Rainbow on the Road

by Esther Forbes

A peddler-artist named Jude spends his winters painting the figures of men and women on canvases, while leaving the faces blank. When spring comes, he travels by cart to various New England towns, charging people $3 to $5 to have the blank faces filled in with their likenesses. (From Wikipedia)

343 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Esther Forbes was born in Westboro, Massachusetts in 1891, as the youngest of five children. Her family roots can be traced back to 1600s America; one of her great-uncles was the great historical figure and leader of the Sons of Liberty, Sam Adams. Her father was a probate judge in Worcester and her mother, a writer of New England reference books. Both her parents were historical enthusiasts.

Even as a little child, Forbes displayed an affinity for writing. Her academic work, however, was not spectacular, except for a few writing classes. After finishing high school, she took classes at the Worcester Art Museum and Boston University, and later, Bradford Academy, a junior college. She then followed her sister to the University of Wisconsin where Forbes wrote extensively for the Wisconsin Literary Magazine. After developing her writing skills, she returned to Massachusetts where she began working for Boston's Houghton Mifflin. As a reader of manuscripts, Forbes used this experience to advance her own writing career. Her first novel, O Genteel Lady! was published in 1926 to critical praise. With its selection by the newly formed Book-of-the-Month Club, the novel gained popular appeal as well. That year, Forbes also married Albert L. Hoskins, Jr., a Harvard Law School student.

As Forbes continued to write and gain notoriety, her marriage suffered because her husband disapproved of her career. They divorced in 1933. After several other novels, Forbes began her research of Paul Revere with her mother, who was then in her mid-eighties. When the historical biography, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In won the Pulitzer Prize in History, Forbes recognized her mother's immense contributions. During the process of researching Paul Revere, Forbes became fascinated with the large role young apprentices played in the war. Thus, she wrote Johnny Tremain, a historical novel of a young boy growing up in the time of the Revolutionary War. With poignant character development and a keen sense of history, it contained the elements for lasting popularity. It was published as "A Novel for Old and Young." In 1944, it won the Newberry Award, the top award for children's literature and became an instant children's classic. Forbes continued to turn out award winning books, most notably, The Running of the Tide, which was commissioned as a movie but never filmed. While working on a book about witchcraft in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, she died in 1967 of rheumatic heart disease.

Forbes literary achievements, awards, and recognition speak for themselves in regards her place in letters. Johnny Tremain is still read widely in schools and its popularity makes it one of the few lasting classics of American children literature.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen vague references to this book for years. Finally read it, and was not disappointed. What a wonderful look at, for me, a little known piece of our past. Traveling merchants walking through the countryside, specifically New Hampshire in this book. Places I travel through frequently, probably on the same roads that Jude traveled on. At times humorous, and with some historical content. Forbes' descriptions of the New England landscape through the seasons are spot-on and beautifully written.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in New England before the railroad and widespread photography, probably around 1840, a young boy spends several months on the road with his foster uncle, who is an itinerant portrait painter. He had married the boy's foster aunt several years before. She is a practical farm woman and he is a natural wayfarer with a somewhat fantastical sense of the world. The book has lovely descriptions of the New England countryside through the seasons. Eddy narrates this story sixty years later from his Kansas home. Who he has become we only hear in small, incomplete snippets. His reflections on his time on the road with Jude explores the importance of story in our lives, the human foibles, vanities and self-delusions that keep us all going, and the power of imagination. Jude, an inveterate teller of tales is skilled in "making facts into art." A character who interweaves through the story is a ballad writer who peddles his songs of outlaws and cheating lovers. He sees that his time will soon pass as homes obtain pianofortes and printed music. But these are his life lessons: "what you want to believe you do, and sometimes that turns out to be truer than true." Also, "The dream of a thing is more important than the substance of it."

[Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of several books I received in 1955 from the Book Club subscription I received from my mother. It was a simple book and not as popular as others I received monthly, eg., Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer, and similar. But I read this book over and over; I wanted to grow up (I was 9 at the time) to be Jude and live as free as I pictured he was. That didn't happen, but it doesn't stop me from remembering the story and its impact on me. I just knew that I should have been born 2-3 decades sooner.

[Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Very dated. Not great. Some historical interest.

[Martic · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's probably not fair of me to rate this book because it was published in 1954 and is set in the early 1800s and is dated in its writing style. It took me four months to finish it because I read several books along the way since this story didn't hold my interest. The pages themselves are jammed full of narrative with very little dialog or white space to take a breath. It's a sort of fictional travelogue told by a 14-year-old boy about his travels with a portrait painter from May through November one year. The two travel from CT through MA and NH and back again. The only reason I bothered to finish it is because it's one of my late mother's book club books I "inherited" after her death. I'm tempted to toss it in the trash as I can't believe anyone I know would ever want to read it. The cover is colorful, but neither it nor the title makes sense with the book. So glad to have read the final word on this one!

[Sharon Zink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a significant plot, but nice writing. A man and his young brother-in-law take to the road as peddlers in early New England. A good book to take a nap on.

[Rebecca Radnor]

paperback

Can be used in an Art Class: