Customer Reviews

By The Great Horn Spoon

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was nine, I read this book. At age 40, I read the same copy to my children, ages ten and eight. As much as I enjoyed reading it the first time, reading it out loud was a much richer experience.

The writing flows naturally, and encourages a great variation in expression. The adventure truly comes out in the reader's voice. I am an actor, but I felt that this story would bring out the actor in anybody.

The story was so exciting and surprising that long reading sessions never dragged. At several points, my children threw themselves down on the floor and yelled, "Oh my gosh!"

This experience brought it all together for me, if I may speak personally: books, performing, involvement with my children, a classic story that I relished as a child myself. Those evenings added up to the happiest time of my life.

The plot concerns a boy who runs away during the California gold rush--with his butler!--to try to get his family out of debt. The adventures along the way are episodic, and each episode is an amazing and believable story in itself. Every step in the journey is given full attention: the voyage from Boston to San Francisco, the trip to the gold fields, the experiences among the miners. There are plenty of colorful characters, and plenty of opportunities for the two main characters to grow. There are also several threads that run through the whole story, maintaining suspense. Their resolution is unpredictable and satisfying.

There was very little in the book that could make a parent squirm, and very little that sounded out of date. But there were three moments that made me pause: 1) There is a fist fight, though it is handled in a light-hearted way. 2) There is a reference to corporal punishment when an adult threatens to "take a hairbrush" to a child. 3) There is an expression used once that might be innocent for all I know, but sure doesn't sound that way: "That's mighty white of you."

Minor reservations, I hope you'll agree. So plunge in and have an experience you and your listeners will never forget.

BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON! is written for younger readers but is a delightful light read even for adults, who will get through this book in one sitting.

The story concerns young Jack Flagg of Boston and his faithful manservant Praiseworthy who, upon discovering that Jack's foster Aunt Arabella is virtually penniless, decide to set out for the California Gold Rush and save the family from poverty. Along the way, Jack and Praiseworthy have numerous adventures (they are forced to stow away aboard ship, they run afoul of the highwayman Cut-Eye Higgins, Praiseworthy, a model of rectitude, becomes renowned in the gold fields as "Bullwhip," the man who can win any fight, and they strike it rich), through all of which they persevere, largely because of their wit, their intelligence, and their reliance on each other. BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON! is a wonderful lesson in the nature of true friendship.

A fun story with a fine sense of historical place and memorably colorful characters, BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON! is a story for children of all ages.

By the Great Horn Spoon is such an exciting book! Jack Flagg and his butler Praiseworthy set out to the gold fields to save his Aunt Arabella's fortune. They go on sea journey and are headed to the gold mines. On the way, they meet some hilarious people. In the gold country, everyone has a nickame. In this book, you'll find the most hilarious nicknames.This book is so funny that you will have a stomach ache from laughing and it is so good that you will not be able to put it down. While you are busy enjoying the book, you will be learnig about the gold rush in the year 1912 in San Francisco, California.This book is good for both adults and children. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading a funny, interesting, and exciting book.

My class has a class set of this book and applauded when it was done. Great way to personalize the Gold Rush.

It's 1849. Gold has been discovered in California. Twelve-year-old Jack, at home in Boston, needs money to save the family home. His solution? Stowaway on a ship bound for the goldfields. Find some gold. Return home. Easy? Not on your life! Lucky for Jack, his butler (with the endearing name of Praiseworthy) stows away also. Together these two gold seekers get in and out of numerous adventures and meet colorful characters with names like Pitch-pine Billy and Mountain Ox as they wander around the gold fields trying to "strike it rich".

I read this wonderful, tongue-in-cheek historical novel aloud to the students in my class when we studied the California Gold Rush. They always wanted "one more chapter" and joined in with Jack's adventures wholeheartedly. We all were surprised at the twist at the end of the book! Highly recommended

I am a 4th/5th grade teacher. I used this book as a core novel in class and it worked extremely well.

Both my students and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The hilarious antics of Jack and Praiseworthy taught my students a great deal about the gold rush and about US and world geography while they were being entertained by the story. I was able to use the book as the basis for a host of writing and other activities.

The richness of the language, especially the similies, made the book a great model for teaching writing.

The book held the interest both of boys and girls alike. If you are a child looking for a good book to read, check out this one. If you are a parent or teacher looking for a book that is both high in quality and interesting to children, you will be glad to selected this book.

I definitely enjoyed reading By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman, and I think it would be a great supplementary source for teachers to use in the Gold Rush unit. This book is a ficitional story, but it is full of historical accounts related to the Gold Rush era. The main characters is Jack and Praiseworthy. They set out on a journey in search of striking rich when Jack's aunt became penniless. The two main characters went on a wild and exciting adventures where they encountered many life-learning lessons about themselves and the historical background of that time. This book is definitely a good resource to use in and outside of the classroom, because it provides historical information along with an inspiring story about friendships.

What was life like in the 1850's? What motivated people to move far west and how did they get there? What was it like to be a gold miner? These are the subjects of my daughter's fourth-grade social studies book about California history. They also provide the background and story for "By the Great Horn Spoon." As my 4th and 2nd grade daughters read this book with me, we followed Jack and Praiseworthy south to the Straights of Magellan, back north to San Francisco. We kept our world map handy as we read. As we gained a feeling for California gold fever life, we were delighted with the ingenuity and imagination of our two miners. Whether one is trying to tie in history or not, it is a fun read!

By the Great Horned Spoon, an Historical fiction novel by Sid Fleichman, is such a geat review that it will knock your socks off. It takes place during the Gold Rush in 1849 California. The main characters are Jack, Aunt Abriella, Praiseworthy, and Cut-Eye-Higgens.
Aunt Abriella is in trouble with her money, because all her inheritance is gone. So Jack and Praiseworthy scrounge up enough money to get two passages to the Gold Mines in California. However some one steals their money, so they have to become stowaways. Ôack and Praisworthy soon find themselves in Califonia after a five month voyage. The reader will enjoy thiss book because you never want to stop reading. You sould also enjoy the book unless you hate reading .

I think that By the Great Horn Spoon! has a great adventure. It is about a boy and his family's butler who sail from Boston, Massachusetts to California during the gold rush. The boy's name is Jack, and the butler's name is Praiseworthy. They make quite a few friends but also get themselves into a lot of trouble. This book was funny, interesting, and bit disappointing at some points. Sid Fleischman is a wonderful author, and By the Great Horn Spoon! is one of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes books about adventure.