Josepha: A Prairie Boy'S Story,Used

From School Library Journalgrade 25Josepha May Live On The Prairie, But He Is Not Your Allamerican Farm Boy. His School Performance Is Hampered By His Broken English And His Immigrant Family Is Badly In Need Of Money. He Is Clearly An Outcast Among His Peers, But He Takes Their Ribbing With A Smile And Will Not Tolerate Their Bullying The Younger Children. While The Schoolmarm Tries To Get Him To Stay In School, The Lure Of Work For A Dollar A Day Is Too Strong, And He Leaves The Farm. As A Parting Gift, He Gives The Narrator, A Younger Boy Whom He Has Befriended, The Pocket Knife He Used For His Marvelous Whittlings, A Sort Of Emblem Of His Youth And Creativity, Now No Longer Appropriate As He Takes His Place In The Adult World. In A Final Act Of Generosity, The Narrator Gives Josepha His Shoes As The Teenager Heads Off To His First Man'S Job, Most Probably As A Migrant Farm Worker. This Side Of The Settling Of The West By Those Not Well Accepted Is Rarely Heard, And Less Frequently Seen. The Intense Color Values Of Strong Sun Against Wide Expanses Of Grain And Sky Evoke The Size Of The Prairie. Even The Features Of The People Are Intense, With Strongly Defined Eyes And Other Facial Features. While This Is Not A Large Historical Moment, It Takes On Greater Proportions Than Its Simple Telling Through Illustrations That Span The Entire Page, With No Border, Frequently Spanning Double Spreads. The Brush Strokes And The Texture Of The Canvas Come Though To Create The Semblance Of Movement. Children Need To Hear More Of These Stories From The Voices Missing In Our History.Ruth K. Macdonald, Bay Path College, Longmeadow, Macopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.Product Descriptionin 1900, An Immigrant Youth Gives Up The Classroom, Where No One Speaks His Language, For A Life Of Work On The Prairie, And His Best Frienda Little Boy He Has Looked Afterwonders How He Will Manage Alone. Ip.From Publishers Weeklyjosepha, A Generoushearted Immigrant Boy In The Time Of Willa Cather'S Prairie Epics, Is Leaving School To Work The Harvest. Seeing Him Off, A Younger Friend Thinks About 'Redfaced Josepha. Past 14 And Trying To Learn In Primary Row,' Hardly Able To Speak English. Josepha Also Wards Off Bullies, Laughs At The Cold In His Shoeless Feet, Whittles Gifts For All. The Narrator'S Own Parting Gift From Josepha Is His Muchcherished Pocketknife; In Return The Boy Gives Josepha His Own Prize Possessionhis Leather Boots. Ocher, Blue, Red And Brown Dominate The Painterly Illustrations, Echoing Such American Artists As Marsden Hartley And Andrew Wyeth. Complex And Historically Grounded, This Is A Picture Book For Children Ready For Sophisticated Themes. Ages 612.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Booklistgr. 25. The Immigrant Outsider Is The Subject Of This Compelling Picture Book Set On The Midwest Prairie At The Turn Of The Century. Josepha Is A Big Boy From The Old Country, Forced To Go To School With The Little Ones Until He Can Learn English: 'Redfaced Josepha. Past Fourteen And Trying To Learn In Primary Row.' Kimber'S Bold, Glowing Paintings, In The Rural Romantic Style Of Artists Like Thomas Hart Benton, Show Muscular Josepha In Overalls, Hunched Awkwardly Over A Desk, With Jeering Children In The Classroom, Then Standing Straight Against The Wide Prairie And Arching Sky. The Story'S Told In Simple, Colloquial Idiom By A Small Boy Who Loves Josepha And Is Heartbroken To See Him Shamed Into Leaving School For Farmlaboring Work. The Teacher Also Begs Josepha To Stay And Learn, But She Can'T Move Him; He'S Inarticulate, His Face As Lightless As The Window In His Family'S Soddy Shack. The Sorrow Is Understated, The Pictures Simple And Intense. Older Readers Will Discover A Part Of Pioneer History Beyond The Usual Success Story. So Much Promise Was Lost. Hazel Rochman