1942 Newbery Medal Winner
In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. His father had shown him how to use the huge matchlock gun, an old Spanish gun that was twice as long as he was, but would Edward be able to handle it if trouble actually came? This classic, first published in 1941, has an updated, kid-friendly format that includes the original black-and-white illustrations.---from the publisher
61 pages 978-0698116801 Ages 9-12
Keywords: American history, self reliance, gun, responsibility, boys and men, Newbery Medal, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, French and Indian War, Colonial times
Other reviews:
"I'm ok with a book about hostilities between Native Americans and European settlers. It happened. It's history. I'm even kind of ok with the racist Native American stereotypes. No, I don't think that books like this one or Daniel Boone would be or should be published today, but I do understand that this was how white Americans viewed Native Americans, both at the times when the books were set, and in the 1940's when the books were published. It's a shame, but it is how they viewed them, and if we ignore history, we can't learn from it.
My main problem was with the end. The boy had just shot three Native Americans. Three human beings. Yes, they were attacking his farm, and yes, they did just hit his mother with a tomahawk, but still, he killed three people, and instead of being even a little bit remorseful or traumatized, or even worried about his wounded mother, he was just like, "That was so cool. I just killed three Injuns. I can't wait to show my kids this gun and tell them the story when I'm a grown up." I don't think that anyone, much less a little boy, can take someone else's life without being at least a little concerned about it. That made the ending really unbelievable, and bit distasteful for me.
I think the real problem is that the author (and the author of Daniel Boone) doesn't view the Native Americans as people at all. They are more like really intelligent animals, and killing them isn't any worse than killing a bear or a mountain lion. It's sad, but that's the vibe I got."--- Benji Martin on Goodreads (Benji Martin)
