A New York City subway car called Jessie has a busy life from her first day on the job in the 1960s. She carries passengers and their cargo safely from place to place as the years pass by. Jessie is occasionally repaired and updated, with new lights, doors, and paint, as the city around her changes and grows through the decades. Eventually, a worn-out Jessie is retired to the train yard before being washed and stripped of lights, signs, and brakes. In 2001, along with other old Redbird subway cars, Jessie is taken out of the harbor on a barge and sunk to the ocean floor. A fascinating author’s note relates that Jessie’s personified story is based on a real subway car that was one of many used to create artificial reefs in the Atlantic Ocean to “provide homes to generations of underwater creatures and new fishing grounds for both people and fish.” Child–friendly sound effects and illustrations that convey the motion of the subway provide access to an unusual story. (Ages 4–8)

Never was there a subway car who loved her job more than Jessie. From morning to night she carried all sorts of people all sorts of places—to work and school and World's Fairs, over bridges and through tunnels—sometimes she even took a pigeon along for the ride! But as time passed, sleek new silver cars began to take over the tracks, banishing Jessie to an abandoned lot. What will she do with no passengers to carry? And where will she go now that she's no longer welcome on the tracks?

Based on the true story of 1960's-era subway cars that are now being used to create artificial reefs in the Atlantic, this stunningly illustrated second book from Julia Sarcone-Roach is sure to delight scuba diving historians and kids alike.