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THE SUN, THE RAIN, AND THE APPLE SEED

Name: THE SUN, THE RAIN, AND THE APPLE SEED
Author: Lynda Durrant
ISBN: 0-618-23487-X

A NOVEL OF JOHNNY APPLESEED’S LIFE

by Lynda Durrant ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2003

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Environmentalist, pacifist, vegetarian, religious devotee, visionary, nut—John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed, was all these, and possibly the latter most of all. The fact that, as Durrant proposes, he “wasn’t right in the head” led her, she says in an afterword, to cast Chapman’s life in novel form so that she could deal better than biographers have with Chapman’s seeing, hearing, and conversing with angels and spirits. Readers will learn some interesting and perhaps hitherto-unknown facts about Johnny besides these. For example, he regularly quoted Bible verses extensively to one and all even in the course of ordinary conversation; once, in order to warn settlers of an impending Indian raid, he ran nonstop through the wilderness for three days and nights and thus saved many lives; he talked himself out of being murdered by Seneca villagers and was thereafter honored and afforded safe passage by them; he lost several toes and fingers to frostbite from his decades of wandering through the forests; toward the end of his life, he spent nine months in an Ohio jail for nonpayment of taxes; and he may have met the young Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, in order to reach these passages, readers will have to slog through stilted writing (an uneven mix of the author’s attempt at capturing the period style and Johnny’s voice) and minutiae that testify to Durrant’s extensive research into the historical record but that make for some lackluster reading. Johnny Appleseed’s life is one to be admired, despite his many eccentricities. Gentle-hearted, he was committed to respect for and kindness toward nature and all living things. This is unlikely to be the apple of anyone’s eye. Stick to good biographies. (afterword, bibliography) (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 24, 2003

ISBN: 0-618-23487-X

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
IMPERFECTIONS
by Lynda Durrant

- BOOK REVIEW
MY LAST SKIRT
by Lynda Durrant

- BOOK REVIEW
BETSY ZANE
by Lynda Durrant

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THE SCHOOL FOR THIEVES

From the School for Thieves series , Vol. 1

by Peter Burns ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2025

A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.

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An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.

In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.

A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)