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Hello, the Boat!
This is the story of an everyday family who fled the depression of 1817 by moving westward. Rafts and flatboats and Conestoga wagons moved slowly into the new territory beyond the Alleghenies, but the Doak family made the journey down the Ohio river from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati on a boat fitted out as a store, peddling pots and pans, hardware, bonnets, dry goods and Yankee notions. Responding to the call of "Hello, the boat!" from settlers along the banks, Mother, Father, the children, Old Pappy and his fiddle all helped to make the trip as profitable as it was adventurous.
Combining accurate information about those days of tall tales and tall language with a truly spontaneous story, "Hello, the Boat!" recreates the life of young people of another day in a humorously realistic fashion. Remote from great national events, the narrative is extremely simple yet vivid, absorbing because of its truth.
Combining accurate information about those days of tall tales and tall language with a truly spontaneous story, "Hello, the Boat!" recreates the life of young people of another day in a humorously realistic fashion. Remote from great national events, the narrative is extremely simple yet vivid, absorbing because of its truth.
227 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1938
1 person is currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Crawford
11 books In the early days of the 19th century when the Doaks were piloting their storeboat down the Ohio river in search of "elbowroom," Phyllis Crawford's ancestors were pushing their way westward from the Carolinas to Arkansas. Born and brought up in Little Rock, Miss Crawford has done her pioneering back to the Atlantic coast via Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Va., and the University of Illinois Library School at Urbana.
She reached New York in 1924 and has lived there ever since with the exception of three years in Santa Fe, N. M. Writing was a sideline while editorial work on reference catalogs and book lists for libraries constituted the order of the day. It was during this period that Miss Crawford gained a wide acquaintance with the available literature for children.
Two years of research in American backgrounds followed, and out of the combination of experiences came Miss Crawford's decision to write stories for children about the people who actually built this country without consciousness that they were playing a part in history. So with obvious impracticality Miss Crawford resigned her job and set herself to her task. "Hello, the Boat!", her first full-length novel, was the immediate result. By-products are the author's fatal susceptibility to American folk arts and antiques and a keen desire to explore all the corners of this country, both justifiable in the light of their research value.
She reached New York in 1924 and has lived there ever since with the exception of three years in Santa Fe, N. M. Writing was a sideline while editorial work on reference catalogs and book lists for libraries constituted the order of the day. It was during this period that Miss Crawford gained a wide acquaintance with the available literature for children.
Two years of research in American backgrounds followed, and out of the combination of experiences came Miss Crawford's decision to write stories for children about the people who actually built this country without consciousness that they were playing a part in history. So with obvious impracticality Miss Crawford resigned her job and set herself to her task. "Hello, the Boat!", her first full-length novel, was the immediate result. By-products are the author's fatal susceptibility to American folk arts and antiques and a keen desire to explore all the corners of this country, both justifiable in the light of their research value.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 24, 2018
I purchased a used but still readable copy of Phyllis Crawford's 1939 Newbery Honour winning Hello, the Boat! in February 2015, as we were reading it for the Newbery Club in the Children's Literature Group (and because the title and book description somewhat did interest me, as I am generally pretty much an eager fan of historical fiction type children's literature books, both from current, recent and from more historic, older eras).
That being said, and while I indeed did commence reading with much eager anticipation, I very quickly quickly lost ALL of my interest and Hello, the Boat! has actually been languishing on my "Currently-Reading" Shelf for nigh three years now, with the main culprit for my lack of enthusiasm being that the constant and minute descriptions of boats and especially their specific mechanics, I found (and still tend to find) more than a bit distracting, to the point of frustrating tedium and really not all that well incorporated into the body of the text, into the main narrative either (simply tacked on so to speak and as such much too technical as well). Now the idea, the concept of a store boat on the river (and a family who actually permanently resides on said boat, hawking and selling their products and goods as they make their way down the latter) was and even remains intriguing and historically interesting for and to me (and was actually enough and the main reason for me to buy Hello, the Boat! online), but the appealing promise and premise has not at all materialised into an interesting and attention holding, rewarding reading experience (and thus, I will now simply have to consider Hello, the Boat! as abandoned, although I do and firmly believe that I have nevertheless perused more than enough of Phyllis Crawford's featured narrative to be able to with confidence claim that she has shown an interesting enough subject matter, but one that has been conceptualised and presented in a manner that is simply not "for me" and not really able to be even all that much appreciated "by me" either).
