Singing Wheels

by Mabel O'Donnell, Florence Hoopes (Illustrator), Margaret Hoopes (Illustrator)

Fourth Grade Reader in Alice and Jerry Series

Genres: History, Childrens, American History, Classics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Miss O`Donnell, educator, was the author of two sets of elementary school textbooks, the Alice and Jerry series and the Janet and John series. Both were widely used in the United States and other English-speaking nations.

For many years, Miss O`Donnell, served as a teacher, primary grade supervisor and curriculum coordinator for Aurora's East Side elementary schools.

In 1946 she resigned her post as primary supervisor to become an editor for Row, Peterson & Co., an Evanston-based textbook publishing firm.

Reviews

[Dick Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my fourth grade reader in the Alice and Jerry Reader Series. I was in the Baton Rouge school system, and we used Alice and Jerry books throughout elementary school. For some reason, this one stuck with me more than the others. It could be the combination of the quality of the book coupled with the great teaching skill of Mrs. Ash, who commuted from Centerville, Mississippi, to teach us each day that year. Though the books were written by Mabel O'Donnell, I read somewhere that some of the stories in this one were adaptations of the Little House stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Another thing that is impressive about these books is the illustrations. Thanks for that goes to Florence and Margaret Hoopes. I'm giving it a five-star rating because it left such a positive impression on me for all of these years. That's a long time, as I will retire next year.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of young Tom, who goes "the west" to reunite with his parents (Ma and Pa) and 2 younger siblings (Sally and Jim). The story is set - I'm guessing - in about the same timeframe as the Little House on the Prairie series - so, 1830's? It's really the story, told through Tom's experiences and adventures, of the American pioneers setting out to find and cultivate good farmland, and work it in happiness and contentment. From that standpoint, it is an interesting, and inspiring story.

On the downside, though, it manages to step on just about every current societal toe available. First, there's Tom himself, riding out west on a stagecoach, with his brand-new gun just thirsting to put it into action and kill a bear - or pretty much any wildlife available, then there's on of the main characters - a Canadian, who, of course, was called Frenchie (and Frenchie has a son called Pierre - only Jacques could have been more on the nose.) We move on to little Sally (9 3/4 years old) who, has blue eyes and blonde curling hair, so naturally the writer suggests that may be why she's called "a tease". Surely, this was meant in another connotation than the one commonly associated with that word now. But then, Sally, upon receipt of a lovely new cloak, wants to show it to only one person in the village - the "old harness maker" - who, incidentally, keeps candy in his pocket which is the 1800's equivalent to the modern "Conversation Hearts", which Sally is free to sample at any time. After a certain number of raised eyebrows and gasps, these things suddenly started striking me as funny, so Sally and her friend knowing they would not receive ice skates like her brother and his friends did, because they were "too unladylike" (take that Michelle Kwan!), got a guffaw, and the Native American and his son that showed up at once point, spoke words in "Indian" (not Choctaw, Cheyenne, Sioux, etc.), got a giggle and a snort, and by the time we were up to the hero dog, "Limpy" (who fought and won a fight with a wolf, at the price of good use of one of his front paws, and had, presumably, no name prior to the fight), I was laughing uncontrollably. Black people were not given the same treatment, only, I think, because there were exactly zero Black people in or around The Big Woods.

So, if you want to be inspired, get a close-up description of how to catch and butcher a pig, the best way to annihilate every wolf in the neighborhood, make candles (out of tallow), make maple syrup and maple sugar, and 100 other tasks required everyday life back then, read this book. If you have a sense of humor, and can tell yourself, "Well, it was published in 1940, as an adventure story.", read it. If you're triggered easily, do not read this book.

[Bernard H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 4th grade at Milford State Graded School, Milford, Jefferson County, Wisconsin in 1950-51. I enjoyed the book because it was about a small town on a river. In my 8-9 year old imagination, I tried to find similarities between Hastings Mills and Milford which was also located on a river. I pictured it as a parallel of my own home town and how it had developed about 100 years before my birth. As with many small midwestern state towns, the similarities abound.

