Julius Lester
John Henry is a mythical American perhaps loosely based on a real person more children should learn about, so I'm pleased to see a few of his stories being retold in this volume: his birth and prodigious growth, building a road, and hammering through a mountain.
I was less enthused with the odd insertion of modern touchesa swimming pool and Jacuzzi added to the houseinto a story dating to the lates.
Still, it's an enjoyable read with fun metaphors and similes, interesting stories, a likable character, and attractive artwork,
Note: John Henry is an admirable hero, and children may be distressed when he dies, Use your judgment with sensitive children, However, the book handles it well, and it could be a teaching moment with meaningful discussion with the right children.
I loved this book. This is a Tall Tail because John Henry performs tasks that should not be possible for a human, I liked how much the moon and sun were apart of the story, The book talks about when John Henry first grows that the sun got scared and hit behind the moon, I like the exaggeration of John Henry being larger than life,
This is an incredible book to bring into the classroom, I would emphasis that John Henry is kind, Especially when talking about the first road he helped to push the rock away from, I would talk about how no matter how different we all may be, that we all have a purpose, When John Henry takes the rock away from the mountain, I love that part of the book and how it talks about the rainbow coming from him as he was doing work.
I would talk to my students about what the rainbow means to them and what they think about John Henry.
The ending is my favorite, I like how it leaves a little mystery about his life when John Henry talks about what mattersthat you live your life well.
John Henry did this in serving other people, I would talk about this with my students and how they feel some aspects of themselves are unique to foster an environment where they feel proud of who they are like John Henry did by using his skills to help others.
Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Doc Watson, Bruce Springsteen, . . they all sang about John Henry, So why do I not know the ballad that tells of this man Well, I do now, This book recounts the tale of JH think of Paul Bunyon and his incredible strength and work ethic,
Here's a line from the book about his beginning:
When John Henry was born, birds came from everywhere to see him.
The bears and panthers and moose and deer and rabbits and squirrels and even a unicorn, . .
And then when he dies, we learn that,
"Dying ain't important, Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living, " This story is a rehashing of the old folktale of a man by the name of John Henry, John Henry was an extraordinarily large man who grew up extraordinarily fast, As I had never heard of this folktale before reading this story, it entertained me greatly,
John Henry does many amazing things throughout the story, which includes outrunning a horse and breaking through a boulder that even dynamite could not even break through.
Julius Lester uses great words to describe all the action in the story this includes onomatopoeia, which I love, showing up many times.
Once you start reading this story, you will not be able to put it down until you find out whether or not John Henry beats the mechanical machine through the mountain.
This book is so great, you will be singing the song about John Henry for days after finishing and feel like a rainbow is following you.
Rumored to be stronger than ten men and faster than a drill that cuts through a mountain, making way for a railroad, John Henry pits his super human strength against a drill to discern which is faster.
A folk tale to be appreciated, the images are crisp and lovely, Author Julius Lester and illustrator Jerry Pinkney join forces in this lovely picturebook retelling of the tall tale of John Henry, the legendary AfricanAmerican steel driver whose contest with a steampowered drilling machine has been immortalized in American folk music.
Extraordinary from the moment he was born, John Henry amazed the woodland animals, his parents, and the sun and moon themselves.
Eventually setting out to make his way in the world, he performed marvelous feats, before eventually coming to the mountain in West Virginia where the railroad needed to get through.
It was here he triumphed in his race with the machine, only to die in the end, . .
I have always thought of the story of legendary hero John Henry as being a meditation on humanity and the human spirit on our strength and weakness, our ability to perform extraordinary deeds, and ultimately, our mortality.
Set in a time of increasing mechanization, the story both upholds the idea of the human being as superior to the machine, and undermines it, by highlighting that our great deeds must come at a price, and cannot be sustained forever.
Lester's poetic and poignant retelling in this picturebook captures that feeling for me, while Pinkney's gorgeous watercolor illustrations ably bring out the beauty and power of the central figure's story.
The artwork here was definitely worthy of the Caldecott Honor it received! I've long been aware of this retelling, and am glad to have finally picked it up and read it.
