While it might make sense for the older orphan in this story to abandone his sister, it felt contrived, and I just couldn't stand another casual abandonment. I may well come back to this book - it does seem otherwise appealling. I just can't get past the imitial abandonement right now.

What if the legend of John Henry was more than just a story? And what is really up with the machine she died trying to beat?

Twelve-year-old Ray is haunted by the strangest memories of his father, whom Ray swears could speak to animals. Now an orphan, Ray jumps from a train going through the American South and falls in with a medicine show train and its stable of sideshow performers. The performers turn out to be heroes, defenders of the wild, including the son of John Henry. They are hiding the last of the mythical Swamp Sirens from an ancient evil known as the Gog. Why the Gog wants the Siren, they can’t be sure, but they know it has something to do with rebuilding a monstrous machine that John Henry gave his life destroying years before, a machine that will allow the Gog to control the will of men and spread darkness throughout the world.

By the Way, Mr. Gerval made me mad!
from Amazon ( )

The Nine Pound Hammer is a sci-fi adventure set throughout the exanspive territories in 19th century America. As the characters develop throughout the story they learn that the American legends of Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, and others are true. The young protagonists (early teens) soon discover that they happen to not only be the kin of the famous legends, but they also can harness the hoodoo power they inherited from their parents. Throughout the story the protagonists sail with pirates in the Gulf, ride on hundreds of miles of railroad tracks with performers and a mermaid, and embrace their love of nature and family. I think this is a fantastic book to introduce American history in a "Riordanish" way to children. I will definitely be recommending this to many of my library's advanced middle grade readers who are ready to be challenged by new vocab words - something Bemis does a GREAT job of doing throughout the story. One of the characters prides himself on speaking with a varied and eloquent vocabulary. This book also introduces concepts, terms, and historical figures that are relevant to our cultural and national history. ( )

For my Book Club, we are reading by genre, rather than title, and this month we are reading Steampunk. I selected this book because of the title (it contains the word "clockwork" after all) and also due to the American history aspect.

It was a fun read, filled with interesting characters, intriguing plot developments and a few twists (one of which I didn't seem coming until it almost hit me!). Overall, a good, fast paced adventure novel particularly for boys. ( )

Inventive, entertaining mix of American folklore and fantasy. ( )