Farm Boy's Year - Hardcover

Mcphail

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689316798 ISBN 13: 9780689316791

Publisher: Atheneum, 1992

Synopsis

A month-by-month diary, accompanied by full-color paintings, chronicles the daily life of a young boy growing up on a New England farm in the 1800s as he sleds in January, gathers sap in March, harvests hay in July, and picks apples in October.

About this title

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2-- Using a diary format, with one entry for each month, McPhail follows the seasons on a New England coastal farm a century ago. The narrator is 12, but looks several years younger. The rhythms of the rural life depicted have remained remarkably similar; activities include haying, sugaring, fishing, and sledding. Nothing will be startling to urban children, although they may question why ice needed to be stored. (Also, it's unlikely the family could make 23 gallons of maple syrup in one day, as stated.) Soft pencil sketches are paired with textured, full-page acrylic paintings. Although the tone is authentic and the art lovely, the book is more of a mood piece, and the lack of drama may not appeal to young readers. For older readers, Eric Sloane's Diary of an Early American Boy (Ballantine, 1977; o.p.) would provide some interesting comparisons. --Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A diary-style text plus a drawing and a luminous painting for each month a century ago in coastal Newburyport, Massachusetts. Ice-cutting, the last day of school, haying, apple-picking, etc., are briefly touched on in an attempt to give the flavor of another era. But there are numerous minor inaccuracies and implausibilities: making 23 gallons of maple syrup in a single day with the equipment shown is a tall-tale feat; a boy wouldn't have been likely to help his mother bake bread, or to have his stomach turned cleaning fish he had competently caught. In the art, this ``twelve-year-old's'' proportions are those of a child of six, while his height suggests a maximum of eight. Too little plot to make a story, and too careless in detail for informational value. Popular though McPhail may be, how could a responsible editor pass along this thoughtless nostalgia? (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689316798
• ISBN 13: 9780689316791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32