I have a school photo of our 5 grade (4-8) classroom from when I was in 4th grade. Featured in the background is a blackboard upon which our teacher had written a "fill in the blanks" type quiz which we would take later that day, following our photo session. I can still look at that class photo and fill in the answers to those questions, 68 years later. This book, Singing Wheels, made such an impression on me.

9 years, 11 months and 2 days ago, I purchased a used copy from Amazon. Turning to the chapter containing the answers to the, then, 58 year old test, I verified that I had the correct answers. I scored 100% on Mrs. Myrtle Platos' quiz from the 1950's. Perhaps that is higher than I scored back in the day! Mrs. Platos was my favorite teacher from grades 4-7. I wish she was still living so that I could share my test results and my appreciation for her teaching methods and faith in even the least of her students.

I close with one additional thought. The author, Mabel O'Donnell was an educator in Aurora, Illinois. Aurora was situated on a river which economically and politically divided the developing town which is now a city. Mrs. O'Donnell wrote many reading books in the Alice and Jerry Series. There is a school named after her in Aurora. A person interested in history will want to look up the historical story of Aurora and its development on both banks of the river as well as the island between the two halves of the city. It is the story of political division and how the island played into the class strife which marked Aurora.

Then, after learning about Aurora's strife-filled developmental history, go back and re-read the later chapters of Singing Wheels with a mind to discovering hints of the political differences to come between the Eastern and Western Bank settlers of Hastings Mills, for which Aurora, Illinois is likely the prototype and setting .

I still enjoy, at age 76, re-reading this book and thinking back on the days when I first had read it. It is a story which is part of my story!

[Dan Dreifuerst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Singing Wheels & Engine Whistles

Singing Wheels starts in about 1850 with Tom Hastings II, a boy of 10 (p.136 Sally will be ten years old the same age as Tom for one week) riding in a stagecoach from out east. He had been staying with his grandparents out there going to school. His father, Tom I, (p.234 Ma calls Pa "Why Tom Hastings") and his mother and brother Jim 7, and sister Sally 9, were pioneers moving out and establishing Hastings Mills about a little over a year previously in a covered wagon. Hastings Mills was located where Aurora, Illinois is today. Singing Wheels describes Tom the II's life that summer until the following spring. It is the more enjoyable book to read because it is more like a story. It tells of his gathering wood, butchering, hunting, school, and life in the rural, wild area of the country mid 19th century.

The book, Engine Whistles, starts out with Tom III in the summer of 1879. This book tells more of the progress of Hastings with a population of 12,000 as the town fathers develop water lines, gas lines, roads, gas lamps etc. It says Tom I is then the Mayor and Tom II is 40 years old and is the bank president. This part of the book takes you to the summer of 1880.

Engine Whistles then jumps ahead to 1910 with Tom IV. He has the nickname of "Pinkie". It says Tom I is deceased then. Tom II is 72 years old and is retired from the bank. Tom III is the chief engineer for the railroad. The author causes some confusion on page 235 where she says Tom II came in the stage coach almost 70 years ago. Then on page 252 she says Tom II is 72 years old. He would have been only 1 or 2 years old then. I think she meant to say it was almost 60 years ago when he came in the stagecoach.

Then Engine Whistles jumps ahead once again to 194?, I don't know why they used a question mark for the year. Tom V is riding in a plane from New York to Hastings. Hastings is now 100 years old with a population of 200,000.

I know that I know too much about these children's books , but they are great.

[Charles Blankenship]

74 years ago we moved from Carrabelle, Florida down to my Mother's home in Port Richey and began the schoolyear at Pierce Elementary in New Port Richey. I believe the Reading Primer was Singing Wheels (The Alice and Jerry Books) by Mabel O'Donnell. The book dealt with Pioneer families. I never got to finish it because we left after one week and returned to Carrabelle.

