Desperate Journey by Jim Murphy

 

from Library Media Connection (March 2007)

 Twelve-year-old Maggie has begun to think about the possibility of a life away from the Erie Canal. What would it be like to live in a house on dry land where she wouldn't be called "dirty canal girl" and have rocks thrown at her. After her father and uncle are arrested, Maggie, her ailing mother, and her brother fight a desperate battle to get their cargo to Buffalo in time to collect a bonus and prevent the loss of the cargo-hauling boat that is also their home.