Johnny Appleseed

by Jane Kurtz, Mary Haverfield (Illustrator)

Looks at the life of Johnny Appleseed, known for his distribution of apple seeds and trees across America.

Genres: Biography, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, School

32 pages, Library Binding

First published August 24, 2004

About the author

Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but when she was two years old, her parents moved to Ethiopia. Jane grew up in Maji, a small town in the southwest corner of the country.
Since there were no televisions, radios, or movies, her memories are of climbing mountains, wading in rivers by the waterfalls, listening to stories, and making up her own stories, which she and her sisters acted out for days at a time.


That love of nature has recently inspired her to write books about loving the Earth--such as WHAT DO THEY DO WITH ALL THAT POO? and PLANET JUPITER.

Jane has published more than 40 books, fiction, nonfiction, picture books, novels for young readers, and ready-to-reads. Some are based on her childhood in Ethiopia. Some draw on her own children, such as ANNA WAS HERE, a novel for young readers that asks life's big questions about pain and disaster--and offers a few puny answers.

Since her childhood in Ethiopia, Jane has lived in Illinois, Colorado, North Dakota, Kansas and--now--back in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Tabatha Mulkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Johnny Appleseed walks from New England to Ohio, planting trees wherever he goes. He wanted to share the trees beauty with others.

Evaluation: I like this book because it does a good job of keeping you engaged with the rhyming. It also does a good job of telling about Johnny's life and what he did.

Teaching Idea: Johnny wanted to make the world a better place. We would talk about how he did this. I would have them write their own plan on how to make the world a better place.

[Madeleine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Traditional Literature
Grades: k-3
This is a great rendition of the classic tale "Johnny Appleseed". I read this with my 3rd ELL students and the words were easy for them to read, but because of the simple story plot, they did not get invested in the book. This is why it is probably best for lower elementary. Overall this is a great picture book that would be a great addition to early elementary classrooms.

[Ace Giannonatti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Appleseed is a fun read for kid around the ages of kindergarten to 2nd grade. It tells the story of young man planting apple trees and trading the trees for random things such as a shirt, dirt, ham and pan. It's a perfect early reader and I enjoyed reading it with my nieces. It did not have many diverse character, but was still entertaining. I would absolutely recommend for beginning readers and or parents/guardians of beginners!

[Andria Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about Johnny Appleseed that is written for beginning readers to be able to read.

I thought this story was ok. It is a very abbreviated version about Johnny Appleseed. The words and sentences are kept short so that beginning readers are able to read it on their own. This book is a Level 1.

(Beginning Reader)

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

My children love these little books. They thoroughly enjoy each and every story, as if they are all unique and individual without any cause for similarity among them. Even though sometimes, they might seem tedious and repetitive to me as a parent, I do enjoy being able to read short-stories to my children that are clean and respective.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple, easy-to-read picture book about Johnny Chapman, or Johnny Appleseed. There's not much about biographical details of him here, but more of his way of planting apple trees across the land. While a little repetitive, the vintage watercolor illustration is a nice touch.

[Sarah Westgate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Realistic Fiction
This book is great for Kindergarten as it is a ready-to-read book. One unique feature of this text is how the characters in the book look very realistic!

[Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple independent reading book for very young children. Wish it contains more information or bio about Johnny Chapman. Like the old-style illustration, but the content is bit too short and simple.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a ready-to-read level one book that's beautifully illustrated and easy to read. It's based on a man called Johnny Appleseed because he planted apple tree seeds wherever he went. Nicely illustrated.

[Beranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Appleseed
Genre: Tall Tale
Grades: 1-2
This book tells the traditional tall tale of Johny Appleseed. In the story Johnny walks along the Ohio river until he finds a good place to plant a tree. He digs a hole and puts a seed in the hole then he covers it with dirt and waits for rain. When the tree grows he begins to plant more and more trees. Then he takes around baby apple trees to sell to people in exchange for anything thing that they have including a pot, a shirt, and even dirt. In the end people love Johnny and they thank him for all the apples that have grown from their apple trees.
Activites:
1. Students will write character traits about Johnny Appleseed on apple cutouts. The class will then create a bulletin board to display all of their work.
2. The teacher will develop a word list from the book which she will use to create a word search or word puzzle for students to solve.

[Monalisa Johnson-brown]

This is about Johnny Appleseed who carried a bag of seeds and a hoe. He makes holes with his big toe and place seeds in and then cover them with dirt using the hoe. When the seeds become small plants then he carries them around and when people ask him for one he asks what they have in return. This could be a pan, ham, or shirt. The people are so excited to see the plant growing into apple trees that are eatable.

[Melinda Garman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ready-to-Read: Level one. Would be good for pre-school or Kindergarten. Teaches how to grow an apple tree; needs rain. This book can relate to lessons about healthy foods, farms, farming equipment, and plants.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a short summary of the life of Johnny Appleseed. It is a biography suitable for primary students simply tells the story of Johnny Appleseed.

[Beth Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice piece of non-fiction for preschoolers. It is hard to find good biographies suited for this age. It is very easy to understand and both my young daughters enjoy it.

[Bethe · Rating 2 out of 5]

short little easy to read intro to Johnny Appleseed, not sure if it is supposed to rhyme, some of the lines have a bit of rhythm, others don't.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

MCL. I liked when he dug a hole by his left big toe.

[Kaetlyn Scarpa]

Johnny Appleseed

By Jane Kurtz

1. No awards

2. K-2

3. Johnny Appleseed travels to plant seeds and along the way we learn about some history and Johnny meets people along the way because he wants to share his love for planting apple trees. When Johnny bumped into some trouble with snow, he didn't stop his journey, he made snow shoes. Johnny never felt alone because he made friends with the animals.

4. I think this a great book for younger students, it is a very easy read. This story shows students to never give up and to do the things they love.

5. First I would read this story to my students and tell them the importance to never give up when things get in the way. I would plant some seeds in the class near the window of some flowers so the students can learn how things grow. As a class we could also talk about where we would travel (time period and where in the world) and something we could bring to give to people.