And therefore only one star for Hello, the Boat! (as I really do not AT ALL like the author's slow as proverbial molasses and often tediously overly technical and dragging narration and writing style and yes that lately, a writing style, a narrative manner that I cannot stand does seem to be enough to totally turn me off from reading and from even considering continuing with a given book, with a given novel). And Hello, the Boat! while definitely not a terrible or inappropriate story by any stretch of the imagination, is also and definitely NOT to be recommended except perhaps to and for those potential readers who are serious Newbery completists and want or need to peruse each and every award winning offering (and furthermore, I also leave the more than necessary warning caveat that Hello, the Boat! does feature rather a goodly number of references to North American Indians as being savages to be killed, and while this does chafe and massively bother me, I actually do still somewhat grudgingly applaud Phyllis Crawford for including a painful but important historical truth and not simply omitting this sorry fact or pretending it away).
That being said, and while I indeed did commence reading with much eager anticipation, I very quickly quickly lost ALL of my interest and Hello, the Boat! has actually been languishing on my "Currently-Reading" Shelf for nigh three years now, with the main culprit for my lack of enthusiasm being that the constant and minute descriptions of boats and especially their specific mechanics, I found (and still tend to find) more than a bit distracting, to the point of frustrating tedium and really not all that well incorporated into the body of the text, into the main narrative either (simply tacked on so to speak and as such much too technical as well). Now the idea, the concept of a store boat on the river (and a family who actually permanently resides on said boat, hawking and selling their products and goods as they make their way down the latter) was and even remains intriguing and historically interesting for and to me (and was actually enough and the main reason for me to buy Hello, the Boat! online), but the appealing promise and premise has not at all materialised into an interesting and attention holding, rewarding reading experience (and thus, I will now simply have to consider Hello, the Boat! as abandoned, although I do and firmly believe that I have nevertheless perused more than enough of Phyllis Crawford's featured narrative to be able to with confidence claim that she has shown an interesting enough subject matter, but one that has been conceptualised and presented in a manner that is simply not "for me" and not really able to be even all that much appreciated "by me" either).
And therefore only one star for Hello, the Boat! (as I really do not AT ALL like the author's slow as proverbial molasses and often tediously overly technical and dragging narration and writing style and yes that lately, a writing style, a narrative manner that I cannot stand does seem to be enough to totally turn me off from reading and from even considering continuing with a given book, with a given novel). And Hello, the Boat! while definitely not a terrible or inappropriate story by any stretch of the imagination, is also and definitely NOT to be recommended except perhaps to and for those potential readers who are serious Newbery completists and want or need to peruse each and every award winning offering (and furthermore, I also leave the more than necessary warning caveat that Hello, the Boat! does feature rather a goodly number of references to North American Indians as being savages to be killed, and while this does chafe and massively bother me, I actually do still somewhat grudgingly applaud Phyllis Crawford for including a painful but important historical truth and not simply omitting this sorry fact or pretending it away).
April 4, 2022
Like many authors of the 1930s and '40s who won a Newbery Honor but not more than one, Phyllis Crawford isn't noted for much besides that accomplishment. Even her Newbery Honor book, Hello, the Boat!, was virtually unknown a few decades after its 1938 debut. That's too bad, because this sprightly tale touches on a historical period rarely mentioned in stories for kids. The United States is a young country with a resplendent future in 1817, but trying times are at hand. The economy in Pittsburgh is depressed, and the Doak family is tired of sending their father and husband, George, on long trips down the river in search of work. He's expected to be gone at least another month on his current trip, which is why his wife and kids—Susan, age sixteen, Steve, the middle child, and David, the ten-year-old—are surprised when he returns presently. Father has arranged an adventure: the entire family will drive a storeboat down the Ohio River, selling wares along the riverbanks and at ports. They'll deliver the storeboat to its owner in Cincinnati, where Father has a plot of land on layaway to buy. The family can reinvent their future in the city. Leaving friends and home in Pittsburgh won't be easy, but the Doaks can't pass up this opportunity, and even the youngest among them puts on a brave face.
Life on a houseboat is hard work, but spectacularly entertaining. Father needs Steve and David to help steer and watch for prospective customers on shore as the storeboat drifts down the Ohio. Friends of Father's frequently hail the boat from their own craft, some stopping in to shop and others to say a quick hello and move on with their own business. A stout-limbed old-timer called Pappy boards the Doaks' vessel and chooses not to leave after Father extends an offer to help them navigate and maintain the store for a modest salary. The faces, accents, and demeanor of the population change from port to port, a real tour of America in its budding glory, and the Doaks witness it all. William Henry Harrison even finds himself briefly in their company, twenty-three years before his election as president of the United States. In this early era of American history, a family on the move might experience just about anything.
Susan, Steve, and David gamely adjust to the lifestyle transition. Steve learns he has an affinity for boating, especially the politics of its commerce laws. How he would love to meet Captain Shreve, already an American legend as a man who stands up for the underrepresented. Susan crosses paths with Simon, a boy she could imagine having a future with someday, and David hones his fishing skills off the back of the storeboat, though he's often pulled headfirst into the river by spunky fish. David helps out as heartily as anyone when the family's fortunes turn rocky. There's a lot to hope for from this new country that stresses individual freedom and responsibility, a future bigger than the Doaks can envision, and they're right on the vanguard of that prosperity. It's exciting to look back through history and watch the U.S. begin to fulfill its promise.
Formal education was scarce in 1817 America, but smart people weren't. People like George Doak learned life wisdom from doing their job honestly and well. A good businessman reaps rewards from acting with integrity, and the American system was designed to also reward virtue more often than not. As George observes, "Sometimes...there's a slight difference between the law and what we think is right. It comes from improper interpretation of the meaning of the law. But in this country we always have a chance to vote for the right laws, or for the right judges to interpret those laws." The U.S. Constitution was written to give freedom every opportunity to win out against lawmakers who prioritize their own agendas ahead of liberty, and George Doak has faith that U.S. law will side with freedom more often than tyranny. Nothing assures that better than guarding the right of individuals to their own choices. We can't know if the next generation will protect the freedoms we cherish, but Pappy seems to believe they'll do all right. "Did you ever notice, George, how old folks is generally sitting around grumbling about the present state of affairs? Young folks seem to be enjoying it or making arrangements to change it for the better." That attitude can go far toward achieving the potential our forebears saw in us. There's always a brighter tomorrow if we work hard to settle our conflicts peacefully and pursue impartial justice for all.
I'm not certain how this book's title should be written. Everywhere it occurs on the copy I read, there are quotation marks around it, which makes sense since "Hello, the boat!" is often called out by people to get the attention of those onboard. Is the book titled "Hello, the Boat!", or Hello, the Boat!, then? For the sake of simplicity I've gone with the latter. This is a fun novel, humorous and occasionally even silly. The Doaks are easygoing and playful, and it's fun to spend a book with them. Mother says it best in a comment to Susan: "I'd be disappointed if you were too ladylike, my dear...We have only one life to live, and it seems a pity to be hampered by gentility." It does, doesn't it? Who wants to be restrained by a rigid code of conduct when you could be testing boundaries, perhaps guilty of overstepping them now and then but at least living without timidity? Hello, the Boat! is two hundred twenty-seven pages of life lived to the full with the Doaks, and we part ways feeling more excited about our own future and the American history that led to it. I'd give this book two and a half stars, and I nearly rounded to three. David, Steve, Susan, and the rest of the Doaks: take care until we meet again. I look forward to the reunion.
Life on a houseboat is hard work, but spectacularly entertaining. Father needs Steve and David to help steer and watch for prospective customers on shore as the storeboat drifts down the Ohio. Friends of Father's frequently hail the boat from their own craft, some stopping in to shop and others to say a quick hello and move on with their own business. A stout-limbed old-timer called Pappy boards the Doaks' vessel and chooses not to leave after Father extends an offer to help them navigate and maintain the store for a modest salary. The faces, accents, and demeanor of the population change from port to port, a real tour of America in its budding glory, and the Doaks witness it all. William Henry Harrison even finds himself briefly in their company, twenty-three years before his election as president of the United States. In this early era of American history, a family on the move might experience just about anything.
Susan, Steve, and David gamely adjust to the lifestyle transition. Steve learns he has an affinity for boating, especially the politics of its commerce laws. How he would love to meet Captain Shreve, already an American legend as a man who stands up for the underrepresented. Susan crosses paths with Simon, a boy she could imagine having a future with someday, and David hones his fishing skills off the back of the storeboat, though he's often pulled headfirst into the river by spunky fish. David helps out as heartily as anyone when the family's fortunes turn rocky. There's a lot to hope for from this new country that stresses individual freedom and responsibility, a future bigger than the Doaks can envision, and they're right on the vanguard of that prosperity. It's exciting to look back through history and watch the U.S. begin to fulfill its promise.
