Review by Booklist Review
Gr 2-4. Shortly after John Chapman left his Massachusetts home in the late 1700s to amble down the frontier byways he became a well- loved folk hero-- a situation that continues today. Possibly our first environmentalist, he befriended animals and humans alike, eschewed guns and violence, planted apple orchards, and gave out apple seeds wherever he went. Legends flourished and the tales of Johnny's escapades swiftly carried from place to place and from decade to decade, escalating his deeds and character and making him a favorite American mythic figure. Kellogg, who has ingeniously translated the tales of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill into picture book successes, is ideal as interpreter of this fascinating man. Word and picture transport viewers from scenes of John Chapman's birth and early years to his adventures in the wilderness and his encounters with native dwellers, an assortment of animals, and early settlers. The book closes with Johnny Appleseed's death, though a final spread shows two modern-day children greeting the apple-giving man with outstretched arms over a text that states, ``Even today people still claim they've seen Johnny Appleseed''; keen-eyed youngsters will see on the copyright page a Pinkerton-accompanied family spotting Johnny. Kellogg's color has never been so rich and luxuriant, and his well-composed spreads are individualized with expressive faces and shading and detailed without being cluttered. Truths about Chapman are provided in an author's note, and an illustrated map provides a final flourish. An affectionate portrayal, enthusiastically accomplished. BE.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Johnny Appleseed (his real last name was Chapman) is reintroduced in this succinct rendition of the life of a beloved American folk hero, from his birth in Massachusetts in 1774 to his death in Indiana in 1845. Kellogg chronicles Johnny's travels throughout the land, his legendary scattering of appleseeds (originally culled from the orchards he frequented as a child) and his storytelling of Bible and adventure stories to the children and adults he meets along the way, which were embroidered as they were passed along by word-of-mouth). Kellogg's illustrations illuminate a man that all schoolchildren know, in a polished blend of fact and fiction. All ages. (September) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4 In the image of his Pecos Bill (1986) and Paul Bunyan (1984, both Morrow), Kellogg has created Johnny Appleseed perhaps the most colorful and appealing of this tall tale trio. Readers are skillfully lead into the story by means of colorful endpapers, title page, and frontispiece showing Johnny scattering seeds, checking on his saplings, and, as an old man, gathering apples. Illustrations are done in paint and pen and ink on textured paper in the muted greens, browns, and blues of the frontier woodlands, the red of the apples providing the only bright color. While several two-page panoramas are included, most illustrations fill two-thirds of the page, many bursting out of their white-bordered frames, and all of them brimming with the lush detail for which Kellogg has become famous. Indians, pioneers, and animals of woodland and farm, covered wagons and bargesall drawn in his familiar cartoon-like stylebring the frontier days to life. The brief text combining legend with fact, coupled with the picture book format, makes this life of Johnny Appleseed the most accessible and entertaining one available for young children. Johnny's unchanging youthful appearance throughout most of the book is the one disturbing flaw in this eye-catching volume. Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Kellogg celebrates the life and half-legendary exploits of another American folk hero in this exuberantly illustrated picture-book biography. Fact and fiction are woven together con brio: in scenes full of warm oranges and yellows, smiling faces, cats, dogs, woodland creatures and, of course, apples, readers can follow Johnny without difficulty from infancy to old age (and beyond!), through war, hard times, and dangerous adventures--many of which are visually summarized in a wild double-page spread. In contrast, the brief text often reads like a series of bland, colorless captions (""Watching the apples grow inspired in John a love of all of nature""). The occasional name or date, as well as an appended historical note, creates a concreteness missing from Aliki's vague Story of Johnny Appleseed, though both authors stress Chapman's pacifism. A welcome new introduction for younger readers to ""the most gentle, generous and beloved of America's mythic figures. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
