. Taylor’s life provided details that made it clear that her story was not one that fit into a conventional narrative of the determined underdog who triumphs over the challenges and obstacles placed before him or her, and emerges with admiration and rich rewards. Annie’s story was more complicated than that—and, to me, more interesting. Chris Van Allsburg PARATEXT There’s a much wider issue here worth delving into. It applies here in Australia as much as in America; the historical figures we celebrate are white and they are men. As often as not, the ‘adventures’ of these men were as stupid as they were brave.

Annie may also have been influenced by a strong belief in an interventionist God, and in an afterlife. She may have thought that she’d put God to the test; if she was meant to live, she would. If not, that was God’s plan. Perhaps. The premise of the book is rather straightforward. In 1901, 62-year-old widow Annie Edson Taylor needed a way to strike it rich, after closing her Michigan charm school. Spying an article about Niagara Falls as a tourist destination, she decides to become a popular attraction too. She commissions a barrel "big enough to hold herself and a large number of pillows," hires a publicist, calls on reporters, and finds a boatman willing to tow her into the river. An estimated 5,000 bodies were found at the foot of the falls between 1850 and 2011. On average, between 20 and 30 people die going over the falls each year. The majority of deaths are suicides—and most take place from the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, and many are not publicized by officials. List of people who have gone over Niagara Falls When Chris was three years old, his family moved to a new house at the edge of Grand Rapids that was part of a development; a kind of planned neighborhood, that was still being built.

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There remained many open fields and streams and ponds where a boy could catch minnows and frogs, or see a firefly at night. It was about a mile and a half to Breton Downs School, which Chris walked to every day and attended until 6th grade, when the Van Allsburg family moved again. TECHNOLOGY CRUCIAL TO THIS PARTICULAR STORY — Annie’s techinical knowledge was “modest at best” and the best vehicle she could think of was a barrel lined with pillows.