Formal education was scarce in 1817 America, but smart people weren't. People like George Doak learned life wisdom from doing their job honestly and well. A good businessman reaps rewards from acting with integrity, and the American system was designed to also reward virtue more often than not. As George observes, "Sometimes...there's a slight difference between the law and what we think is right. It comes from improper interpretation of the meaning of the law. But in this country we always have a chance to vote for the right laws, or for the right judges to interpret those laws." The U.S. Constitution was written to give freedom every opportunity to win out against lawmakers who prioritize their own agendas ahead of liberty, and George Doak has faith that U.S. law will side with freedom more often than tyranny. Nothing assures that better than guarding the right of individuals to their own choices. We can't know if the next generation will protect the freedoms we cherish, but Pappy seems to believe they'll do all right. "Did you ever notice, George, how old folks is generally sitting around grumbling about the present state of affairs? Young folks seem to be enjoying it or making arrangements to change it for the better." That attitude can go far toward achieving the potential our forebears saw in us. There's always a brighter tomorrow if we work hard to settle our conflicts peacefully and pursue impartial justice for all.
I'm not certain how this book's title should be written. Everywhere it occurs on the copy I read, there are quotation marks around it, which makes sense since "Hello, the boat!" is often called out by people to get the attention of those onboard. Is the book titled "Hello, the Boat!", or Hello, the Boat!, then? For the sake of simplicity I've gone with the latter. This is a fun novel, humorous and occasionally even silly. The Doaks are easygoing and playful, and it's fun to spend a book with them. Mother says it best in a comment to Susan: "I'd be disappointed if you were too ladylike, my dear...We have only one life to live, and it seems a pity to be hampered by gentility." It does, doesn't it? Who wants to be restrained by a rigid code of conduct when you could be testing boundaries, perhaps guilty of overstepping them now and then but at least living without timidity? Hello, the Boat! is two hundred twenty-seven pages of life lived to the full with the Doaks, and we part ways feeling more excited about our own future and the American history that led to it. I'd give this book two and a half stars, and I nearly rounded to three. David, Steve, Susan, and the rest of the Doaks: take care until we meet again. I look forward to the reunion.
December 10, 2008
Another wonderful historical novel that I would love to see reprinted. I enjoyed this one especially for its depiction of life on a canalboat.
November 8, 2018
3.5+ stars. Enjoyable story of the Doak family who in 1817 head west for a new life. Home had been Pittsburgh where they rent - with the father earning money as a river boatman. Land is cheaper in Ohio and they contract to operate a storeboat down the Ohio. The book contains lots of interesting information about country/frontier life as the author tells about the Doak's life on the river. It's not a particularly well-known period of US history but by reading this book I learned that the economy was entering a re/depression, that Pittsburgh was very smoky, that boats plied the rivers as operating stores from which settlers could purchase supplies, and a little bit about the upcoming period of steamboats. There were also tall tales about river life. Others have compared the book to the Little House books and it is a shame that it's pretty much unavailable (except via ILL). I read this for my 2018 Reading Challenge and for my Newbery Challenge (Honor Book 1939).
April 19, 2018
A fast read and a complete story. Many interesting facts and bits of information connected with travel on the river in a boat, both for the young and old to learn. As a senior citizen I totally enjoyed traveling along with their adventure back in a time where people were thankful for everything that came their way.
April 16, 2022
A delightful story of a spirited family making their way from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati aboard a store boat during the early 19th century. The book includes just enough historical detail and descriptions of everyday life aboard a boat to paint a clear picture without becoming bogged down in minutia. I also appreciate that it avoids some of the typical stereotypes of the time period about indigenous people. My only quibble is with the ending, which resolved a bit too neatly and abruptly.
April 30, 2019
Crawford's 1938 book, which won her a Newbery Honor, is something like one part less-intense Mark Twain, one part Little House on the Prairie, and a pinch of historic Who's Who for steamboat history.
Edit. In response to an undeserving 1-star review that doesn't allow comments: That reader complained of distracting technical minutia about boats that ruined the book and rendered it awful. This reader obviously put the book aside quite early in its pages; "Hello, the Boat" is *nothing* like slogging through Moby Dick, and pretty quickly gets away from technical bog-downs. This book is not one of the Terrible Chores that do exist in reading a complete Newbery collection. That designation can be safely kept for selections like Daniel Boone and Story of a Nation.
Set in the mid 1800s, it's an enjoyable-enough read (despite a weak ending) of a family as they emmigrate from Pittsburgh to Ohio on a river storeboat. Unlike Twain and Ingalls-Wilder, you don't get controversial vocabulary or blatant xenophobia, but you do get Crawford's exoticism of Native Americans, which still holds them at a distance from everyday interaction. She even throws in a little moralizing, with a young boy who swings from a naive wanting to go West and fight Indians to an admiration of deft schooner handling, and the notation that slave states don't hold the same emmigration draw as free states. This book is definitely a 180 degree departure from the racist and overly patronizing books from many of Crawford's contemporary authors. Puts the lie to the assumption that all books from this era are crassly racist, and therefor should be excused for the offense.
