Jim Burke (5)Kirja-arvosteluja

Contrasts the story of Johnny Appleseed with known facts about John Chapman.

Naming Liberty is two stories wrapped into one book, the story of a Yiddish family immigrating and the story of building the Statue of Liberty. The audience sees the struggles of what immigration is like, and understand the importance of what the Statue of Liberty stands for. This book also hints at what immigrants have to do to be accepted in America. Such as changing their name, or giving up everything just to make it to America. Overall an informative story, but it is a little wordy in some areas.

As always when reading a book written by Jane Yolen, I learned more than previously known.

For example, this is not a simple tale of Johnny Appleseed with a pot on his head scattering apple seeds, rather it is a detailed rendering of his life.

He and his sister were orphaned when their mother died at an early age. His father then went on to marry a much younger woman who gave him many more sisters and brothers.

Poor families rarely kept children in school, and such was the case pf Johnny. Apprenticed to a local farmer, Johnny developed a love of working in the orchards. And, he loved picking and sewing seeds of apples.

Traveling throughout the states, he sells and sows seeds. Sadly, he died in winter after walking through the cold Indiana weather. When he saw cows who broke through a fence, he traveled many miles to repair the fence. As a result, he developed pneumonia.

You can visit his gravesite in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Buried in a six-dollar coffin (which was quite a lot of money at that time,) he died at the ripe age of 71. Owning eight hundred acres , a horse and thousands of apple trees and seeds, he left a large legacy.

As the book notes, "Bills and a greedy lawyer took much of his estate. Anything left went to his very special half sister." What he leaves behind is a legend."

I will keep this book with the other beautifully told and illustrated books kept on a special shelf.

Four and 1/2 stars!½

"Naming Liberty" is about a young girl's adventure to America. Gilt dreams of coming to America and following in her brother's foot steps. She and her family endure a tough journey from Russia to Ellis Island. Once she arrives, Gilt is very excited to get her new "American" name. But, unfortunately she is checked in by her real name. Her brother tells her that her name can be anything she wants in America. She likes the name Liberty, but decides to go by Libby. I really love this story because it takes the reader on a journey. I felt as if I were on the boat and stepping off at Ellis Island.

The author and illustrator do a wonderful job of intertwining two stories together to show the meaning of liberty for two different people. Gilt and her Russian family are planning to make the move to America for freedom. Bartholdi makes his dreams come to life when he designs and builds the statue of liberty to honor this freedom for so many families who come to America for a better life. Gilt and her family made it to America only to be greeted by this majestic statue. It is then when Gilt decides her American name will be Liberty...Libby for short. This book is a lovely story about the statue of liberty and how it symbolizes freedom to all Americans.½

This story in unique in that it is told from the perspective of two different people; a little girl who is coming to America with her family and Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who created the Statue of Liberty. As the girl, Gitl, and her family make their way from Russia to America they are greeted in America by the Statue of Liberty. Gitl realizes that they are free and she feels as if they are being welcomed by the Statue of Liberty. I believe that Frederic Batholdi wanted that for everyone who made their way to America, the feeling of freedom.
I did enjoy that this book told two different stories happening at the same time, eventually being tied together at the end when Gitl is welcomed to America by Frederic Batholdi's statue.

Summary:
The book is told by two different people. It is told by a little girl who is moving from Russia to America, and it is told by a man named Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who made the statue of liberty for America. The story is interesting because as the reader we get to see the two sides happening at the same time. Bartholdi is making something grand for America to show how it stands for freedom. The little girl is traveling from Russia to America, and when the girl arrives in America the first thing she sees is the statue of liberty, and she realizes that she is free. That was the point that Bartholdi was trying to make. He wanted everyone to know that they were coming to America to be free and that is why he wanted the statue of liberty to be the first thing that these people saw.

Personal reaction:
I actually learned a lot about how the statue of liberty was made that i did not know. It was cool to read about the detail of it and this book gives you the reason behind the statue of liberty-freedom.

Extension:
Craft: have the students color their own statue of liberty
Discussion: have the student discuss what they would name the statue of liberty.

Everyone knows the legend of Johnny Appleseed, the man from Massachusetts who planted apple trees all the way to California. But the true story of Johnny Appleseed, or John Chapman, is even greater than the legend. In deft and lyrical prose, Jane Yolen tells the whole story of an individual who forever changed the landscape of America.

