Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
johnny tremain, May 11, 2009
Aubry
Johnny Tremain is an exciting historical fiction novel that takes place in Boston during Revolutionary war times. It is about a young silversmith apprentice, Johnny, who meets up with people we now call heroes (John Hancock, Sam Adams, and John Adams).
I loved Johnny Tremain and you will too.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny Tremain- a review by Lyric Arvizu, October 31, 2009
Johnny Tremain is a beautifully written classic novel about a young apprentice that struggles to live in colonial Boston during the time of the American Revolution. The author, Esther Forbes is a historian and the novel is based off of historical facts and events. Louise Cowan would probably identify Johnny Tremain as a classical novel because Forbes displays her characters in a way that highlights their humanely ways, both positive and negative. Forbes creates a plot in which the main character discovers himself and grows from a proud young boy to a strong and humble man.
Louise Cowan would probably describe Jonathan Lyte Tremain as a very complex character due to his lack of respect towards some and his great humility towards others. Johnny's character started out as a proud fourteen year old boy who worked as an apprentice for a skilled silversmith and ended as a humble and brave sixteen year old who sets off to fight in the American revolutionary war. A good example of how proud Johnny was as a fourteen year old is on page ten of the book when Priscilla Lapham, Johnny's friend and the granddaughter of Johnny's master says, "When the meek inherit the earth, I doubt Johnny gets as much as one divot of sod." As Johnny grew older, he became more determined with everything he did. In the last chapter of the book, he decided to have surgery done on his right hand without any medication and with no one to hold his hand down but him, all so that he could hold a gun to fight in a war. Johnny was also always very intelligent. When he worked for Samuel Adams, James Otis, and John Hancock, he picked up information about what the British would do next from his sluggish friend Dove, who was working in a British stable at the time. Johnny Tremain had wonderful characteristics that grew so much during the two years before the revolutionary war.
Johnny Tremain had values too. He valued the ability he had to use his hands in his craft and he looked down on people with lower- class work. This can be proven by his first meeting with Rab, his best friend. When Johnny first walked into the small printing shop of the Boston Observer, he saw Rab sitting there, taking notes for a newspaper piece advertising a lost pig. When the lady whose pig was lost finally left after confiding her sorrow for her animal in Rab, Johnny felt like he could confide in Rab also, even though he didn't even know Rab and he had no idea if Rab even cared. After Johnny had told him about how he had lost his job and was looking for a new one, Rab suggested that Johnny look around Hancock's Wharf ,but Johnny refused to do work that didn't involve much talent or skill such as he had had in his silversmith apprenticeship. One other thing that Johnny valued was the freedom of all men. A good example of this is on page 241 when he said, "We are fighting, partly, for just that, because a man is a private is no reason he should be treated like cordwood."
Johnny Tremain is definitely something that Louise Cowan would call a classic. She would say that Esther Forbes creates a world like ours, where life is many- sided and the people have good and bad sides to them, a world where people grow and fall, a world where life and death exist together, and where people can be good to one person and bad to another in one moment. Johnny Tremain takes its place among the many classics that I have read as a favorite.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful reading!!, September 30, 2009
This is a fantastic book about adventure, romance, American history, coming of age, facing adversity and disappointment, and learning to become responsible. Up until I read this book, I had never liked history one bit; this book changed that for me. It made history interesting and exciting, and I could finally relate to it on some level. The imagery in the book helped the story come alive for me. I hope you read it and like it too!!
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