Most boys and girls in Grade 6 can read this book themselves. Those in Grades 5 to 10 will find it of compelling interest from beginning to end.

"Give us a canal!" cried the men of the sea. "Give us an easy way to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean."

Since Columbus had first sighted the New World, men had been searching for a waterway that would lead from one ocean to the other. At one point—the Isthmus of Panama--only twenty-eight miles of land separated the waters.

To cut through such a narrow strip seemed a simple task. Yet the engineers who attempted it met more difficulties than anyone could have imagined. Is it any wonder that some people believed that a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific could never be built?

But, of course, it was. How the stupendous job was started and carried through is told by Bob Considine in this book.

Brave and brilliant men gave their courage and talents to building the Canal. Yet these men differed in many ways.

Among them were these five: the proud De Lesseps, who had built the Suez Canal for France; his loyal and wise son, Charles; the fiery-tempered Theodore Roosevelt, in whose term the United States took over the building of the Canal; the industrious Gorgas, who defeated the diseases that made a visit to Panama a risky business; and the great army engineer Goethals, who completed the work. Here again is an exciting episode in American history, the details of which make fascinating reading.

From the dust jacket