Customer Reviews

Johnny Tremain

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(72)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

In 1943, with America deeply embedded in the worst of World War II, author Esther Forbes wrote a tale that touched on the founding of America itself. Since its publication, "Johnny Tremain" has remained one of the best known children's books ever written. It won the 1944 Newbery Award and is still read by schoolchildren everywhere. Heck, even Bart Simpson was lured into reading it in a "Simpsons" episode (Marge tells him that it's about a boy with a deformed hand and he' intrigued). Newbery award winners come and go. Sometimes they're remembered (ala "Caddie Woodlawn") and sometimes they're rightfully forgotten (ala "Daniel Boone"). "Johnny Tremain" is different because even reading it today the book remains readable, thoughtful, and interesting. It deserves its praise.

Johnny Tremain is an apprenticed silversmith of one Mr. Lapham. Unusually skilled in the trade, Johnny's the star of the household. The other apprentices envy and hate him and the members of the Lapham family love him. Just the same, Johnny is unaccountably vain. Boastful and overflowing with pride, he lords his superior abilities over everyone he meets, even catching the eye of the greatest silversmith in Boston, Paul Revere. Yet when a broken crucible maims Johnny's hand with silver, the life he had planned for himself can never be. Desperate for work, he finally finds a place with the Boston Observer, a Whig news publication. Soon Johnny finds himself rubbing shoulders with the men of the Revolution. His life becomes enmeshed in the spy networks and fighting words that lead up to the American Revolution. In doing so, he becomes a major player in the creation of a new America.

I read this book in elementary school and, sadly, remembered very little of it. What I did remember was Johnny's hand. Honestly, I think this book would sell like hotcakes if it was retitled, "Johnny Tremain: The Boy With the Deformed Hand". Not that I'm seriously recommending the change. What really struck me, when reading this book again today, was just how well written the little bugger is. First of all, it begins with an unsympathetic protagonist. Up till now, most Newbery protagonists fell somewhere between saints and perfection incarnate. But Johnny is just the kind of little snot who needs to be taken down a peg to become a better person. This isn't one of those books where the hero gets hurt and suddenly makes a miraculous transformation from bad to good either. As you read the story you see Johnny's progress. He grows and learns from his injury, yes, but he also grows and learns from meeting and speaking with other people. Which brings me to the second remarkable aspect of this book. The English, awful as they are sometimes, are not evil cackling villains. Johnny meets and even, to some extent, befriends British officers. He finds himself pitying the English wounded and sympathizing with their pain. Likewise, not all the American Revolutionaries are perfect gods. John Hancock comes off as a bit of a rich fop, and Sam Adams is seen gleefully rubbing his hands together over the prospect of upcoming destruction. So many stories create villains so ridiculously evil that they haven't a single solitary redeeming characteristic and heroes pious to the point of sainthood. "Johnny Tremain" could easily have fallen into that trap, but it doesn't. Instead, it gives a remarkably thoughtful approach to the nature of enemies, war, and freedom.

The book is long, granted. Also, there are numerous spying/battle sections in which I had to continually backtrack through the text to figure out, "Now why is Johnny doing that?". The best way to lure kids today with this book might be to sell it as a Revolutionary spy book. I mean, Johnny really does become a kind of secret agent for the Yankees. He knows how to get information out of people and how to find out important English secrets. Best of all, the story has a naturalistic writing style that's easy to get through once you get going. If you want to give your kids a Newbery award winner that's as memorable and fascinating today as it was the day it was written, I cannot recommend, "Johnny Tremain" enough. Ignore the picture of the saintly boy on the cover. This is a book of adventure, pride, and war.

I must have read this book ten? twenty? times as a teenager, and so when I found it recently in the basement I started reading again to see if it was really as good as I remembered it. Better! "Johnny Tremain" is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read, even as an adult. So imagine my surprise when I noticed that Amazon readers rated this only four stars?

For starters, this is not a children's book. I see fourth, fifth graders reviewing this book, as part of an assignment - and as a mother myself, this bothers me. This is a great book - but, I think, way over a fifth-graders head. Maybe *your* fifth-grader is brilliant and will absolutely understand everything completely - but for a classroom setting? What are these teachers thinking?

