Giants in the Land

by Diana Appelbaum, Michael McCurdy (Illustrator)

A story of the human ingenuity needed to turn the Giant Pines of New England into masts for the great British Navy.

Genres: History, School, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 1993

About the author

Also writes under the name Diana Muir.
Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts historian best known for her 2000 book Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem.

Reviews

[Melki]

It's almost impossible to imagine, but at one time, giant white pine trees that stood 250 tall, and four feet wide filled the wooded area of the east coast, stretching from Maine to New York. And, in the mid-1700s, those trees were the property of England's King George. Their massive trunks were in demand for use as masts for the tall sailing ships of the Royal Navy. Applebaum's book goes into great detail as to how the trees were harvested, and transported by many teams of oxen hundreds of miles to the coast. Michael McCurdy's scratchboard illustrations add a unique touch to this look at a little known slice of American history.

[Jessi G]

My LIS 510 Informational book was Diana Appelbaum's "Giants in the Land." For a children's book, I thought that it was not captivating. Michael McCurdy's black and white pictures made the story appear unrelatable and old-fashioned. Further, the way the book was written in a very factual manner. Although I was not a big fan of this book, I did like how it incorporated history and the environmental effects of our decisions. I also liked how they involved the animals into the story in pulling the giant trees. This would be a book that I would consider reading aloud to my class if we were learning about New England's history; however, I do not think I would buy it for a school library. I think other books have done a much better job to captivate the audience.

[Susan]

Given the illustrator's well executed focus on trees and plant details, I expected this to be a natural history of New England's white pines. Instead, I learned something about Royal England's need for mast pines that ties historical political and economic activities with the ecology of the region. I thought it was fascinating and beautifully done.

[Dollie]

I was lent the book White Pine by Andrew Vietze, and the owner of that book, also lent me Giants in the Land to give me a bit of history about the giant trees, which before 1776 belonged to the King of England, who used them as masts for his naval warships. This book is very short, beautifully illustrated by Michael McCurdy, and very informative about how these trees were harvested and transported out of the woods. I'm so glad she lent me this book as now I have an idea about their importance of these trees that were once numerous in New England. Where I live I'm surrounded by forest, which have huge pine trees. My first book of 2019 was a very good (short - 27 pages) read.

[Ammie]

I had snagged this while thrifting and set it aside for "Tree Week". Little did I know it was a history book about the giant pines used for masts on English War Ships in the mid 1700s. J really enjoyed it. She was captivated by the history of it, and the illustrations.

[Erendira]

The illustrations are gorgeous and so memorable. Story is wonderful.

[Charolette]

This book is about the giant pine trees that grew in the pre-revolutionary New England. This area was considered property of the King and the large trees were used as masts for the Royal Navy ships. The men in the area would search for the largest tree to cut down and transport to the river. The men would pad the ground with smaller limbs to help with the protection of the large tree when it fell. These men used simple tools to cut down the trees and transported the tree hundreds of miles by a team of oxen.

I think the information in the book would be useful in the classroom when you are teaching about the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary war. I think you could use this book to teach children about saving to forests and the use of simple tools to get the job done and how they all worked as a team to transport the tree to the river. I liked the detail in the illustrations but I do not think this book would be appealing to a child as the illustrations are black and white. I found it to be boring and did not hold my attention for very long. It would definitely need to be used for a read alound with group discussion in order to get the children interested in the book.

[Andrea Antoniewicz]

This book talks about information from the 1700s. Like that the land was filled with giant trees, but it technically belonged to King George, although the Indians knew most about the land. It talks about how King George rule many places and how the tallest trees were used to make the war boats. It goes on to the process of how the tree becomes a boat and the process King George's men go through to make it. The pictures, though very detailed were dark, black and white, and dull. I think the illustrations went along very well with the information though because it was a more serious topic and the illustrations looked serious too. It seems like Michael McCurdy understood the point Diana Appelbaum was trying to get across because he added to the words by making the illustrations compliment them. All and all, I understand why this book is informational because it talks about the history of the land and states facts people may not know, but they are put into terms children can understand with the detailed drawings.

[Katelyn Spyhalski]

This book is about giant pine trees that grew in the pre-revolutionary in New England. The trees grew on what was considered the "kings property" and they were used to make the masts for the Royal Navy ships. This book provides very detailed step by step procedures for how the colonists chopped down the trees and made them into the masks. The men took extensive precaution to keep the trees safe such as; padding the ground with smaller branches so when the tree fell it would not be damaged.

This book could be useful in the classroom when you are teaching a history lesson about the revolutionary war, or pre-revolutionary era. You could also use this book to teach children about how important conservation of our trees is. This is a great book to show students how important nature and trees our to our society and how important they were back in the past.

[Emily Kroness]

This is a book about giant pine trees that grew in the pre-revolutionary New England. The trees grew on what was considered the kings property and they were used to make the masts for the Royal Navy ships. This book provides step by step procedures for how the colonists chopped down the trees. The men would pad the ground with smaller branches so when the tree fell it would not be damaged.

This book could be useful in the classroom when you are teaching a history lesson about the revolutionary war, or pre-revolutionary era. You could also use this book to teach children about how important conservation of our trees is.

[Charity]

I had no idea there were trees this large in New England back in the day. I mean, I guess it doesn't surprise me, I'd just never really thought about it before.

I read this book aloud to my children, and they loved hearing about how these huge trees were cut down to be used as masts on huge English ships. By the end of the book where they talked about how (*spoiler alert*) all of the giant trees had been cut down, my nine-year-old budding environmentalist daughter was in tears.

The illustrations were simple and lovely, and the story was engaging, at least to my kids (although based on the other reviews, my kids might be in the minority).

[Courtney]

This was the informational book that I chose. The subject of the book was the giant pine trees that once grew in New England in the colonial times. These trees were property of England's King, until the Revolutionary War began and was won by the colonists. The book gave step by step procedure for how the colonists would chop down the trees so that the British navy could use the trees as masts for their ships. This would be a good book if your class was learning about the thirteen colonies or about the revolutionary war. This would be good for fourth or fifth graders.

[Amy]

Story of large trees cut for masts of British ships and then change when Revolutionary war started. Pretty detailed info about difficulty in cutting/transporting such big trees. Very sad too though as they are all gone.

[Leia-Catherine]

I like it because the trees are so tall and it needs 40 oxen to pull one tree.

[Nicole]

An interesting look at the colonization of New England and a great talking point on New England's geography.

[Katherine Franklin]

Giants in the Land by Diana Appelbaum I will have to say was not my favorite to read. It was about men in this area who would go out and look for the biggest tree's to cut down. Overall it was about giant pine trees during the pro-revolutionary in New England. it explained how they cut down the tree's and transported them to the river. I could see as a future teacher using this as a tool when teaching about the revolutionary war before and after. The illustration to me was beautiful but I think for a young student the black and white would be hard to follow.