I will have to seek out the one from sitelinkEzra Jack Keats, and see how it compares, Recommended to all young talltale lovers, as well as to fellow Pinkney fans, Julius Lesters “John Henry” is a tall tale that tells the story of African American folk hero John Henry, The most prominent rhetorical device Lester employs in his tale is the use of hyperbole to over exaggerate the great accomplishments of the esteemed legend John Henry.
In addition to his of hyperbole, Lester makes use of personification, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia to enhance the story of John Henry.
I think this historical tall tale would be a great read in the classroom and could be used as an introduction to more complex rhetorical devices, as there is quite a lot going on in this story.
Additionally, I think this could be used to supplement an American history lesson, Not only can “John Henry” be used to teach content, but it can also be used to challenge children to identify the moral of the tale and then make generalizations about society.
“John Henry” would be a perfect book for upper elementary students, as it can initiate dialogue about complex issues in a way that is appropriate and respectful.
John Henry is an AfricanAmerican folk hero, I'm not sure I remember the story, sitelinkJulius Lester states at the beginning no one know for sure what the real story is, His style of writing is very personal and makes the reader truly understand the feel of the what is going on.
And the watercolor paintings are wonderful, Yesterday I shared this book with a young student I tutor, and it was an amazing success, I read it to him as he ate his snack and we finished it at his request, That has never happened before, He asked questions, studied the pictures, and repeated some of the text after me, This is a child who hates reading and doesn't especially enjoy being read to, We went on to complete his lesson with vowel sounds, spelling, reading, and writing, He stayed in his chair through most of the lesson, and focused on his work, No session is ever perfect but this one came close, I credit Julius Lester's storytelling and Jerry Pinkney's beautifully detailed illustrations for setting the tone and giving us a great start to the session.
John Henry and his hammer, What a great story. Beautifully illustrated. Hopeful, down to earth and full of spirit, This is a good book for a discussion on historical tales/people, The text also expresses words using all capitals, This is good for teaching young writers how to use various forms to express words, With regard to Julius Lester'sJohn Henry, it is in particular illustrator Jerry Pinkney'sCaldecott Honour winning accompanying illustrations which I have always found and ever since first reading the book as a library copy a couple of
years ago very much personally and visually impressive expressive.
For although Pinkney's pictorial renderings are at times perhaps almost a trifle too overly busy for my eyes and attention span and sometimes do seem to obtain even some modern anachronisms, their minute details are indeed both lushly rendered and also very much and successfully mirror Julius Lester's printed words his retelling of the John Henry Tall Tale tradition, a richly nuanced narrative, chock full of delightfully evocative metaphors, similes, literary allusions and as such, Julius Lester's text is most definitely very much as verbally dense and as full as Jerry Pinkney's pictorial renderings and vice versa, a truly and in many ways lovely and stunning marriage of text and images.
However, as much as I have appreciated Julius Lester's retelling, and as much as I have indeed even much loved his included author's note on American Tall Tales as well as of course the presented information on the genesis of the John Henry tradition in particular I also cannot say that I have found Lester's John Henry all that much to my personal and folkloric liking to my tastes.
For I just do not and cannot see Julius Lester's John Henry as being all that much of a potentially positive role model, as the sense of him actually doing something worthwhile and for the good of everyone is kind of majorly missing and lost at least in that last and ultimately fatal to and for him contest.
For sorry, but John Henry's last bet, it sure seems to and for me to be just a wager for a its own sake, man against machine, and basically a rather majorly and sadly silly reason to kill oneself for in my opinion and something that in other renditions of John Henry is actually not ever as prominently featured as being simply a contest for the sake of winning, as while there is still that battle between man and machine, with John Henry winning but at the cost of his life, unlike in Julius Lester's John Henry, with other versions of the tale I have read, there is also a distinct reason shown as to why John Henry would even decide on the contest, namely because the machine against which he decides to measure himself will be putting a lot of his railroading friends and acquaintances permanently out of work, but with Julius Lester, that particular and in my opinion very much important aspect of John Henry's desire to enter into said and his last contest never really comes through all that well, all that much, and you are left, or at least I am left with a rather uncomfortable feeling that John Henry basically just sacrifices himself for nothing more than a supremely silly wager and contest against a machine, that he really ends up dying in vain.
This is a very nice version of the John Henry story, I don't remember ever hearing about FerretFaced Freddy and the bet that John Henry made with him which then turned him into Frederick the Friendly.
