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Head for the Hills!
Recounts the famous Johnstown flood of 1889, which literally tore the clothes off people's backs, and explains why it happened and how it could have been prevented.
- GenresNonfiction
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 1993
About the author
Paul Robert Walker
33 books7 followersI was born in Oak Park, Illinois—just like Ernest Hemingway, only later.
I’ve been saying this in biographies for a long time, and it sounds pretty good. Ernest Hemingway is big stuff, and how many authors are born in Oak Park, Illinois?
Yet recently I was taken to task during a visit to the Fresno area, where two—count them two—separate individuals pinned me down with grueling interrogations involving specific details, places, and people in Oak Park, Illinois. I admitted to them as I admit to you on the World Wide Web: I know absolutely nothing about Oak Park, Illinois.
I was born in Oak Park Hospital, but we lived in a neighboring town called River Grove. And we moved from there when I was a year and a half. I take my literary connections where I find them.
We moved a lot in my early years, four times before I turned eleven, for a total of five places, all in the Chicago area. My Dad died in place number four, which was a townhouse in south Chicago, across the street from the Chicago Skyway, now Interstate 90. I counted trucks on the Skyway when we first moved in, but I stopped counting trucks when my father died.
I was nine, and it was November 1962, a year before the JFK assassination changed America forever. I still associate my father’s death with the death of JFK, and throw the Cuban missile crisis into the mix. It was a pivotal time for me, for my generation, and for our nation—an end to innocence and the beginning of an exciting yet challenging era of social turmoil.
My mother moved us to Evanston, a tree-shaded suburb just north of Chicago, where she got a job as a 3rd grade teacher. She later found a new career as an adjustment teacher (similar to a school counselor) in the Chicago schools. I grew up surrounded by teachers, who discussed education until they were blue in the face—which didn't turn me blue personally, but did make me believe that education was pretty important.
Evanston was a cultured place, home of Northwestern University, and I got my first taste of theater as an 8th grade extra in a Northwestern production of Don Quixote starring Peter Strauss, who later went on to mini-series stardom in Rich Man, Poor Man. On the closing night, Peter was so sick he couldn’t perform, so his understudy stepped into the starring role, with the understudy’s understudy stepping in for him and on down the line until I rose from the ranks of faceless extras and took the demanding role of Second Mule Skinner—which meant I got to mumble something like, “Move on, there!” I was hooked.
I continued acting, started singing, and had my first short story published at Evanston Township High School, which at that time was rated the number one public high school in America (by whomever rates these things.) I studied acting for a year at Boston University School of Fine Arts, and when I decided that I wanted a broader education, I transferred to Occidental College in Los Angeles, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in Anglo-American literature. Just before graduation, I won third place in a short story contest and received a check for the whopping amount of $20. It was the first time I was ever paid for my writing and it felt good.
After college, I taught English for six years at a Chassidic Yeshiva in West Hollywood, while playing in a rock band and writing for an alternative weekly newspaper. I started writing for the newspaper after I won a story contest with a tall tale about a guy who loses his triplex on the beach during a game of darts with the devil. It was called "Darts with Mr. D," and the paper presented me with a princely check for $100—a 500% increase over my college contest award. Not only that, they asked me to keep writing for them, only—get this—they wanted actual journalism! I did what I could and had lots of fun doing it.
I got my big break when I answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times that said, “Writers Wanted.” I thought it was some weird scam but decided t
I’ve been saying this in biographies for a long time, and it sounds pretty good. Ernest Hemingway is big stuff, and how many authors are born in Oak Park, Illinois?
Yet recently I was taken to task during a visit to the Fresno area, where two—count them two—separate individuals pinned me down with grueling interrogations involving specific details, places, and people in Oak Park, Illinois. I admitted to them as I admit to you on the World Wide Web: I know absolutely nothing about Oak Park, Illinois.
I was born in Oak Park Hospital, but we lived in a neighboring town called River Grove. And we moved from there when I was a year and a half. I take my literary connections where I find them.
We moved a lot in my early years, four times before I turned eleven, for a total of five places, all in the Chicago area. My Dad died in place number four, which was a townhouse in south Chicago, across the street from the Chicago Skyway, now Interstate 90. I counted trucks on the Skyway when we first moved in, but I stopped counting trucks when my father died.
I was nine, and it was November 1962, a year before the JFK assassination changed America forever. I still associate my father’s death with the death of JFK, and throw the Cuban missile crisis into the mix. It was a pivotal time for me, for my generation, and for our nation—an end to innocence and the beginning of an exciting yet challenging era of social turmoil.
My mother moved us to Evanston, a tree-shaded suburb just north of Chicago, where she got a job as a 3rd grade teacher. She later found a new career as an adjustment teacher (similar to a school counselor) in the Chicago schools. I grew up surrounded by teachers, who discussed education until they were blue in the face—which didn't turn me blue personally, but did make me believe that education was pretty important.
Evanston was a cultured place, home of Northwestern University, and I got my first taste of theater as an 8th grade extra in a Northwestern production of Don Quixote starring Peter Strauss, who later went on to mini-series stardom in Rich Man, Poor Man. On the closing night, Peter was so sick he couldn’t perform, so his understudy stepped into the starring role, with the understudy’s understudy stepping in for him and on down the line until I rose from the ranks of faceless extras and took the demanding role of Second Mule Skinner—which meant I got to mumble something like, “Move on, there!” I was hooked.
I continued acting, started singing, and had my first short story published at Evanston Township High School, which at that time was rated the number one public high school in America (by whomever rates these things.) I studied acting for a year at Boston University School of Fine Arts, and when I decided that I wanted a broader education, I transferred to Occidental College in Los Angeles, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in Anglo-American literature. Just before graduation, I won third place in a short story contest and received a check for the whopping amount of $20. It was the first time I was ever paid for my writing and it felt good.
After college, I taught English for six years at a Chassidic Yeshiva in West Hollywood, while playing in a rock band and writing for an alternative weekly newspaper. I started writing for the newspaper after I won a story contest with a tall tale about a guy who loses his triplex on the beach during a game of darts with the devil. It was called "Darts with Mr. D," and the paper presented me with a princely check for $100—a 500% increase over my college contest award. Not only that, they asked me to keep writing for them, only—get this—they wanted actual journalism! I did what I could and had lots of fun doing it.
I got my big break when I answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times that said, “Writers Wanted.” I thought it was some weird scam but decided t
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 30, 2018
This book is old, but excellent if you can find it. It tells the story of the 1889 Johnstown, PA flood, which was the result of abnormal spring rains and the incredibly poor construction and maintenance of the Lake Conemaugh Dam. This is a great book for a book discussion on this topic with fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.
September 30, 2023
Short chapter book that tells the account of the Johnstown flood May 31, 1889. The book includes pictures and illustrations and is written on a 3rd grade reading level so both older and younger readers will enjoy the book.
May 29, 2012
A step by step book of the events leading up to the Johnstown Flood. The books follows events as they occurred and the people involved. Read this book as a preview for a nonfiction classroom novel, and have decided that it is a piece of history a lot of students miss in today's educational settings. Excellent reading level for elementary students in grades 4-5.
October 25, 2015
I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. This was very interesting and informative. I never knew the details about this disaster, and found it very interesting why people did not move as quickly as they should have. And the amazing things that people did to survive. This would make a awesome movie! A great read for all!
March 2, 2016
A great non-fiction book about the Johnstown flood. It was honestly something I have never heard of before but this book was very easy to read and really laid the facts out in an extremely interesting but factual way. The students actually really enjoyed the novel because along with the facts it told the stories of the people who went through this tragic event. Great read for the classroom!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews