Whatever Happened to the Pony Express?

by Verla Kay, Barry Root (Illustrator), Kimberly Bulcken Root (Illustrator)

When the Pony Express came along, it cut the time it took to send a letter across the country in half. But only a year and a half later, with the arrival of transcontinental telegraph lines, it was put right out of business. Along with a family's story told through cross country letters, Verla Kay uses her trademark short, rhythmic verse to pack in loads of information about how the Pony Express came to be and why it didn't last. And Barry and Kim Root's gorgeous illustrations help bring this fascinating, fleeting bit of history to new life.

Genres: Picture Books, Historical Fiction, Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2010

About the author

Verla Kay is passionate about her writing and she loves cooking, playing computer games that have lots of puzzles in them to be solved and she also plays a lot of board, dice and card games with her family and friends (especially pinochle). She lives in a tiny town in eastern Washington, close to Spokane and the Idaho border with her husband of over 55 years and two long-haired Himalayan cats. Family is very important to her and she has four grown children (one married), four grown grandchildren (two married) and five great grandchildren that range in age from six to thirteen, most of whom live within visiting distance from her. She has previously had eleven historical picture books published, ten of them by Putnam. Wings Forever is her first self-published book and she is VERY proud of it! Visit Verla at: https://verlakay.com

Reviews

[Danielle Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the first mail system in America, the Pony Express. In the 1800’s the mail was delivered on horse-back. The book has a nice little story of a brother and sister writing to each other since they live so far apart. As they are writing, it shows their mail being delivered where there is danger along the way. It also shows the families opening up their letters and allows us to read them during the book. I would use this in my classroom as a way to see how far we have come as a country. Mail is almost a thing of the past. We now have access to information immediately. Sending a letter to someone takes a couple of days, which seems like too long. I remember when I was younger, we did not have access to the internet and the vast amounts of contact it provides. It would be fun to write a letter to our families in the classroom. We could send it in the mail to them. I would teach them how to address an envelope and how to write greetings in our letters. It would be a fun way to feel like we were a part of the past.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites, Kay explains what happened to the Pony Express.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to teach kids about the Pony Express.

[Kerry Cerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verla Kay has written a beautiful story about the changes in our mail system since its earliest days. Written in rhyme—and done so well—she uses the story of a brother and a sister on opposite sides of the U.S. to show us how the mail went from being snail-slow to instant, though the invention of the telegraph.

It’s incredibly cool to read about the dangers the riders of the Pony Express faced and the requirements it took to be a rider. The fact that mail suddenly went from taking months to travel cross country to only ten days with the small riders and fast horses is amazing. She uses phrases like: Let’s try ponies, cloppity-click. With Small riders, they’ll go quick. Orphans wanted, riders, rough. Risk death daily, must be tough. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful language! Her words paint a perfect picture of a world so far gone. In our current days of texting and email, this book delivers a history lesson that kids will enjoy.

Be sure to check out Verla Kay’s other beautiful historical picture books as well. What a great way to help kids learn and understand a world that is no longer.

[Mercedes Case]

Whatever happened to the pony express is a great historical fiction book. It shows children how before the days of technology how people would talk to family members who lived faraway. Its also a very touching story about the relationship between brother and sister. I like how in the back of the book it has important dates that relate to the pony express and mail.
A content i see this fitting in is history. It would be a good story to use showing the advancement of technology and how our forefathers and ancestors lived.
2 questions to ask students would be
1. what animal worked best to deliver mail?
a.the pony
what invention changed the pony express?
a. the Telegraph

2 wonders
why did a man riding on animals deliver mail?
why did it take so long to get mail from one place to another?

[Elizabeth S · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the one hand, a good and quick overview of the rise and fall of the Pony Express. The pictures were good and the sub-plot (example letters from a particular family) was supportive. However, the text is locked into a strict poetry form which made sense to me, an adult who already knew the rise and fall of the Pony Express, but no sense to my kids of various ages (3 and 9). I kept having to stop and explain what was going on. The switch from poetry to sub-plot letters was confusing. The book would have done better to just put 1-2 sentences of informative text on each page.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would be hard for children to understand because of the way it is written in a free verse poetry style. It made sense to me, because I am (pretty much) an adult. Someone would need to explain it as they read it with the child. I'm not sure the typical child would be interested at that point.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are great! But I wish that the text was a short informative text rather than the sing-song rhyme. The letters used as examples of mail are a couple of comprehension levels above the text they "support".

Could have been a really good book. But I think this one is going to be passed over by most kids.

[RPBYS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great discussion-starter about a fascinating part of history. I love that it follows a family and how they might have used the different mail services available at that time--a whole separate story.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story. It is written in a fun sort of bumpy prose! It talks about the pony express as well as mail and communication! There are brief experts from a brother and sister.

Nice pictures interesting story! Could be a great non fiction story!

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend for older children.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept, but a bit confusing at times. Also, I'm not a fan of the stereotyped Indians trying to shoot the Pony Express rider.

[Bethann · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked it. Beatiful pictures. 90% of the story is poems.

[Evelyn Repass · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice trip through the history of American western expansion. Letters in the story add a loving personal touch.

[Amy Edwards]

So-so. Illustrations are nice; text is a little confusing switching between a spare poetry form and prose letters.

[SBPL Storytime · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book with rhyming, and interesting history about mail

[RLL22016_KimRichardson]

WHAT EVER HAPPEN TO THE PONY EXPRESS? was a story about how messages got through before technique,. It is written in poem style. The story talk about the different ways the mail was delivered. To be honest I didn't really enjoy this story. I guess the poem style kind of threw me off. The part about the horse traveling, journey was interesting. There were a lot they had to go through to get the mail from one place to another. The picture by Kimberly Bulcken & Barry Root were amazon.

[Rebecca Jones]

This story explains how the idea of traveling mail expanded throughout the years by having a sister and a brother send letters too each other, informing the other of their lives and families.