This also tells the story of John Henry clearing a boulder that dynamite couldn't break and racing a steam drill to create a tunnel through a mountain.
One disadvantage of such a comprehensive story, though, is that it is too long for me to read aloud as part of a library lesson.
I loved the colorful way the story was written, with lots of comparisons using nature, For example: " he was so fast, the wind was out of breath trying to keep up with him, " Or, "His voice sounded like bat wings on tombstones" speaking of FerretFaced Freddy,
The illustrations fit very well with the story, but for some reason they just aren't my favorite, I can see that they are very well done and I'm not disputing that they merit a Caldecott honor, They just aren't my favorite, Not sure why. I really liked Jerry Pinkney's illustrations in sitelinkNoah's Ark,
The library book that I read came as part of a kit with an audio cassette narrated by Samuel L.
Jackson. The audio was great! Samuel L, Jackson does a wonderful job with the narration, and I really enjoyed the background music and sound effects that went with it.
The audio really added to my experience with the book, .
his two sledgehammers pulverizing boulders, John Henry races a steam drill tunneling through a mountain, It's a deadly contest of manvsmachine written with such power that this AfricanAmerican folk hero becomes as awesome as a force of nature, yet as familiar as an older brother.
Pinkney's stunning art shows John Henry's energy bursting from nature, Full color. Really excellent, just fun use of language and a great story, Pinkney's illustrations are wonderful, really couldn't ask for a better treatment of John Henry, I love that there are some notes at the beginning about the origin of the story and the source materials used that way older readers can read more if they so choose.
There are a couple clunky bits in the text, but, illustrations are so fantastic you don't really notice them.
I really liked both the text and the illustrations of this version of John Henry, This retelling seemed to have more rich detail than versions I have read in the past, Figurative language was woven throughout, For example, "This was no ordinary boulder, It was as hard as anger and so big around, it took half a week for a tall man to walk from one side to the other.
" Or "What he saw was a mountain as big as hurt feelings, " I love the inclusion of so many details such as him wrapping the rainbow around himself or how FerretFaced Freddy came to be known Frederick the Friendly.
The story is truly painted in minute detail through both words and illustrations,
And I like what was whispered at this funeral, . . "Dying ain't important. Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living, " An interesting introduction to the legend of John Henry although for whatever reason I had the song "Big John" stuck in my head before reading this, which isn't the same John.
John Henry is one of those little known folk heroes and I wish there was more on him than there tends to be.
Unfortunately this tends to be one of those books that is distracting from the actual story or making more of a mess for those who are sincerely interested.
And one of the reasons I gave such a low score to the book is the attempted modernization of some of the events.
The illustrations are a bit darkcolored and jammed so don't often contribute much to the story in my opinion although the few colors do pop out for the reader.
At the same time the illustration used the concept of a unicorn along with the author's tale to showcase the important birth as a unicorn or white elephant normally appears in mythoi for many other notable origins and events.
The writing is easy to follow and has some beautiful descriptions in it, which I enjoyed, But overall I just feel the book was lacking,
A very different version of the story than the one I was familiar with, Beautiful in its own way,
The United States has some wonderful folk heroes who are fading from memory, Julius Lester revives the story of AfricanAmerican John Henry with an updated retelling,
John Henry is a mythical American perhaps loosely based on a real person more children should learn about, so I'm pleased to see a few of his stories being retold in this volume: his birth and prodigious growth, building a road, and hammering through a mountain.
I was less enthused with the odd insertion of modern touchesa swimming pool and Jacuzzi added to the houseinto a story dating to the lates.
Still, it's an enjoyable read with fun metaphors and similes, interesting stories, a likable character, and attractive artwork,
Note: John Henry is an admirable hero, and children may be distressed when he dies, Use your judgment with sensitive children, However, the book handles it well, and it could be a teaching moment with meaningful discussion with the right children.
I loved this book. This is a Tall Tail because John Henry performs tasks that should not be possible for a human, I liked how much the moon and sun were apart of the story, The book talks about when John Henry first grows that the sun got scared and hit behind the moon, I like the exaggeration of John Henry being larger than life,
This is an incredible book to bring into the classroom, I would emphasis that John Henry is kind, Especially when talking about the first road he helped to push the rock away from, I would talk about how no matter how different we all may be, that we all have a purpose, When John Henry takes the rock away from the mountain, I love that part of the book and how it talks about the rainbow coming from him as he was doing work.
