Johnny Appleseed

by Steven Kellogg, Steven Kellogg (Illustrator)

Overview

The larger-than-life story of a true American hero—John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed.

This fun picture book has been a favorite for generations. Bursting with energy and perfect for reading aloud at home or in the classroom, Johnny Appleseed is an excellent choice for storytime.

"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," according to School Library Journal. Steven Kellogg "is ideal as interpreter of this fascinating man. An affectionate portrayal, enthusiastically accomplished," praised Booklist

A good supplement for units on tall tales, folktales, American history, apples, and seasons! And just a fun read-aloud for sharing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688064174
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/22/1988
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.36(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Steven Kellogg was "moved by the simplicity, the subtleties, and the poignance of the writing in this story." He welcomed the opportunity to reillustrate it in full color. Mr. Kellogg is an award-winning author and illustrator who has created more than one hundred children's books, including The Three Little Pigs, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett. He is the illustrator of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Baby Beebee Bird. Mr. Kellogg is a recipient of the David McCord Citation and the Regina Medal for his distinguished contribution to children's literature. He lives with his wife, Helen, in upstate New York.

Steven Kellogg was "moved by the simplicity, the subtleties, and the poignance of the writing in this story." He welcomed the opportunity to reillustrate it in full color. Mr. Kellogg is an award-winning author and illustrator who has created more than one hundred children's books, including The Three Little Pigs, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett. He is the illustrator of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Baby Beebee Bird. Mr. Kellogg is a recipient of the David McCord Citation and the Regina Medal for his distinguished contribution to children's literature. He lives with his wife, Helen, in upstate New York.

Editorial Reviews

John Chapman, born in Massachusetts in 1774, loved animals and nature so much that he left home to live in the wilderness. Wherever he roamed, he cleared the land to plant apple trees. He gave the trees to settlers who followed, thus earning the fond name "Johnny Appleseed." Kellogg combines history with some of the legends surrounding this popular figure.

Barnes & Noble Staff

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)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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

School Library Journal