Summary:
The book is about two individuals both coming to America for a purpose. Gilt is a Russian girl who's family is moving to America to escape the problems in their country. The whole the book follows her and her family's struggles coming to America. The journey to the ocean was a difficult one. The family had difficulties with money and food. They sold everything they owned including all their animals for money for the trip. The boat ride across the ocean was difficult. The part of the ship where the people were held was always hot and they would have to go up top to get some air. They were running out of food towards the end of the trip. Simultaneously the book tells the story of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi the man who designed and made the Statue of Liberty. The book goes over his struggles to design the statue and the funding problems he had.
Personal Reaction:
I really enjoyed this book. It gives a look at two different individuals from two different backgrounds. It gives a history of an iconic American symbol and what it means to the individuals that see it. I think it's an important book to read to kids to show them how important some of our symbols are.
Classroom Extension Activites:
1. Use the book to start discussing immigration and the history of the Statue of Liberty.
2. Have them create their own statue to represent freedom and liberty.

“Naming Liberty,” is an interesting book. The book is told by two different people. It is told by a little girl who is moving from Russia to America, and it is told by a man named Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who made the statue of liberty for America. The story is interesting because as the reader we get to see the two sides happening at the same time. Bartholdi is making something grand for America to show how it stands for freedom. The little girl is traveling from Russia to America, and when the girl arrives in America the first thing she sees is the statue of liberty, and she realizes that she is free. That was the point that Bartholdi was trying to make. He wanted everyone to know that they were coming to America to be free and that is why he wanted the statue of liberty to be the first thing that these people saw. It was fascinating to see these two individuals stories side by side and watching both of them grow.½

The accounts of a Russian family split by the gutter of the book with the accounts of a French man, Bartholdi. On one hand you have this family who wants to go to America for freedom and on the other hand, the french are planning on giving America a 100th birthday present. As immigrants the Russian family had a long struggle of getting to America. As a frenchman who was well known, the trips to America were quite simple. No matter how old you are, you deserve freedom. The setting of this book helps the reader establish a timeline for both sides of the story.

I found a couple of aspects of this book to be quite interesting. First and foremost, it is not the traditional telling of the "Johnny Appleseed Story," that is typically learned in elementary, i.e. a guy with a pot on his head randomly planting apple seeds across America. Instead, the reader is given a more biographically correct version John Chapman. Honestly, a bunch of the facts were news to me. [Spoilers] I had no idea that his mother died during his youth and that his father remarried to have many other children. While I was familiar with the image of the man - a pot on the head and a potato sack onesie - I did not know that planting apple seeds was his business. He did not only proliferate the crop across the country, but he grew and sold them for livelihood. Again, news to me.

The book is also written in form of free verse poetry. While my own opinion on this form is on the negative end of the spectrum (It reads like prose!), I do recognize it as a valid form, and one that should be taught. This book provides for both biographical and poetry lessons. Students love to write in free verse, as it is unrestricted and therefore easier. This book could foray into an assignment in which students read a biography of their choice, and then write their own free verse poem on their subject.

As for theme, I struggle to find one. It is written as a biographical piece, really lacking any bias.½

This is a story passed down from generations about how one family immigrated to America, along with the story of the Statue of Liberty.

“Johnny Apple Seed” is a historic realism story. The story tell the legend of Johnny apple seed in poems, at the end of the poem there is a short summary of actual facts about Johnny apple seed. Each page is a different poem. The illustrations are muted which give a feeling that this happened a long time ago and each illustration works well with each poem.
Person Reflection
I like how the author bought legend and history together in this book. The Legend is told in poem form and the history was brought in at the end of each poem to support it. The illustrations are drawn in sepia tones to give and age to the poems and history.
Extension ideas
I would have the students make Johnny Apple Seed and write what they like the most about him.
I would have the students plant a seed and watch it grow.

The book is written from two point of views. They come together, to from the history behind ellis island. Its an interesting read about immigration back around that time. Its a great book to let kids read to further their knowledge about this subject.