I would talk to my students about what the rainbow means to them and what they think about John Henry.
The ending is my favorite, I like how it leaves a little mystery about his life when John Henry talks about what mattersthat you live your life well.
John Henry did this in serving other people, I would talk about this with my students and how they feel some aspects of themselves are unique to foster an environment where they feel proud of who they are like John Henry did by using his skills to help others.
Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Doc Watson, Bruce Springsteen, . . they all sang about John Henry, So why do I not know the ballad that tells of this man Well, I do now, This book recounts the tale of JH think of Paul Bunyon and his incredible strength and work ethic,
Here's a line from the book about his beginning:
When John Henry was born, birds came from everywhere to see him.
The bears and panthers and moose and deer and rabbits and squirrels and even a unicorn, . .
And then when he dies, we learn that,
"Dying ain't important, Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living, " This story is a rehashing of the old folktale of a man by the name of John Henry, John Henry was an extraordinarily large man who grew up extraordinarily fast, As I had never heard of this folktale before reading this story, it entertained me greatly,
John Henry does many amazing things throughout the story, which includes outrunning a horse and breaking through a boulder that even dynamite could not even break through.
Julius Lester uses great words to describe all the action in the story this includes onomatopoeia, which I love, showing up many times.
Once you start reading this story, you will not be able to put it down until you find out whether or not John Henry beats the mechanical machine through the mountain.
This book is so great, you will be singing the song about John Henry for days after finishing and feel like a rainbow is following you.
Rumored to be stronger than ten men and faster than a drill that cuts through a mountain, making way for a railroad, John Henry pits his super human strength against a drill to discern which is faster.
A folk tale to be appreciated, the images are crisp and lovely, Author Julius Lester and illustrator Jerry Pinkney join forces in this lovely picturebook retelling of the tall tale of John Henry, the legendary AfricanAmerican steel driver whose contest with a steampowered drilling machine has been immortalized in American folk music.
Extraordinary from the moment he was born, John Henry amazed the woodland animals, his parents, and the sun and moon themselves.
Eventually setting out to make his way in the world, he performed marvelous feats, before eventually coming to the mountain in West Virginia where the railroad needed to get through.
It was here he triumphed in his race with the machine, only to die in the end, . .
I have always thought of the story of legendary hero John Henry as being a meditation on humanity and the human spirit on our strength and weakness, our ability to perform extraordinary deeds, and ultimately, our mortality.
Set in a time of increasing mechanization, the story both upholds the idea of the human being as superior to the machine, and undermines it, by highlighting that our great deeds must come at a price, and cannot be sustained forever.
Lester's poetic and poignant retelling in this picturebook captures that feeling for me, while Pinkney's gorgeous watercolor illustrations ably bring out the beauty and power of the central figure's story.
The artwork here was definitely worthy of the Caldecott Honor it received! I've long been aware of this retelling, and am glad to have finally picked it up and read it.
I will have to seek out the one from sitelinkEzra Jack Keats, and see how it compares, Recommended to all young talltale lovers, as well as to fellow Pinkney fans, Julius Lesters “John Henry” is a tall tale that tells the story of African American folk hero John Henry, The most prominent rhetorical device Lester employs in his tale is the use of hyperbole to over exaggerate the great accomplishments of the esteemed legend John Henry.
In addition to his of hyperbole, Lester makes use of personification, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia to enhance the story of John Henry.
I think this historical tall tale would be a great read in the classroom and could be used as an introduction to more complex rhetorical devices, as there is quite a lot going on in this story.
Additionally, I think this could be used to supplement an American history lesson, Not only can “John Henry” be used to teach content, but it can also be used to challenge children to identify the moral of the tale and then make generalizations about society.
“John Henry” would be a perfect book for upper elementary students, as it can initiate dialogue about complex issues in a way that is appropriate and respectful.
John Henry is an AfricanAmerican folk hero, I'm not sure I remember the story, sitelinkJulius Lester states at the beginning no one know for sure what the real story is, His style of writing is very personal and makes the reader truly understand the feel of the what is going on.
