John Henry: An American Legend

Rating:
Summary: The Genius of Ezra Jack Keats!
Review: Guess which is one of the books I'm using for Black History Month this year?

Rating:
Summary: Illustrations and Words
Review: Jessica Kruczynski English 385.04 Dr. Michelle H. Martin March 29, 2000

Keats, Ezra. John Henry: An American Legend. Toronto, Canada: Random House, Inc, 1965.

John Henry, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, tells the story of a fictitious American legend. Through the powerful illustrations, Keats portrays John Henry as a heroic man with much importance in society. Keats uses bold colors throughout the story, which help stimulate the reader's emotions. John Henry's importance is first revealed in the opening of the story. Unusual, marbalized paper illustrations accompany the words that tell of the night noises welcoming John Henry into the world. Even as a newborn child, he is the focus of the story, taking up an entire page in the book. When John Henry realizes his own strength, he makes the decision to leave his family and go out into the world. The illustration during this part of the story shows that a change is because of the bright colors and the image of waves rolling into the next page. When a storm strikes, John Henry's first act of bravery comes into play. Black and grey colors give a feeling that things are not quite right. The storm nearly causes a ship to sink, but John Henry is able to gain respect and admiration from others by bringing their ship to safety. John Henry, who was born with a hammer in his hand, feels called to go help build railroads. The illustration of him helping with the railroad tracks is much different thtn the other illustrations because John Henry is not the center of attention. Perhaps the reason for this is because helping build the railroad with a hammer in his hand is where John Henry belongs. Henry's next opportunity to be the hero occurrs when a lit fuse burns closely to dynamite in a cave, causing a very dangerous situation. Trying to put out the fuse, John Henry first trips and falls, but recovers by putting out the flame with his hammer. In this illustration, the hammer takes up and entire page! This shows that the hammer and John Henry are of equal importance; without his hammer, he is only an ordianry man. After proving himself to be a hero, John Henry develops a feeling of much confidence in himself. When told about an extremely powerful steam drill, John Henry states that he is more powerful and can drill more holes faster than six men combined. The illustrations of Henry's "race" with the machine are very effective in portraying motion. The hammer appears to be moving so fast that it becomes almost a blur. The pictures show how tired John Henry is becoming, and eventhough the steam drill is ahead of him at one point, he continues to work harder and faster. With much determination, John Henry picks up another hammer so that he can get twice as much done. In this illustration, John Henry and the two hammers take up two pages. Keats uses a bright orange color to offset Henry and the hammers. The bright color gives a feeling of excitement and makes the reader feel confident that John Henry can beat the steam machine. Througout John Henry's battle with the machine, people watch with admiration. John Henry continued to hammer, even after the steam machine collapsed. His goal was to break through the tunnel and when light began to shine through, everyone saw that his goal was reached. With hard work and determination, John Henry once again proved himself to be a hero. He died while walking out of the tunnel, carrying not one, but two hammers.

Rating:
Summary: NIGHTLY
Review: My 3 kids request I read this book every night. Its good enough that I don't MIND.