Probably the greatest book ever written, by both man and child, woman and other writing entity, Johnny Tremain tells the story of a young genius who becomes a silversmith and burns the crappin' hell out of his hand. He's always embarrassed by his sort of melty hand and keeps it in his pockets or in his mother's pies and pie type dishes. One day he meets a girl named Cilla, Priscilla for long, who loves him despite for his sick melt-hand. Paul Bunyan or John Tubbers or whichever is the name of that early revolutionary explorer comes along riding on his horse one day, screaming about lobsters in coats and what not, alerting the town. Johnny Tremain sees the opportunity to finally use the sick curse God put on him by melting his hand to scare and/or kill the lobster coats. At this point Cilla is ridiculously in love with him and they kiss and he promises to make America into something great where even one-handed, pony-tailed dainty's like himself can work for a local paper or some other mid-level position at some kind of printing house. Cilla does everything in her power not to totally melt from her obsessive love for Johnny, not unlike the way his hand melted in the beginning of the story to foreshadow this supreme moment with Priscilla, "Cilla." After a long, juvenile make out session Johnny goes after the red lobster people waving his sickly paw around yelling something about a tea party or a cherry tree until the lobster guys are so mind crapped that they shoot themselves to death. Always being an opportunist, John Tubbers, or Wally Revere or whoever his name was then came along and took credit for killing everyone and even said he invented tea and teeth and apples and that Cilla was his wife and all other sorts of new America type bulltit lies, most of which none of the towns people believed. Anyhow, long story short, Johnny got his job back at the paper and married Cilla cause she was pregnant or something which was not totally unusual at this time for a fourteen year old girl. The book pretty much stops there except for a short epilogue about that crazy horse riding Paulie Reverendton, talking about how he ended up in some famous magazine cause some of his lying had paid off. Then he became the president for a while until he was assisinated by Johnny Tremain. An almost forgotten part of the book. In any case the book sprays out an unweilding amount of boy drama and hot girl sort of descriptions about the towns folk to the point that any nine to nineteen year old would easily form a wicked boy crush on both Johnny, Tubbers and Cilla, the latter being a girl-crush. Read it. You won't be dissapointed.Adam Nee
Johnny Tremain is the story of a talented young silversmith apprentice whose hand is badly burned by a jealous rival. With his bright future snatched from his grasp, he becomes a messenger embroiled in the American colonists' struggle for independence from the British. Johnny meets many legendary historical figures, like John Hancock, Sam Adams, and Paul Revere (himself a silversmith) and participates in many seminal events, like the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere's midnight ride. It's a fascinating premise that could have made for an excellent book. There was opportunity to craft a work of historical fiction that made the lives of the New England colonists come alive, or else a gripping adventure with incredible, larger-than-life personalities. Instead, the book is a boring, simplistic mess. There are three main elements of writing;1. How well the author uses words to construct sentences, thoughts, and imagery. 2. How exciting the work is. 3. How intelligent the work is; its themes and ideas. The book is a failure on all three points. In terms of the first, it's hard for me to fathom that Esther Forbes was a professional writer. Her sentences are stunted and banal, reporting the bare minimum of facts, with an absence of imagery or metaphor. Very rarely does she even touch upon a character's thoughts or feelings, just their actions. Now, this style works for some authors, but unfortunately, Forbes' words are rarely crisp and efficient. They blunder along, sloppily describing the barren world she imagined. In terms of excitement, "Johnny Tremain" best resembles a plodding mule. There aren't any surprises in the book! It's predictable the whole way through. It's like Ms. Forbes had a checkpoint of historical figures and events she wanted to include, but introducing any kind of suspense or twist was more bother than she could muster.The book also lacks any intelligence. Again, we almost never get to go into the mind and feelings of the characters, and when we do, we're only exposed to the most basic of emotions. There's no cleverness or significant brain activity by any of the characters in the novel. One might say this is defensible in a children's book, but I counter that even Winnie-Pooh or Brer Rabbit are far more intelligent, and they're ostensibly for much younger audiences. If you want a dull, simplistic read which can be fully summarized in a paragraph, read "Johnny Tremain". Otherwise, avoid this lousy hack job.
Do You like book Johnny Tremain (1987)?
I remember loving this book years (or decades?) ago in elementary school and given that it is set in Boston on the eve of the Revolutionary War, it was a perfect choice for a family road trip from Boston to Cape Cod. The title character, Johnny Tremain, is an apprentice to a mediocre silver smith. Due to an accident while pouring silver on the Sabbath, Johnny's hand is maimed and he is forced to take a more menial job delivering the town newspaper. Through the newspaper Johnny gets swept up with the politics of the time and we see through his eyes many pivotal points that led to the Revolution including the Boston Tea Party (not at all related to our current Tea Party...), Paul Revere's famous ride and the first skirmish at Concord. More than just a chronicle of events, the story gave insight on both the thrill and anguish when a country decides to go to war. Highly recommended.
—Julie
As she recounts the life experiences of twelve-year-old Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes skillfully conveys the excitement, danger and commitment experienced by the patriots who fought during the US Revolution. Many of the characters in this account are accurately portrayed and described—including several of those who helped write the Declaration of Independence. Reading this book cannot fail to make this time period truly understandable and alive. Unfortunately the length and language discourage the younger reader. I read this and then I listened to the book on tape. The book cassette was engaging and superb.This is a book to be read many times. I think adults would find it even more profound and meaningful than middle high and high school students.
—Kellyn
Certainly the first historic fiction I ever read because it was the first book I read myself. Whetted my appetite for more.Having moved many times as a child, I was functionally illiterate. (I faked reading by memorizing the Dick and Jane stories at school.) My mother enrolled me in a summer reading program which taught phonics. (Contrary to the Wikipedia entry, most schools did not teach phonics in the mid-20th century.) Wow.I picked Johnny Tremain (Probably not this edition) from the library at Anderson AFB, Guam, and read it myself.Thus began a life-long love of history, historical fiction and books.Thanks, Mom.
—Ron