And the watercolor paintings are wonderful, Yesterday I shared this book with a young student I tutor, and it was an amazing success, I read it to him as he ate his snack and we finished it at his request, That has never happened before, He asked questions, studied the pictures, and repeated some of the text after me, This is a child who hates reading and doesn't especially enjoy being read to, We went on to complete his lesson with vowel sounds, spelling, reading, and writing, He stayed in his chair through most of the lesson, and focused on his work, No session is ever perfect but this one came close, I credit Julius Lester's storytelling and Jerry Pinkney's beautifully detailed illustrations for setting the tone and giving us a great start to the session.
John Henry and his hammer, What a great story. Beautifully illustrated. Hopeful, down to earth and full of spirit, This is a good book for a discussion on historical tales/people, The text also expresses words using all capitals, This is good for teaching young writers how to use various forms to express words, With regard to Julius Lester'sJohn Henry, it is in particular illustrator Jerry Pinkney'sCaldecott Honour winning accompanying illustrations which I have always found and ever since first reading the book as a library copy a couple of
years ago very much personally and visually impressive expressive.
For although Pinkney's pictorial renderings are at times perhaps almost a trifle too overly busy for my eyes and attention span and sometimes do seem to obtain even some modern anachronisms, their minute details are indeed both lushly rendered and also very much and successfully mirror Julius Lester's printed words his retelling of the John Henry Tall Tale tradition, a richly nuanced narrative, chock full of delightfully evocative metaphors, similes, literary allusions and as such, Julius Lester's text is most definitely very much as verbally dense and as full as Jerry Pinkney's pictorial renderings and vice versa, a truly and in many ways lovely and stunning marriage of text and images.
However, as much as I have appreciated Julius Lester's retelling, and as much as I have indeed even much loved his included author's note on American Tall Tales as well as of course the presented information on the genesis of the John Henry tradition in particular I also cannot say that I have found Lester's John Henry all that much to my personal and folkloric liking to my tastes.
For I just do not and cannot see Julius Lester's John Henry as being all that much of a potentially positive role model, as the sense of him actually doing something worthwhile and for the good of everyone is kind of majorly missing and lost at least in that last and ultimately fatal to and for him contest.
For sorry, but John Henry's last bet, it sure seems to and for me to be just a wager for a its own sake, man against machine, and basically a rather majorly and sadly silly reason to kill oneself for in my opinion and something that in other renditions of John Henry is actually not ever as prominently featured as being simply a contest for the sake of winning, as while there is still that battle between man and machine, with John Henry winning but at the cost of his life, unlike in Julius Lester's John Henry, with other versions of the tale I have read, there is also a distinct reason shown as to why John Henry would even decide on the contest, namely because the machine against which he decides to measure himself will be putting a lot of his railroading friends and acquaintances permanently out of work, but with Julius Lester, that particular and in my opinion very much important aspect of John Henry's desire to enter into said and his last contest never really comes through all that well, all that much, and you are left, or at least I am left with a rather uncomfortable feeling that John Henry basically just sacrifices himself for nothing more than a supremely silly wager and contest against a machine, that he really ends up dying in vain.
This is a very nice version of the John Henry story, I don't remember ever hearing about FerretFaced Freddy and the bet that John Henry made with him which then turned him into Frederick the Friendly.
This also tells the story of John Henry clearing a boulder that dynamite couldn't break and racing a steam drill to create a tunnel through a mountain.
One disadvantage of such a comprehensive story, though, is that it is too long for me to read aloud as part of a library lesson.
I loved the colorful way the story was written, with lots of comparisons using nature, For example: " he was so fast, the wind was out of breath trying to keep up with him, " Or, "His voice sounded like bat wings on tombstones" speaking of FerretFaced Freddy,
The illustrations fit very well with the story, but for some reason they just aren't my favorite, I can see that they are very well done and I'm not disputing that they merit a Caldecott honor, They just aren't my favorite, Not sure why. I really liked Jerry Pinkney's illustrations in sitelinkNoah's Ark,
The library book that I read came as part of a kit with an audio cassette narrated by Samuel L.
Jackson. The audio was great! Samuel L, Jackson does a wonderful job with the narration, and I really enjoyed the background music and sound effects that went with it.
The audio really added to my experience with the book, .