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32nd out of 76 books
—
226 voters
Ox-Cart Man
Describes the day-to-day life of an early nineteenth-century New England family throughout the changing seasons.
Paperback, 40 pages
Published
October 27th 1983
by Puffin
(first published October 8th 1979)
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This was another of those interesting books. The drawing/pictures in this book reminded me a lot the image that you have to assemble for those 1000 piece puzzles. I certainly feel like I have seen this person’s drawing before. The colors were vivid and colorful. The text was extremely easy to follow, only at times I felt it was repetitive and caught a bit of alliteration. The way the story was structured was interesting, mainly because you see what the amount of work that the family has to do in...more
Only the illustrations earn the second star. All are classic representations of colonial New England, but only the panoramic depictions of the Ox Cart Man's journeys are anything special. The flowing path evokes a journey of many days while allowing the whole journey to appear in one frame. The colors in these illustrations also portray the beauty of the region missing in the dreariness of the rest of the tale. Unfortunately these three illustrations cannot overcome the boring, repetitive and de...more
I have actually first seen “Ox-Cart Man” on an episode of “Reading Rainbow” and I have decided to re-read this book after so many years of not reading it in my adult years. “Ox-Cart Man” is a Caldecott Medal Award winning book by Donald Hall along with illustrations by Barbara Cooney and it basically details the everyday life of how a man and his family keep on making new items to sell at the market and to use the money they earned from selling their items to buy new items. “Ox-Cart Man” might h...more
Ages: 5-9
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney is a beautiful example of historical fiction picture books. Hall’s simple prose provide information to young readers about daily life in nineteenth century New England. The readers come to understand that life takes on a cycle that follows the seasons so that the entire year is spent getting ready for market that provides money for supplies that go into preparations for the next year. Hall shows how each member of the family and...more
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney is a beautiful example of historical fiction picture books. Hall’s simple prose provide information to young readers about daily life in nineteenth century New England. The readers come to understand that life takes on a cycle that follows the seasons so that the entire year is spent getting ready for market that provides money for supplies that go into preparations for the next year. Hall shows how each member of the family and...more
Perhaps as much or more so than any other winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal, Ox-Cart Man finds the power of its telling chiefly through its incredible artwork, rendered by Barbara Cooney.
I think of Barbara Cooney as quite likely the hardest-working illustrator in the history of literature for young readers, given her tendency to go the extra mile (or 2,000 miles!) when it comes to collecting research for the scenes that she plans on creating. In Ox-Cart Man, Barbara Cooney has done a trul...more
I think of Barbara Cooney as quite likely the hardest-working illustrator in the history of literature for young readers, given her tendency to go the extra mile (or 2,000 miles!) when it comes to collecting research for the scenes that she plans on creating. In Ox-Cart Man, Barbara Cooney has done a trul...more
This beautifully written story follows a year in the life of a 19th-Century New England family. It echoes the style of Donald Hall’s poetic version of the story, which probably preceded this book.
In the first scene, the Ox-Cart Man loads his cart with goods to drive into town: wool, knitted goods, woven flax, hand-whittled brooms, shingles, and so on. As he loads the cart, the narrator embeds brief descriptions of how the family worked to create them. On selling the goods, the man buys supplies...more
In the first scene, the Ox-Cart Man loads his cart with goods to drive into town: wool, knitted goods, woven flax, hand-whittled brooms, shingles, and so on. As he loads the cart, the narrator embeds brief descriptions of how the family worked to create them. On selling the goods, the man buys supplies...more
Ox-Cart Man is a story about a man who works all year long to provide the little things for his family. He hooks up his Ox cart and goes to town to sell t he goods that his family had been working on all year. Once he gets to town he sells everything he brought, as well as his cart and ox. With what he made, he buys little gifts for his family as a thank you for all of their hard word. The story is a wonderful and heartwarming story of family and a man who loves his family. I really enjoyed read...more
I was unsure if I had read this or not, but when I read it aloud to Natalie, it came rushing back. I had unusually strong memories of the items that the ox cart man sells and buys, especially the woolen mittens and the wintergreen candy. For some reason, I had strong physical images of these things. I'm not sure if the Reading Rainbow spot helped create these images or if it was my imagination as a child (I'm leaning towards the former). I am quite flabbergasted how this simple, unimposing book...more
Though the 'Ox-Cart Man' by Donald Hall from 1979 is not an exciting, fast-paced, or humorous story, it does have a lot to offer young readers. 'Ox-Cart Man' is about a family who works hard all year growing crops, shearing sheep, spinning yarn, knitting, making candles, carving brooms, splitting shingles, and tapping maple trees for sap. At the beginning of the story you read about all of the goods the family has made being loaded onto the cart, which will be pulled by the family's ox. The fath...more
“Ox-cart Man” is the story of a colonist family and how they sustain themselves. Each year, the family has a cycle. The family fills up the cart each October with crops and goods they have grown and made throughout the year. Then the father goes to town and sells everything only to come back and start over again. The illustrations in this book are very vivid and detailed. Each page shows exactly what the text is describing.
Response:
This book makes me realize how difficult it was to live before...more
Response:
This book makes me realize how difficult it was to live before...more
As far as I can tell, my children (small) love this book, and I love reading it to them. An excellent children's book is a thing of beauty forever (if your toddler doesn't chew the cover off). Hall wrote the story in a sparse and understated fashion that works well, particularly with the gorgeousness of the illustrations and the historically shrewd and wise stewardship of yesterday's New England. There's a certain, hypnotic magic in how Hall works through the lists of what the family produces on...more
"The Ox Cart Man", by Donald Hall is a story about the sustainable, simple life of a farmer and his family. It illustrates a life that is very different from students within an urban setting. The cycle of the year culminates with the father traveling many miles to sell the goods he and his family have raised in the year prior. He must then purchase materials that he and his family need. It is a humble, and happy life that he shares with his family. The illustrations do a wonderful job of showing...more
This simple yet beautiful historical fiction picture book takes the reader on a journey to early nineteenth-century New England. It is spring time. The main character, the ox-cart man, prepares to leave for Portsmouth Market. The family helps him to load his cart. Everything that the family made or produced during the previous season is packed for sale. The family needs money to buy tools and seeds for the new season. At the market, the man sells all his goods including the cart and the ox. He w...more
This one is a cute story with a lot to say about work ethics and how a family can work together. You might want to read this along with The Little House books at some point if your younger child especially liked this picture book growing up. For more:
http://satia.blogspot.com/2010/09/cal...
http://satia.blogspot.com/2010/09/cal...
This story is about a man who is selling a lot of things in order to help his family. Each page shows specific items and the words describe them. There are people in the pictures as well that are not very lifelike, but I don’t think that it is important to the story that they look real. While the pictures show all of the things that the man wants to sell, without the words the reader would not know that he is selling them in order to give his family the things that they want. The pictures do a g...more
Jul 08, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Elizabeth by:
Josette
Shelves:
preschool-picture-books
I really liked this book, but it is way too advanced for Catherine and Santi right now. I can see us re-reading it in a year or so. I think it would be especially helpful to teach biblical concepts of discipline and preparation - along the lines of the ant and the grasshopper yada yada.
1 like · like · see review
An interesting look at pioneer times and the things that people would do to make a living. Our girls enjoyed this book a lot and asked a lot of questions about why the man would sell his mode of transport. The illustrations by Barbara Cooney, as usual, are fantastic.
1 like · like · see review
The family packs the goods that they made on the ox cart. They pack the items they made from sheep shearing, candles, linen, shingles, broom, knife, potatoes, apples, honey, honeycombs, turnips, cabbages, maple products, and goose feathers.
The father rod 10 days alone to Portsmouth Market and sold all of the items including the ox and the cart.
In the market he bought a lot: iron kettle, embroidery needle, Barlow knife, and 2 pounds of wintergreen peppermint candies.
When the father returns he ten...more
The father rod 10 days alone to Portsmouth Market and sold all of the items including the ox and the cart.
In the market he bought a lot: iron kettle, embroidery needle, Barlow knife, and 2 pounds of wintergreen peppermint candies.
When the father returns he ten...more
The book follows the story of a man who has to travel from his home to a town far away with his ox and cart. The story shows the seasons very well, but does not have a very strong plot of character development. I do think the book would make a good read aloud though.
