"Your fortune lies to the west. Keep your face to the sunset . . . and one day you'll ride the greatest wheel in all the world."

When Aunt Honora reads this fortune in Conn Kilroy's tea leaves, Conn knows he is destined for greater things than his small Irish village can offer. A letter from his uncle Michael in America offering Conn a partnership in his New York contracting company sets Conn on his western adventure. Just a few short months later Conn's Uncle Patrick lures him even farther west to Chicago, where they join the hardworking crew building what some called Ferris's Folly - the first Ferris wheel - then the largest wheel in the world and the showpiece of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Conn's journey captures the spirit of the American industrial era - the risk and hard labor, and the moments of glory.

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A sweet little story about a young man who helps build Ferris' big wheel for the Chicago World's Fair.
The details of the wheel's logistics were neat, and the parallel story of the young man immigrating to the U.S. was a nice complement. ( )

Interesting account of the building of the first Ferris Wheel. ( )

"Eighteen-year-old Conn leaves Ireland and sails to America, where he helps build the first Ferris wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. "