Edit. In response to an undeserving 1-star review that doesn't allow comments: That reader complained of distracting technical minutia about boats that ruined the book and rendered it awful. This reader obviously put the book aside quite early in its pages; "Hello, the Boat" is *nothing* like slogging through Moby Dick, and pretty quickly gets away from technical bog-downs. This book is not one of the Terrible Chores that do exist in reading a complete Newbery collection. That designation can be safely kept for selections like Daniel Boone and Story of a Nation.
Set in the mid 1800s, it's an enjoyable-enough read (despite a weak ending) of a family as they emmigrate from Pittsburgh to Ohio on a river storeboat. Unlike Twain and Ingalls-Wilder, you don't get controversial vocabulary or blatant xenophobia, but you do get Crawford's exoticism of Native Americans, which still holds them at a distance from everyday interaction. She even throws in a little moralizing, with a young boy who swings from a naive wanting to go West and fight Indians to an admiration of deft schooner handling, and the notation that slave states don't hold the same emmigration draw as free states. This book is definitely a 180 degree departure from the racist and overly patronizing books from many of Crawford's contemporary authors. Puts the lie to the assumption that all books from this era are crassly racist, and therefor should be excused for the offense.
November 23, 2014
A family moves to a farm via a river boat they deck out as a floating store. They stop and sell goods a long the way and have adventures. A slice of history set in the 1810s. I enjoyed this look at an older time and a curious lifestyle.
August 20, 2023
Another Newbery about Westward Expansion, but this one was an engaging read. The title (for some reason, some places I searched for the book insisted on leaving out the comma) comes from the greetings on the river, "Hello, the boat!" "Hello, the mill!" There were history lessons woven in here and there, which were a little clunky, but most were new to me. The attitudes about Native Americans and slavery were on the progressive end of typical for 1817.
December 19, 2018
Set in the early 1800s, this story follows a family moving from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati via a storeboat on the river. Think Little House on the water. A fun read with great characters.
October 16, 2021
I’m pretty sure I read this one years ago, but it was a good re-read other than the references to the Indian wars.
Want to read
June 13, 20251939 Newbery honor book
July 17, 2025
B. fiction, historical fiction, middle grades; Ohio history; family sails from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, selling wares; 19th c.; from stash, keep.
March 29, 2016
I thought that this was a cute book. It's about a family who, in 1817, finally saved up enough money to buy a farm, but they decide to leave the East and head out west to Cincinnati to buy some land there instead. First though, they need a way to get there. Turns out that a friend of the father has a storeboat that he has loaded up with a bunch of stuff and wants it shipped down to Cincinnati. The bulk of the story is about their adventures going down the river as a family and with a tag-along friend/old man called Pappy.
As in a lot of old books like this, most everything turns out quite well for them except one or two things, and those end up just fine by the ending anyway. Still, it is a cute and happy story, and it teaches a lot of little things about the culture around the Ohio river during that era - the alligator-horses, William Henry Harrison, saloon life, etc.
Anyway, this book was definitely a good book, especially for the time period it comes from (lots of boring award-winning books for kids written in the 1930's).
As in a lot of old books like this, most everything turns out quite well for them except one or two things, and those end up just fine by the ending anyway. Still, it is a cute and happy story, and it teaches a lot of little things about the culture around the Ohio river during that era - the alligator-horses, William Henry Harrison, saloon life, etc.
Anyway, this book was definitely a good book, especially for the time period it comes from (lots of boring award-winning books for kids written in the 1930's).
April 8, 2024
This book wasn't bad, but I also didn't find it super compelling until toward the end when Pappy and the money disappeared. A family in steamboat days decides to head out on a new adventure on a storeboat on the Ohio River I think? They stop and sell things to people. The oldest daughter falls in love with Simon. There is a bad guy, but he's not really a big part of the book. William Henry Harrison is in it. I enjoyed it, but I probably wouldn't read it over and over. Not like I could! The copy I got from ILL was in fragile condition.
February 13, 2013
Hello, the Boat! is historical fiction about floating a store boat from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati before the National Road was completed. The characters are fun, and the description of the Ohio river at that time is pretty cool. It isn't particularly plot driven, but that's OK. Newberry Honor book from 1938.
November 24, 2007
This book was pretty good. It's about people moving West in a river boat. It reminds me a lot of The Little House on the Prairie.
Read
May 7, 2013Charming for its year, chock full of the optimism and Horatio Alger-ism of a young nation who saw a whole continent at its feet.
Read
October 23, 2014980ba7bd-9743-492f-96c7-3afa325223de
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