But for a teenager - "Johnny Tremain" brings to life the times of the Revolutionary War era as no other book, or history lesson, possibly can. Couple that with a brilliantly portrayed cast of characters - complex, vivid characters - and exceptionally vivid, emotional and fast paced writing - and you have the ingredients for a really good book. Maybe I am prejudiced - I love historicals, and always did, but perhaps it is the other way around - perhaps "Johnny Tremain" influenced me in the way that this book showed me how fascinating history can be.

"Johnny Tremain" is the story of a boy - fourteen years old - who is apprenticed to a silversmith, whom he calls his "master". As an exceptionally capable, talented young man - not to mention an exceptional aptitude with silver - he quickly steps into his master's family to find his niche as the head of the household - if not in name, then in actions (beint that his master is elderly). But how easily are the mighty fallen! For Johnny burns his hand on hot silver and, medicine (or midwifery) being what it was, it never healed properly. A future as a silversmith is out. Overnight, Johnny went from being a capable, bright boy with an exceptional future ahead of him to a nobody.

While this is an excellent story about Johnny, it is the times that he lived in that makes this book such riveting reading. Not only do we get to meet all the famous people who populate pre-Revolutionary Boston, we also get an excellent, clear picture of the everyday life of the people of that era. The way they lived, the things they ate, the way they operated - almost everything is touched upon in this extra-ordinary novel.

Johnny Tremain somehow gets tangled with the Boston patriots - and is right there in the thick of things just as the Revolutionary War has started. This is the only part of the novel that I found a bit too coincidental - but extremely interesting, nevertheless.

"Johnny Tremain" is one of the best books ever written, but would more easily be appreciated and understood by an older student, in my opinion. Happy reading!

This is a wonderful children's book that most adults would also probably enjoy. "Johnny Tremain" is a classic that tells the story of a young boy caught up in the turmoil of 1773 Boston and the start of the American Revolution.
This is the type of book that can get kids interested in history. The book really is brilliantly written for the age group it is intended for.

Esther Forbes' story of young Boston boy's adventures during the early days of the American Revolution, "Johnny Tremain," is a classic of children's historical fiction. As such it has been required reading for generations of middle school students, and assigned reading material, regardless of quality, will always raise the hackles of some students. Thus the bad reviews here should be taken with a grain of salt.

The strength of this book is how it weaves the fictional story of Johnny Tremain, who had been a promising silversmith apprentice until an accident crippled his hand, with the historical events and people of Revolutionary era Boston. Johnny deals with the loss of his trade, his attempt to reclaim his birthright, a burgeoning romance with the daughter of his former master, and an increasing involvement with the revolutionary activities of the Sons of Liberty. The book brings to life the era of the Revolution and reminds the reader that the simple hope "that a man can stand up" did not come without tragedy. "Johnny Tremain" is a true classic, and makes for a great read. (Even TV's worst student, Bart Simpson, loved reading it- "They should call this book Johnny Deformed Hand.")

JOHNNY TREMAIN is a magic book for me. It takes me back to 1966 when I was in fifth grade at Stadium School. We had a student teacher named Miss Greenberg who announced to us that she was going to begin reading aloud to us every day after lunch. We were ten and eleven year olds and highly insulted that the teacher wanted to read to us like babies! Then Miss Greenberg started reading JOHNNY TREMAIN. Within a week none of the kids in class could wait to get back from lunch, even the boys who professed that they "hated books." There were two copies of JOHNNY TREMAIN in the school library and after that first week they were reserved for weeks in advance. I begged my mother for a copy for Christmas; she had to go crazy to order one because they were out of print back then. She finally found a teacher's edition that had study questions at the end of the book. I loved the portrait of Boston in the 1770s and although Johnny was a little too arrogant for my taste in the beginning, I grew to like him as he changed in the course of the book. My favorite character has always been Cilla Lapham, but I love Johnny's horse Goblin as well, and Rab and the Lornes and Miss Bessie, the Lytes' cook. They are all welcome friends.

