1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up discussion

The Monthly Book Club read for April 2023 is Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall (1979).

It is available online at –
• Available from Open Library –
https://openlibrary.org/search?q=titl...
• Ox-Cart Man (YouTube – Bookroot Readings) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzrKW...

Information about the author and the book is available at --
• Wikipedia (Ox-Cart Man) –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ox-Cart...
• Wikipedia (Donald Hall, author) –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_...
• Donald Hall (Identity Theory – Interview with Donald Hall after he was named Poet Laureate of the United States in June 2006)) –
https://www.identitytheory.com/donald...
• Wikipedia (Barbara Cooney, illustrator) –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara...

I have read Ox Cart Man many times. To my mind it is one of the best books ever written to give young readers a look at how it was for some families in early America. What I especially appreciate is how matter-of-fact, gentle and appreciative this book is down to the kiss goodbye on the nose of the ox. I have recently learned this type of book is called informational nonfiction.

Ox-Cart Man

Now with regard to Ox-Cart Man I indeed absolutely do love Barbara Cooney's expressive illustrations (they are bold, colourful and show a detailed slice of life, an almost palatable sense of time and place). And in my opinion, by contrast and comparison, Donald Hall's presented text, while it is for the most part a more than adequate mirror of the illustrations, I do tend to find it somewhat overly positive and saccharinely optimistic. For the poetic narrative never really seems to expand all that much on the very salient and obvious truth that the Ox-Cart Man is actually away from his family for weeks, perhaps even months on end, that his wife and children must run the family farm on their own during his absence (probably not even knowing how their husband and father is faring unless he has time and/or is able to write them a letter), that the father himself is traveling in a covered wagon, constantly on the road, and that once he has sold his oxen and his cart, he must in fact walk home. And while the narrative of Ox-Cart Man, while Donald Hall's printed words, actually do kind of point out this fact, the potential hardships and even the potential dangers of this kind of traveling (having to walk home), they are in my opinion never really all that detailed or even really all that much acknowledged by the author (and perhaps the illustrations do not actually show this danger all that much either, but yes, they do seem a trifle more realistic than how the text, than how the narrative appears, is presented).

So as a counterpoint, in the Little House on the Prairie series, Laura Ingalls Wilder clearly demonstrates just how difficult it is for the Ingalls when Pa has to leave the family to look for work (even if she never exaggerates, the hardships the family faces, the uncertainty of not having gotten a letter from Pa, that Pa has to walk for many many miles wearing shoes that are falling apart, the fact that chores are much more difficult when Pa is away, these potential issues are always clearly presented and indeed also front and centre). And while I do not necessarily think that Donald Hall needed to have added information about this (about the potential hardships and dangers that this kind of travelling and working could pose) within the text proper of Ox-Cart Man, I think that a supplemental note, explaining the potential hardships faced by the Ox-Cart Man and his family during and because of his forced absence from the farm (and his travels) would have been an added bonus, and increased the teaching and learning value of this otherwise excellent offering. Finally, I also have to wonder, if Donald Hall had in fact added a bit of potential danger and uncertainty to the narrative itself, might that not have made Ox-Cart Man a bit more eventful and interesting (exciting) in scope? For the presented text of Ox-Cart Man it does, at times, read more like a list of things for a farmer to do and for a farmer to sell. Still, highly recommended, especially for Barbara Cooney's illustrations (and which are most definitely much deserving of the Caldecott Medal they were awarded).

As a picture book writer, I feel the need to make one little comment. Ox Cart Man is written very matter-of-factly, but it opens the door for discussion in the classroom about all the issues you mention. On the other hand, Little House on the Prarie is not a picture book and has more 'room.'

I think that The Ox-Cart Man is a good depiction of a pioneer family's life for young children. It clearly states that the father had to walk for ten days to get to town. It doesn't tell how many days it took to sell his items, but you can assume it would be a week or so. After that, it shows and talks about him walking back home, so children easily get the idea that the father was away for about a month. True, it doesn't tell what was happening at home during that time, but it does say that he left in October, so that was after harvest and the most "idle" time of year. The book very clearly shows how industrious and busy the entire family were year round.