Loading...
3rd out of 47 books
—
51 voters
My rating:
add to my books
April Morning
by
Howard Fast
When you read this novel about April 19, 1775, you will see the British redcoats marching in a solid column through your town. Your hands will be sweating and you will shake a little as you grip your musket because never have you shot with the aim of killing a man. But you will shoot, and shoot again and again while your shoulder aches from your musket's kick and th...more
Mass Market Paperback, 208 pages
Published
October 1st 1983
by Bantam
(first published 1961)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
987)
This is a young adult novel written more than 50 years ago (so perhaps it was 'juvenile fiction' back then.) I loved The Last of the Mohicans and Johnny Tremain when I was a kid, and last year I read the trilogy that began with My Brother Sam is Dead, which I also loved, as well as Fever 1773. There is something compelling to me about colonial era historical fiction, especially when it is written from the point of view of a young person. Great books, all. In any event, April Morning is a fiction...more
This book takes place during Colonial America at the start of the Revolutionary War. It tells the beginning of the war, the very first shot. It is written from the life of a teenage boy who joins his town militia when his father is killed when the British first march on his town. The only thing this book was good for was telling people how gruesome war can be. It isn't pretty, it isn't nice, and people don't always die when they are shot. At one point the defending townspeople shoot a man o...more
I will always admit to being a slow reader. So it takes me a while to get into a book, especially when it is an actual book and not an audiobook. With this book, once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. This is American History in a very palatable way. The author takes me to a long ago time, a faraway place. I care about this family, this boy, these people. I am desolated when they begin the battle, but I can understand why it went that way. I am thrilled when help/support comes, and this...more
The setting is April 19, 1775 and the main character is a young boy, stretched under the demanding thumb of his father, one of the town selectmen. When news comes that the British are coming, the boy wants to participate, only to see his father shot. The book follows the boy as he grows up in a single day, working to defeat the British.
This is an excellent choice for a history or English class since the protagonist is a teenaged boy, and all the emotions of the day are wrapped throug...more
This is an excellent choice for a history or English class since the protagonist is a teenaged boy, and all the emotions of the day are wrapped throug...more
I never would have looked twice at this exceptional book if it wasn't on the Hillsdale Academy reading list that I am reading through (just finished 8th grade!) I have always thought of Revolutionary War as this great iconic battle between oppression and liberty that formed a nation, and never thought very deeply about the mothers, fathers, and children involved. Well, apparently I also didn't think to read the back cover of April Morning very carefully, because I was already engrossed in the ...more
Adam Cooper, a fifteen year-old living in Lexington, Massachusetts in April 1775.
The British army, who disrupt the peacefulness of Lexington with an attack on the town's militia as they march towards Concord. On a broader thematic level, Adam is also engaged in a battle with the very notion of war, as he obliquely exhibits pacifist tendencies even in the midst of battle.
Adam engages the British soldiers in battles throughout the day, eventually falling asleep as a result.
With his ...more
The British army, who disrupt the peacefulness of Lexington with an attack on the town's militia as they march towards Concord. On a broader thematic level, Adam is also engaged in a battle with the very notion of war, as he obliquely exhibits pacifist tendencies even in the midst of battle.
Adam engages the British soldiers in battles throughout the day, eventually falling asleep as a result.
With his ...more
I'm due for a re-read. This book amazed and horrified me as a child--an anodyne to the notion that wars are romantic and bloodless affairs.
I read this when I was 10. My 4th grade class didn't have enough copies of a single title for this unit (good job, NYC Bd. of Ed.), so the students were grouped by reading level and I was put in the highest, with just two other kids. Each group read a different book. I got punished for being a good reader, and was made to read April Morning. What a bloody waste of time. (The other books were Johnny Tremaine, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and My Brother Sam is Dead. Everyone else liked their books...more
view 2 comments
I had to read this book in my English class and it was actually ok. I have learned a lot concerning different accounts of what really happened in the battle of Lexington and Concord (thanks to my APUSH class) and I thought it was interesting to read about the battles through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy. This book was dramatized to an extent, but I still found it interesting. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it on my own time instead of having to follow an English schedul...more
Man, why do schools ruin books for kids? I read this book on my own as a teen because I wanted to read it. I honestly believe it helped to establish some of my ideas about war and the idea of "justifiable" war. But, why are there so many negative reviews on this site? Because teachers feel a need to force feed the kids every tiny piece of this book. Don't let them think for themselves. Make sure you discuss each and every word. Every nuance. Every thought. Every action. So by...more
Kevin2
added it
this book is basically a diary like book that goes on by the time of day talking and taking place in the time of the revolutionary war. this book is about a teenage boy named Adam and he wants to experience the excitement of the war. he starts off with his dad, a farmer in MA waiting to face the redcoats. then his dad falls on the village green and Adam starts shaking while he is shooting at the redcoats. this book is full of drama and action.
I'm not a war buff, but this was worth reading. From the cover, "a young man's baptism by fire during the bloody battle of Lexington." It isn't that graphic though compared to today's books. 202 short pages. Quote about his dad, "I am a man of peace [so he told Mother, but it always appeared to me that he was the most belligerent man of peace I had ever encountered]"
— Howard Fast (April Morning)
— Howard Fast (April Morning)
I thought it was a really interesting book about the start of the revalutionary war. It had some really good parts, but I don't think I felt what the characters were feeling enough to empathize with them. It all takes place in like 2 days, but overall it was a good book and it did have enough plot and emotion in it to keep me pretty interested.
I think the book was really good. It got straight to the point. It wasn't a drag. Adam was a good boy who turned into a man after his father's death. I like the fact that he took care of his family after the fact that his dad died. I thought he was going to kill himself after seeing his father die in front of him but, the author fooled me. This book also helped me out with my american government class because of the time setting that it was in. I suggest people to read this book because its good...more
I thought this book was a great example of historical fiction. It is not only a great analysis of the beginning of the american revolution, but it gives the reader a sense of depth about each character. When you read this book you will understand the true meaning of the war, and what it was like for the people living in it.
An interesting little read about the first day of the Revolutionary War, seen through the eyes of a 15 year-old, written by the author of Spartacus and The Immigrants. Fast’s style is clean and direct. Although a bit melodramatic, a great well written story.
Maybe it'll be better when I reread it but when I read it a few months ago, I just found it quite boring. The plot was interesting to read at some parts of the book but the others wasn't. The book went by too slow, I mean, a book about describing just one day! There was definitely some unneeded information and I think the author should have added more action and excitement.
Works well as a cross-curricular novel with SS. Told from the point of view of Adam, a fifteen-year-old boy, so connects well with middle schoolers. Has some parts that are exciting & action-packed; other parts are way too slow.
I absolutely hated this book. It had a horrible plot and I would never read it again. It was a war book we read last year about the American Revolution but this book did not make sense. All together it was very confusing.
I picked this up years ago because I enjoyed the made-for-TV movie version of it, but I remember being a bit disappointed in the book by comparison - thought the movie was much better. The book was just kind of bland.
I disliked this book immensely. Not only was it at parts hard to understand, but it was hard to follow and ended almost as soon as it began. The ending also seemed out of place, I would not recommend this book at all.
This book was definitely an interesting one... the story was good. It follows the story of 'the shot heard round the world' from the Revolutionary war and all that followed it that day. The story takes place in a day,,, that could be why I didn't love it, the story didn't have time to develop. It just all happened.
This is a book that will make you forget you are reading a fictional story and transport you back into to a crucial turning point in American history. The narrative flows effortlessly.
I really enjoyed this book. The author does a good job of depicting the shock and horror of war to a bumch of peace-loving farmers. He really briings the revolutionary war to life.
This is an amazing story about a 15 year old boy who was thrown unexpectedly into the Revolutionary War. SOOO GOOD! It got pretty boring at times, but I really enjoyed this book.
Very interesting story told from the point of view of a 16-year-old about the first day of the American Revolution. It was fun to read about what happened on that important date.
I didn't like this book at all. They forced us to read it for school and I barely made it through. Nothing really happend until the battle and I got very bored.
Historical fiction with a lot of heart. I love the father in this book and how honest it is about the Revolutionary War from a young boy/man's perspective.
A book suitable for younger readers, so I found it predictable in places. Still, a ground-level view of what the Battle of Lexington might have been like, from the point of view of a 15-year-old boy caught up in it and forced to come of age as a man.
it wasent my first choice but we had to read it for english it was to slow at the begging but not nearly as bad as some people made it out to be
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Howard Melvin Fast (11 November 1914, New York City - 12 March 2003, Old Greenwich, Connecticut) was a Jewish American novelist and television writer, who wrote also under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.
His mother, Karen (née Miller), was a British Jewish immigrant and his father, BJohn Howard Fast, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. When his mother died in 1923 and h...more
More about Howard Fast...
His mother, Karen (née Miller), was a British Jewish immigrant and his father, BJohn Howard Fast, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. When his mother died in 1923 and h...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“A mountain still in the distance can appear as a molehill.”
—
4 people liked it
“I am a man of peace [so he told Mother, but it always appeared to me that he was the most belligerent man of peace I had ever encountered]”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