This book has a variety of rich colors, and uses a lot of detail in its images. The book’s illustrations depict the changes of the seasons very well, from the deep colors of autumn to the vibrant hues of spring. Although the pictures...more
This book has a variety of rich colors, and uses a lot of detail in its images. The book’s illustrations depict the changes of the seasons very well, from the deep colors of autumn to the vibrant hues of spring. Although the pictures...more
This book won a Caldecott Medal. Each page of this story was a picture of what was happening in the story and words to tell you what he was selling. This story would not have been able to flow as well without the words because you would not understand what he was selling and why he was selling it. The ending of the story did not need as many words because it’s easy to see that he sold his things to buy his family things they wanted and needed and that they were very happy with him. The pictures...more
Very beautifully told story of a farm families endless work to survive through the year. What I loved most was that each member of the family contributed in some way to bring in money. Whether collecting sap from trees, stitching, whittling, shearing sheep, or harvesting crops, this family did what needed to support the entire family through the year. This is a wonderful book to share with your child or a classroom and discuss how day to day life is different for most families now. I also enjoye...more
It's no surprise that Cooney was given a Caldecott from the ALA for her work on this book. Her realistic renderings of early nineteenth-century life in New England are amazing. She makes sure every detail is accurate whether it's the style of clothing worn by the family or the interior of the mercantile in Portsmouth. The colors are muted throughout the book, like the homespun clothes of the ox-cart man and his family and the landscape they live in. The seasons are captured almost as if the illu...more
The story takes place during the fall, harvest time and the colors set the scene for the story. The fall colors and falling leaves depict the emotion and fill the reader’s senses with the feeling of fall. The ox-cart is a teal blue and stands out in any scene that it is in. The artwork is one dimensional, which directs the reader to the characters and that which they are doing, rather then the background. The background sets the stage for the senses to take in each scene, but the characters and...more
I love Donald Hall poetry, and while this is not the best example of his work, the tender illustrations certainly do him justice.
Tells about the circular nature of life. Parallelism and repetition make this an easy read for emerging readers.
This book does a great job of capturing the life of a New Englander and his family in the nineteenth-century. It is hard to imagine that not long ago people lived off the land and were self-sufficient. I did not think the illustrations were particularly lavish or memorable, but I do think they reinforced the text well. With out reading the text, a child could look through the illustrations and infer the same written story. I think this book would be perfect for young readers who are curious abou...more
This is great historical children's book. It portrays life of the early settlers in the New England area, and does it in a very timeless way as the year in never stated. I thought it does an excellent job of showing how life was back in the settlers time, everything from how much time and effort was needed to produce goods, and also how business was done back then. Another storyline I thought was great for children was how the family had to pull together, daily, to have a successful year. It's i...more
1980 Caldecott Winner
Barbara Cooneydid the illustrations by using an early American technique of painting on wood. The end pages, describe the technique as capturing a "sense of peace" in the New England of the 1800's. Clooney has won the Caldecott 2 times. A rare achievement.
This book is a story of seasons, a family's joint efforts to take care of the family and the history of life in early America. (Portsmouth) It is very peaceful when reading, and the illustrations are glorious.
The Salem Publ...more
Barbara Cooneydid the illustrations by using an early American technique of painting on wood. The end pages, describe the technique as capturing a "sense of peace" in the New England of the 1800's. Clooney has won the Caldecott 2 times. A rare achievement.
This book is a story of seasons, a family's joint efforts to take care of the family and the history of life in early America. (Portsmouth) It is very peaceful when reading, and the illustrations are glorious.
The Salem Publ...more
Takes place in New England when men and women were self -reliant and lived on the land working hard to produce food, candles, mittens and birch brooms. The farm man in the story, loads up his goods on their ox-cart and travels to town where he sells everything they made. He then earns money to buy goods for his family. Then the cycle begins all over again. It was a time when people lived off the land and owned only what they needed.
This book would be a good book for children, where they learn ho...more
This book would be a good book for children, where they learn ho...more
I remember this book very fondly from my own childhood and was curious to see how it held up. The verdict is....very well! The story is one that emphasizes an appreciation and awareness of nature's abundance and reinforces concepts self-reliance and community. The text is simple but rhythmic and appealing. But of course Barbara Cooney's (Chanticleer and the Fox) illustrations really steal the show. All in all, I find it to be a very gentle and comforting sort of book.
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Donald Hall was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1928. He began writing as an adolescent and attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at the age of sixteen—the same year he had his first work published. He earned a B.A. from Harvard in 1951 and a B. Litt. from Oxford in 1953.
Donald Hall has published numerous books of poetry, most recently White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1...more
More about Donald Hall...
Donald Hall has published numerous books of poetry, most recently White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1...more
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Jun 17, 2012 09:06pm