In my opinion, I thought that this was a good book. This book is about the life of John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed. John grew up to be a very humble man that had managed to plant apple orchards across North America. I really liked the structure of this book. For example, each page would have a short poem at the beginning, followed by a little bit of history highlighting something important in John’s life, and at the end would be an interesting fact about John. I did, in fact, enjoy the poems a lot since each poem had the phrase, “Johnny, Johnny Appleseed” at the end. For example, one poem was, “Planting trees/Is quite an art./He plants the apples,/With his heart./Johnny, Johnny Appleseed”. I also really liked how the text looked like it was written on something that resembled parchment paper. It was interesting to see that connection of the paper to the time period that John Chapman had lived (1774-1845). After reading this book, I believe the big idea is to inform readers the life of John Chapman a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed. I definitely thought that this is a very interesting and intriguing book that chronicles the life of an American legend.

Summary: This chapter book is about John Chapman or Johnny Appleseed as his well known name. The book discusses the story or legend of Johnny Appleseed and his adventures of planting seeds all over the mid-west. However, it also discusses the truth. The documented facts of the real man behind the legend, John Chapman, and his story of owning orchards and selling his apples.

Argument: This story was a good read for young children for many reasons. First, I liked that each page started with a poem that repeated the phrase "Johnny Johnny Appleseed" on each page. The poem had to do with the content being told on each page and just gave a little precursor before reading. For example, on page 9 the poem is, "Learns to write, Learns to read, First word he pens Is apple seed. Johnny Johnny Appleseed". The second reason I enjoyed this book was for its content. The book talks about the legend or the story of Johnny Appleseed but it also at the bottom of each page has a documented fact about John Chapman's life. For example, on page 22 the legend talks about Johnny's adventures planting appleseeds across the midwest. But the fact at the bottom states, "The first evidence John Chapman actually bought land for orchards is recorded in 1809 in Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he purchased two lots. By 1815, he owned 640 acres". The last reason I felt this book was a good read was for its type and placement of text on each page. The text on each page is written like a poem-breaking at certain points, starting a new line, and consists of short, descriptive phrases. Also, all of the texts are placed on what looks like a small piece of parchment paper, making it look like someone was writing a journal or diary.
The theme of this book is that sometimes a story can be a better telling of someone's life than the truth. The legend of Johnny Appleseed has been added to and exaggerated over time but that does not make it any less true. Legends live on for generations and generations and tell a wonderful story through thrilling adventures and journeys.

This is an interesting take on a biography with the text divided into three sections: a minimal poem, a historical narrative section, and a section called the facts where Yolen basically validates her history by revealing the resources that provided her with the story she shares.

This is quite possibly my favorite work by Jane Yolen of this millennium. Written from two points of view this story manages to twine together the story of immigration with the story of the origins of the Statue of Liberty. It requires a bit of patience, but this is a very well written, cleverly presented book.

Everyone has heard of Johnny Appleseed. This birography starts at his birth and endsat his death. With poem verses at the beginning of each passage, this book is loaded with interesting facts. This book would be great for young kids to read if they were doing a project on Johnny Appleseed.

This book contains two stories told parallel to one another. One tells the story of Russian immigrants coming to America and a young girl finally deciding on her American name—Liberty. The second story tells about the twenty-one year ambition of Bartholdi’s dream to gift America with a great statue celebrating America’s independence.

Hynes Library:
A biography of Johnny Appleseed that is for 2nd to 5th graders. The book is set up describing the legend of Johnny Appleseed and than at the bottom giving the fact that the legend grew from.

Naming Liberty is a book who's setting is based in the 1800's, right when the Statue of Liberty is being built for America. A Ukrainian Jewish family who plans to emigration to the United States. Gitl is the main character who is a seven year old little girl. As her family prepares to move to the U.S, they are thing of American names. She can't seem to find a good American name she is happy with. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi is the artist who was working on the the Statue of Liberty and he sold paintings and raised money to create the statue. In the end the girl decides her name is going to Liberty, Libby for short. This is a wonderfully written book and beautiful paintings by the artist. Both the writer and illustrator captured the essences of New York and a little girls dream to be an American. This would be a great book to teach students about the statue of Liberty, immigration, and the freedom of an American.

This book discusses the creation of the statue of liberty and how it go to New York. It also follows a family of Jews who are trying to move to America. In the end the statue of liberty is there when their boat comes in the harbor.

This book shows that liberty means something different to everyone. On one page, it shows what America means to an immigrant family, and on the other, it shows how the statue of liberty came to be. This book illustrates that the statue of liberty has become an icon for freedom across the globe. For immigrants, it held the message that they were almost to the land of the free. I think this book is important to share with students in any class because freedom is something we take for granted.