I Love History

Little known fact: I had a history minor in undergrad.  Surprised?  Probably not, I have alluded to my love of history on the blog before.  In the minor you are supposed to take a variety of history courses, which I did between the courses I took in Greece and the ones I took in Messiah, but there are also some free credits where you can take whichever history course is most appealing to you.  With those credits I built a nice little block of American History courses, my favorite of which was Dr. Fea's Colonial America course (and here's a plug his blog is here).

My Immigrant America Class, also with Dr. Fea , at Ellis Island

So since I love history, especially American history, I was thrilled by the tagline of Ester Forbes Johnny Tremain, "a story of Boston in revolt."  Listen to the way Forbes describes the spirit of the time, "Doctor cooper was putting more politics than gospel int his sermons that fall and more fear of 'taxation without representation' than God into his congregation." This book did such a good job at making the past an accessible place that anyone who reads the book can clearly picture and understand.

This book is all about Johnny Tremain and he is one of the most fascinating characters I have encountered in all of the books so far.  He was working as a silversmith until he burned and disfigured his hand in a terrible accident.  Then young Johnny has to figure out exactly what it is he wants to do with his life, and this is a long hard process. "For a little while it had been touch and go with him. If pushed a little farther, he might have taken to crime because that was what was expected of him."  This just reminded me how hard it is for kids to figure out who they are and what they want out of life.  It also reminded me of the great responsibility everyone who works with children have.  For many kids it is touch and go.

So what happens with Johnny?  You're going to have to read the book to find out.  I can guarantee that it is a fantastic read with an incredibly satisfying ending.

Learning who you are, even during revolt...that's kids stuff.