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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
This is a great book to help young people understand what it was like to be growing up during the War for Independence.
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a very enjoyable, quick read. I really like the angle Paulsen takes with this character. When I first started the book, I wished I'd had it to read when I was a YA and reading "The Trees," by Conrad Richter. Maybe this would be a good precursor for younger kids.
Yes, there is violence in this book, but Paulsen contextualizes it with factual information about the Revolutionary War. I would definitely have a literature circle of 5th graders who are studying American History read this book, and I will put a copy in my 4th grade classroom library for those boys who can't get enough books about war.
I liked the premise of this one, but felt that it could have been a bit more fleshed out. It fell a bit short for me in the end.
I am dismayed that a book so full of settler colonialist ideology, and so utterly lacking in source notes for its many claims about the facts of the Revolutionary War, was selected by a group of librarians to be read by elementary students. Paulsen seems to have taken The Last of the Mohicans as his model for Samuel’s life, and filled his pages with just as many lies about the “empty” West.
I don’t believe that anyone can teach themselves how to load and shoot a rifle — a tool so expensive that it takes a year‘s wages to purchase one, but somehow a boy in a settlement completely cut off from trade and information networks has one. I don’t believe that Western Pennsylvania was so heavily wooded that someone could travel for a week and never see sunshine — and neither does Paulsen, because right after he makes this claim, he describes the meadows created after beaver dams fail. And most of all, I don’t believe that the settlers on Iroquois land could be caught completely off guard by the idea of violent conflict or territorial battles over that region.
The whole story is inaccurate and ridiculous.
I don’t believe that anyone can teach themselves how to load and shoot a rifle — a tool so expensive that it takes a year‘s wages to purchase one, but somehow a boy in a settlement completely cut off from trade and information networks has one. I don’t believe that Western Pennsylvania was so heavily wooded that someone could travel for a week and never see sunshine — and neither does Paulsen, because right after he makes this claim, he describes the meadows created after beaver dams fail. And most of all, I don’t believe that the settlers on Iroquois land could be caught completely off guard by the idea of violent conflict or territorial battles over that region.
The whole story is inaccurate and ridiculous.
I was a little reluctant to start reading this book because of its historical nature, but I was on the list of 6-8th grade Bluegrass Nominees that I pledged to read this summer. It was certainly wort it. I truly enjoyed following the main character, Samuel, on a journey to New York to find his parents. Seeing the war through the eyes of a young man trying to figure things out lends new light on The Revolutionary War. I would recommend this book to those who like [b:The Ransom of Mercy Carter|470175|The Ransom of Mercy Carter (Laurel Leaf Books)|Caroline B. Cooney|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175028733s/470175.jpg|1417317] or [b:The Sign of the Beaver|207569|The Sign of the Beaver|Elizabeth George Speare|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172687990s/207569.jpg|1282066]. While there are several pages of facts about the war spread throughout the book, they are never burdensome and serve to fill in the blanks of Samuel's experiences.
Great action tale about the American Revolution.
I enjoyed this story. I liked how there were historical notes at the end of each chapter. They break up the story, but I still like that they are there.