Customer Reviews

Johnny Appleseed (Penguin Young Readers, L2)

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

 

 

This story about John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed by Patricia Demuth is a Level 1 reader. This means that it is intended for children Preschool to First Grade. Level 1 books have "very few lines per page, very large type, easy words, lots of repetition, and pictures with visual "cues" to help children figure out the words on the page."

In my opinion, this description seems fairly accurate. My only hesitations are that there do seem to be a lot of words per page and that I'm not sure on what level First Graders really are at. [My daughter is only 5 y.o.]

An example (the first page of the book) follows for your perusal so you can determine appropriateness for yourself:

Who was Johnny Appleseed?
Was he just in stories?
No.
Johnny was a real person.
His name was John Chapman.
He planted apple trees --
lots and lots of them.
so people called him
Johnny Appleseed.

From there Demuth goes on to tell about how when Johnny was young that the United States was young too. How when people moved out west that there as nothing to greet them or help them. There were no towns or grocery stores, schools or even fruit trees. So when John went west he took lots of apple seeds so he could make the land more friendly to the settlers.

The book touches on the `facts' (myths?) that John was befriended by not only American Indians but wildlife. That he wore his cooking pot for a hat because it was easier to carry it that way than to carry it on his back. The book shows him as the humble figure he was, threadbare and gentle. It also shows John's resilience and how he adapted to the weather and how he insisted on living outdoors despite offers from friends to stay with them.

All in all this is a nice little book that covers many of the aspects of John's life in terms children understand (mine are boy and girl; 3 and 5). The pictures include ones of covered wagons moving west, and log cabins.

Four Stars. Good book that tells of many of the stories of John Chapman's life in terms children can understand. It is also a reader for more experienced readers.

Most difficult words include: Chapman, young, country, cooking, snowshoes, someday, afraid.

THE LIFE OF JOHNNY APPLESEED IN A seed SHELL. WHY DID HE WEAR A POT FOR A HAT? DID HE EAT ALL THOSE APPLES TO GET ALL THOSE SEEDS? WANT TO STUDY ABOUT WESTWARD EXPANSION? WHY AM I ASKING QUESTIONS WHEN I CAN READ THIS AGAIN ?