"Johnny Tremain," by Esther Forbes, is a novel set in Boston during the start of the American Revolution. When we meet the title character, he is an indentured apprentice to a master silversmith. The novel follows Johnny as he becomes involved in the revolutionary movement.

Forbes skillfully weaves together the story of a boy's journey to manhood with a slice of the story of a new nation's birth. Johnny is an intriguing character. He's an admirable but flawed hero who encounters serious misfortune but keeps striving on his quest towards responsible manhood. The book is filled with fascinating details about life in Johnny's 18th century world--its economics, food, politics, clothing, social structure, and more. Particularly fascinating is the author's exploration of the craft of the silversmith. Forbes seamlessly blends the historical and cultural details into the overall story.

The story involves a number of additional interesting characters. Also noteworthy is Forbes' presentation of the military situation, particularly the implications of a clash between Britain's professional army and a force that is seen as consisting of "peasants" and "yokels." The novel looks at the impact of war upon society without sugarcoating the situation. "Johnny" is both a gripping tale and a significant volume in the canon of American novels about war.

I've read Johnny Tremain several times, and each time I am fascinated by the characters. The town of Boston and the culture of the times also come to life in this story. Characters involved in the Revolutionary War seem like real people in Esther Forbe's portrayal -- such as John Adams; the English deserter "Pumpkin"; the typical un-famous soldier signified by "Rab"; and the tories & revolutionaries who harbor a large number of opinions on the English king and the revolt. The book provides a good smattering of men and women, boys and girls, each with their unique problems in that society. I enjoyed that the plot included more than just a reaction to a quickly-forming war, but also a family mystery, class conflict, coming-of-age romance, friendship, loyalty and even loss -- you know, all the good themes :) This story makes the Revolutionary War memorable. It does heroicize certain characters, but life includes heroes and there is enough black, white and gray in the myriad of personalities to learn about human nature. For someone who loves to read about people and ponder why they do what they do to make them who they are, this is a fun read. It is also for those who like the details that bring you into the sounds and smells and history of a place.

I am a Dad with an 8 yr old boy. I highly recommend this book for kids from about 8 or 9 through adulthood. This book is not just about Boston and the American Revolution. It is one of the best books I have read about: - real life characters, good and bad. - understanding others, and oneself. - making choices in life. - and, a fair portrayal of a rare event;

A small group of Whigs who changed the world for the better.

The American experiment was so brilliant that most people in the world still do not understand it. That includes most Americans. Many countries have tried to copy this experiment. Many Americans would like to end the experiment.

Johnny Tremain is a powerful book that reminds us that ordinary people created something very extraordinary.

As a 5th grade teacher of gifted & talented social studies students, I found "Johnny Tremain" an excellent tool for teaching the American Revolution. Our textbook is dry and devotes only a small number of pages to this major event in American history. "Johnny Tremain's" historial places and characters help readers understand and visualize this important period of time. True, the vocabulary is high level. Teachers need to discuss vocabulary ahead of time. I read the book out loud to my class and discussed each chapter. The extra effort is well worth the final results.

Johnny Tremain, an arrogant, annoying brat of a silversmith's apprentice is ruler of the roost (the shop where he works, that is) until a tragic accident cripples his hand, making him unable to continue his trade. He then becomes an outcast of society. Unable to find work, he nearly sinks to theiving, but luckily stumbles upon a printer's assistant named Rab who befriends Johnny and helps him find a job. Rab is an intriguing type of fellow. He was my favorite character in this book, even though he's not the main character.
Rab introduces Johnny to a wonderful world of secrecy, excitement, and intrigue with the Sons of Liberty, who are plotting America's independence from the tyrannical British government. Johnny develops into a rather likable sort of chap before the book's end. Such American immortals as Paul Revere, Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph Warren are skillfully interwoven by Forbes into this delightful piece of historical fiction. I highly recommend this book to children around 12 on up but I believe it is just as enjoyable to adults. I am in my 20's and I really enjoy this book still. If you are an American history buff or simply enjoy a good book with an old-fashioned flavor, buy this book and read it.