The Ox Cart Man

Title:The Ox Cart Man
Author: Donald Hall
Illustrated: Barbara Cooney
Published: The Viking Press, New York
Date: 1979
Summary: Describes the day-to-day life throughout the changing season of an early 19th century New England family.
Age: Primary (Kinderrgarten to 2nd)
Strengths: The pictures are very pretty. The illustrator used different natural colors, such as different shades of green in order to represent the natural cycle of the season and how this New England family lived. It is surprising that this and other New England family made a lot of things in order to trade in and receive money. The man in the story even sold his ox and everything he had in order to buy new things for himself and his family so that they can work during the winter seasons. As the story progesses the readers gets a sense of when everything is done shown in the landscape. The man trades in the late summer, and comes back in the autumn. In the winter, the family would work hard, as well as the spring and then the man will go and trade what they have made next summer. It is like a cycle showing its beginnings and ends. The text is ok. There might be some white spaces on one page and the image on the other, while the text could be at the bottom of the page and the image on top.
Concerns: It's surprising that this was set in the early 19th century because the acryllic artwork looks like this story could have taken place in the 1600s or the early 1700s.
Comments: This is a great way to learn about different regions of the United States and how people survived without all of the technologies we have today. A teacher could even take his/her students on a field trip to an old historic place and learn about what events happened there. You could also teach the students about the concept of cycles and seasons as well as the concept of trading and sharing.