Years later in Tallahassee, Florida I was introduced to the idea that I had ancestors who were truly pioneers to the Sunshine State. Proving my ancestors were Florida Pioneers because they were residing in Florida before Statehood in 1845 was easy as they lived in St. Augustine by June of 1762, left in 1785 for Southeast Georgia and returned in 1824 to what became Alachua Co.

I always remembered that one week and thought the storyline referred to pioneers moving in covered wagons further and further south into the interior of Florida. A few people suggested that the Primer was indeed Singing Wheels and I purchased it through Amazon I was not disappointed. It should still be in the school system.

[Fred Schumacher]

I came to the United States in 1956, having completed first grade in Austria and able to read a newspaper in German and Croatian but not speaking English. By third grade, I was fluent in English and our teacher gave two of us, the best readers in class, Singing Wheels to read because we were bored by Dick and Jane primers. I found the book fascinating. As an immigrant refugee, I had not been exposed to early American history. We lived on the western Pennsylvania border, and I saw this book as a portrayal of pioneer life in the area from Pennsylvania to Illinois. The illustrations were wonderful. I know that this series is a bowdlerized history of settlement, but it is still valuable for its attempt at describing ordinary life of ordinary people. A modern update should be written.

[Sheri]

I just finished reading this aloud to my 9 year old. She enjoyed it very much. She loves hearing about the types of things they did "back then"--from how they tapped trees for maple syrup to the description of boot making and spinning wool to thread.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have always loved this book. I read it to mother last time I took care of her. Then we started Engine Whistles. We will finish it next time she comes.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

1940 Elementary text/story about moving Westward

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth-grade reader in the Alice and Jerry series; this one is the first (I think) that resembles a novel, as opposed to the 'primer' writing style for the previous three in the series. Didactic as all get out, complete with dictionary (with pronunciation guide) and expository illustrations in the margins of things the characters might have used--spinning wheels, lanterns, oxen yokes, that sort of thing. But amusing! so I'll give it an extra point because I remembered it fondly for so many years.

Basically, it's the story of a ten-year-old boy, Tom, coming out to live with his parents and younger sister (he'd remained behind in the 'civilized' East to finish the school year). Over the course of the year, immigrants arrive and settle down, and by the end of the book, a village named Hastings Mills has been platted out. Stagecoaches, way stations, homespun and indigo, Indians that say 'how', and hunting wild turkeys with your very own first gun.....did I mention it's more than slightly dated in addition to being didactic?

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this story when I was a kid & loved it. I hung onto my old copy & read it to my girls. They both loved it also. A groan of disappointment met my announcement that we had finished it :).

A classic about a young boy growing up in a new settlement on the Western Frontier. If you like the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder you'll enjoy this story as well.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dear husband must have added this book. We both read it when we were in Elementary school and Earl managed to find a copy. It is a fourth grade reader in the Alice and Jerry series. He always pulls it out for the grandkids to read with him. I think it is one of the books that turned him into a history major.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in grade school in the 60s. I liked it so much I went and found a copy and bought it to have in my collection. The stories and illustrations are great. I still grab this book and read a few pages every time I want a trip down memory lane.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a child. it was the first book i read cover to cover, and i have kept a copy of it for over 28 years. Just recently gave it to my son. It is heavily tattered and even missing pages, but he loves the book. I'm hoping to find a better copy of it so that he can have it.

[Teja]

Very reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie series. The primary difference is that this book has little drawings of various tools and machines at the bottom of many pages. Generally a fast, light, and enjoyable read.

[Ms. Mielke's Class Make sure you post how your sheets tell you to!!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book because I like old fashioned because of wagons, horses, and oxens as transportation. If you like old stuff and how stuff worked back then read this book. DK

[Brian White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have such fond memories of my teacher reading this book to our class in fourth grade. It was wonderful to find a copy and relive some of those memories.