Jackrabbit McCabe & the Electric Telegraph

This is a “tall” tale, about a boy who was born to the McCabe family, born to run on the American frontier almost two hundred years ago. He is nicknamed “Jackrabbit” because he is faster than a speeding train engine, a whirling tornado, or a racehorse.

And then one day, the electric telegraph comes to the town of Windy Flats.

The townspeople are skeptical...

Is Jackrabbit McCabe as fast as Morse Code on a telegraph wire? The telegraph man overhears them and challenges their “champion” of speed to a race. Who would get to the neighboring town of Sandy Bluff first, Jackrabbit McCabe or the telegraph?

Windy Flats is decorated and as festive as the fair on race day. Ready, Set, Go...and they're off! Try as he might, Jackrabbit cannot beat an electrical signal. But now that Windy Flats needs a telegraph operator, who could send the fastest telegraph signals around? If his fingers are half as fast as his legs...

This is a snippet of frontier life that you may have overlooked.

I've studied the wagon trains across the frontier, the railway tracks, and even the pony express, but hadn't really thought about the telegraph coming across the plains. After reading this book to my 8-year-old, I asked if he could explain it to me, and he proceeded: “...there was a race between a really tall guy and the wi-fi,” after which I had to explain that there were several more steps between the electric telegraph and wi-fi. This book will be a useful and humorous addition to your study of the “wild west” and the timeline of technology inventions. After reading, “translate” the riddle given in Morse Code in the author's note, and maybe write one of your own!

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