When 62-year-old instructor Annie Edson Taylor is forced to close down her charm school, she immediately begins to look for ways to earn some money. The plan that she settles on is considered by most to be foolhardy, ridiculous and just plain suicidal: the prim, proper, grandmotherly Taylor will attempt to go over Niagara Falls…in a barrel!

With the help of her manager, the event is scheduled, with much fanfare, for October 24, 1901–Taylor’s 63^rd birthday. Using a special barrel of her own design, the elderly daredevil is packed away with a number of pillows and placed in the swift-moving Niagara River. Up to this point, no one has ever survived the plunge. Will Taylor be the first?

Queen of the Falls, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, is the fascinating true story of a woman not afraid to attempt the impossible.