My children and I seem to be on a Johnny Appleseed binge. This is one of the three books that we have read lately and our second favorite.
This book begins with some background on John Chapman, his birth, his mother's and baby brother's early death, and his fathers remarriage and the subsequent household that resulted in 11 children.
This book begins with some background on John Chapman, his birth, his mother's and baby brother's early death, and his fathers remarriage and the subsequent household that resulted in 11 children.
We are given to understand that young John retreated to the outdoors to escape "from his boisterous household" (lol). And we are told that animals sensed his gentleness and responded in kind. We also see John befriending Indians and clearing the woods in spots to plant his beloved trees.
Much of the old ways of life are shown. There are pictures of covered wagons being pulled by oxen, as well as a house raising. The War of 1812 is mentioned briefly, as well as the fears settlers had of the Indians at that time. Unlike Aliki's book, this one does not describe how some of the difficulties with the Native Americans came as a result of the actions of the settlers. And you don't quite get the sense of there being good settlers and bad, good Indians and bad, as you do from the latter book.
Still this book has much to teach and there is a lot to point out and discuss. Besides the factual matters mentioned above there are several tall tales such as the one about the soles of John's feet being so tough that a rattlesnake fangs couldn't penetrate them, and the one about his frolicking with bear cubs while mama bear watched.
Much of the old ways of life are shown. There are pictures of covered wagons being pulled by oxen, as well as a house raising. The War of 1812 is mentioned briefly, as well as the fears settlers had of the Indians at that time. Unlike Aliki's book, this one does not describe how some of the difficulties with the Native Americans came as a result of the actions of the settlers. And you don't quite get the sense of there being good settlers and bad, good Indians and bad, as you do from the latter book.
Still this book has much to teach and there is a lot to point out and discuss. Besides the factual matters mentioned above there are several tall tales such as the one about the soles of John's feet being so tough that a rattlesnake fangs couldn't penetrate them, and the one about his frolicking with bear cubs while mama bear watched.
[By the way, this book does a better job than most in pointing out that many of these stories are tall tales.]
The book ends with Johnny going further west into the wilds of Indiana (LOL) where he eventually runs into the children of the children he used to tell stories to.
Four stars. A very nice book. The artwork is distinctive and there are many opportunities for children to learn some of our country's folk heroes.
Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs
Johnny Appleseed
Accelerated Reading level : 4.4
- Hardcover: 48 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; First edition. edition (August 22, 1988)
- ISBN-10: 0688064175
- Sneak-a-Peek
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