Ox-Cart Man
A picture book that follows a New England farm family's year from harvest to market and back again. It presents labor and seasonal change as a repeating cycle of work and exchange.
Work Information
A year's labor is packed into a cart and taken to market.
Based on Donald Hall's poem, the book uses Barbara Cooney's illustrations to turn everyday farm work into a graceful seasonal cycle. Its strength lies in the clarity with which it makes ordinary labor feel meaningful.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Viking Books for Young Readers
- Published
- 1979-10-08
- Pages
- 40 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 27.31 x 0.91 x 21.89 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780670533282
- ISBN-10
- 0670533289
- Price
- 3561 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Children's Books/Classics
Winner of the Caldecott Medal Thus begins a lyrical journey through the days and weeks, the months, and the changing seasons in the life of one New Englander and his family. The oxcart man packs his goods - the wool from his sheep, the shawl his wife made, the mittens his daughter knitted, and the linen they wove. He packs the birch brooms his son carved, and even a bag of goose feathers from the barnyard geese. He travels over hills, through valleys, by streams, past farms and villages. At Portsmouth Market he sells his goods, one by one - even his beloved ox. Then, with his pockets full of coins, he wanders through the market, buying provisions for his family, and returns to his home. And the cycle begins again. "Like a pastoral symphony translated into picture book format, the stunning combination of text and illustrations recreates the mood of 19-century rural New England."— The Horn Book
Donald Hall is an American poet, writer, editor and literary critic. He is the author of over 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and including 22 volumes of verse. Hall was named the fourteenth U.S. Poet Laureate in 2006 and served for one year. He is the winner of the Caldecott Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and has twice been nominated for the National Book Award.
Reviews
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Beautiful historic story
This has a great pace of which it was written. The description is interesting as well as simple. Our whole family loves it.
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Absolutely Lovely Book
This book does not follow the natural story progression you might expect, with conflict and climax and resolution. It is a simple story of a simple family working hard to live their life and enjoy it. This boom is very lovely and I highly recommend. I bought this book as a gift for a friend's child's first birthday, but my 5 & 7 year old loved giving it a pre-read.
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A Wondrous Story About the Cycle of Life
This beautiful Caldecott winner offers a heartfelt but spare story about the necessity and love of family, teamwork and sustainability in nineteenth-century rural New England. The story begins as a father packs up an ox cart against the backdrop of a colorful October day. Every item loaded into the cart has been carefully made by a family of four. There is wool sheared from their own sheep, items woven on a loom from yarn spun from the wool, mittens knit from yarn spun at the spinning wheel. There are homemade candles, birch brooms, apples, maple sugar, goose feathers and so much more. Once packed, the ox-cart man walks for ten days at the ox’s head toward market. We soon see that the city folk need candles, mittens, and goose feathers. We see the ox-cart man’s efficiency. My grandchildren and I are amazed that every single thing is sold. The man buys an iron kettle for the fire and one embroidery needle for his daughter. (Eyebrows were raised from our grands, “She got ONE needle?” That drives home an important point.) Soon the ox-cart man is traveling home. Now readers see the rest of the cycle—all the work this small family must now do to prepare for the following year. They will work throughout the winter, spring and summer making shawls, embroidering linen. A new ox-cart will be constructed and a new yoke carved. What we see is the life cycle of a nineteenth-century rural New England farm. This short story by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney offers children simple clarity about the circle of life and how this family is not only connected to each other, they are also connected to the land, the orchard, the animals. We need each other. Sustainability is essential. The Ox-cart Man is moving and wonderful.
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a father and the rest of the family living and working in harmony through the year
This book is a wonderful story about a family living as farmers in the country. They (father, mother and 2 kids) can be watched by their tasks. The story shows the reader all seasons of a year: shared life, work and enjoyment of each others's company.
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An old favourite
This book was much loved when my children were small, and I have now bought a copy for the second family of grandchildren. It is the story of the yearly routine of a family of settlers in New England, I suppose somewhere in the 1800s. Once a year, the father made the long journey to the market town to sell 'everything they made or grew all year, that was left over' , which provided their cash income for the year. A gentle story told in simple, lyrical language . My 2 year old granddaughter particularly loves the pictures of sheep and geese.