When I First Came to this Land [Hardcover]

Harriet Ziefert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 1998 | Age Level: 4 and up

Caldecott Award-winning artist Simms Taback joyfully brings to life the immigrant experience...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the same jolly spirit of last year's Caldecott Honor book, There Was an Old Lady, Taback and Ziefert interpret another classic American folk song. The cumulative verse tells of a man who arrives in America with next to nothing and cheerfully makes the most of adverse conditions: "I called my cow/ No-milk-now!/ I called my shack/ Break-my-back!/ I called my horse/ I'm-the-boss!" Lest anyone take the narrator's complaints seriously, Taback's boldly colored and zestily skewed illustrations deliver the comedy, as when the narrator's newly introduced spotted pig ("Too-darn-big!") stands on its hind legs, hugs its owner and seems poised to deliver a sloppy lick on the face. The artist handily acknowledges the historic aspects of the verse as well. Cleverly exaggerated folk-like paintings subtly incorporate foreign objectsAfor example, in the opening scene, which shows the narrator making his landing on U.S. soil, the bottom of the picture is strewn with canceled stamps, snippets of ticket stubs and a tiny newspaper facsimile trumpeting "Immigrants Arrive!" Readers are treated to playful perspectives as the horizon curves crazily or as the interior of the shack lists at impossible angles. All that's missing is the music; happily, the art has rhythm aplenty. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2AEven with its catchy language and colorful illustrations, this popular folk song falls flat as a picture book. The author indicates, in very small print above the CIP data, that this song was brought to Pennsylvania by a German immigrant over a century ago, but offers no real information about this well-known tune. The endpapers feature a hand-drawn map of the United States in 1885. Taback's cartoon illustrations depict a scruffy man who is rather inept on his new farm with his cow, horse, pig, etc.; he is suddenly shown to be successful after the appearance of a wife and baby. The real problem with this book is how to use it. The song could be sung in preschool storyhours or a resourceful teacher could use it as a jumping off place for a unit on U.S. Westward expansion, but without additional information on the song or simple sheet music, there's not much to it. Picture book versions of songs such as "Over in the Meadow" or "Wheels on the Bus" beg to be used in a storyhour. This one just does not hold that same appeal.ASusan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399230440
• ISBN-13: 978-0399230448
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harriet Ziefert was born in New Jersey. She grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University. "About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year. Ziefert's picture book A New Coat for Anna is about a girl in a bombed-out European city during the months just after World War II. Anna has outgrown her old coat, and her mother trades her few surviving treasures--a watch, a lamp, a necklace, and a porcelain teapot--in order to obtain wool and have it spun, woven, and finally sewn into a fine red coat for Anna. A Horn Book Magazine reviewer stated, "the simple text, based on a true story, carries the narrative along effectively." The book, which was illustrated by Anita Lobel, was chosen as one of ten books to be read aloud by former First Lady Barbara Bush as part of a program promoting reading. Ziefert was invited to the White House for the occasion. The reason Ziefert began writing easy-to-read books was that she felt "they were getting too hard for kids to read in the first grade." She says that she wrote easy-to-read books with seventy-five or fewer words, even ones with fifty or fewer words, "to see how much of a story" she could produce with that limit. She enjoyed the challenge, and cites her book Sleepy Dog as an example. "Sleepy Dog is the most successful book I've ever done, in terms of number of books sold." She's also been working on a developmental program with publisher Dorling Kindersley, made up of books for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Her book Pete's Chicken, which was illustrated by Laura Rader, was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review as "a simple, sweet 'Song of Myself' for children . . . [which] applauds the specialness of every child as it reminds parents of the healing power of just being there for children." Among her other books is a series of easy-to-read books, such as Trip Day and Worm Day, about an inventive science teacher and his rambunctious class of students. Ziefert's book Let's Get a Pet was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children by a joint committee of the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council. . Ms. Ziefert lives in Maplewood, New Jersey and Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has two adult sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Song by Oscar Brand, retold by Harriet Ziefert, August 8, 2007

By 

Christina B. Kennedy "Real book addict. E-bo... (Near Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When I First Came to this Land (Hardcover)

When I First Came to this Land was inspired by an old PA Dutch folksong, but was actually written with a new melody and English text in the 1940s by Oscar Brand. Pete Seeger then made it popular, and it does have that folk appeal for which he is well-known.

Ms. Ziefert changed some of the lyrics--some to be nicer for kids, which is why it is "retold by. . ." (Brand's song lists the horse verse as "and I called my horse-dead, of course.") All in all a cheerful book with fun illustrations!

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old american folk-tune, illustrated with charming pictures., August 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: When I First Came to this Land (Hardcover)

I don't know how this could be considered "re-told" as it says on the cover. These words are not new. They are the lyrics to an old folk song. The illustrations, however, are original, and they illustrate the song in a folk art style that synchronises nicely with the story that the lyrics tell.