The Book Boat's In

March 15, 2013
A pleasing historical tale about a boy willing to work hard for what he desires most--a book. "One sunny day, Jesse King and his pa drove into town." The year is 1835 in an agricultural area. Children will immediately notice colorful barges in the canal. The one that excites Jesse is Mr. Edwards' book boat, which comes through occasionally. Inside, Jesse quickly spots a red book: his favorite, The Swiss Family Robinson. Jesse longs to own it, but Pa cannot afford it and suggests Jesse might earn the money. The text is laced with dialogue featuring homey turns of phrase, revealing Jesse's passion for stories and capturing the warmth between the characters. Naive folk-art-style paintings in bright gouache reflect Jesse's hopeful, eager nature. Although simply rendered, the facial expressions speak volumes. Jesse cheerfully labors throughout the week at a store, a stable and more, illustrating what life was like in the 19th century. (An author's note explains the history of floating libraries.) When the book boat comes back, Jesse finds the red book is gone, but Mr. Edwards has a solution. Jesse's pride of ownership and the closing scene of Jesse writing his name and the year in his very first book will resonate with book lovers of all ages. (Picture book. 4-8)

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March 1, 2013

K-Gr 2-A historical tale that provides a glimpse into a unique part of 19th-century life on the Erie Canal: the floating library/bookstore. On a trip into town, Jesse is excited to see the book boat and even happier to find a book he loves, Johann David Wyss's The Swiss Family Robinson. The book's price is more money than he has, so he spends the week before the boat's return working to earn seven more cents. Although he isn't able to earn enough, the book-boat proprietor offers him a cheaper copy, and Jesse is thrilled to be able to write his name in a book and mark it as his own. Librarians and teachers will appreciate Jesse's love of books and his commitment to working hard in order to own one. Although the text, particularly the dialogue, is not very creative, the historical information it provides, along with the folk-style gouache paintings, gives a strong sense of time and place. The scenes with backgrounds of the town, the countryside, and the general store are full of vibrant color and atmospheric detail. In one spread, a pair of horses can be seen pulling a boat up the river, showing how river traffic operated. An author's note gives a little more background information. A supplementary purchase.-Marian McLeod, Darien Library, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2013
Grades K-3 Jesse and his father hitch up the wagon and head into town to do some shopping at the general store. To Jesse's surprise and delight, the R. Edwards Library and Bookstore boat is docked along the wharf. Jesse finds a book he wants, and, at his father's suggestion, does odd jobs for the week to earn the money to pay for it. The following week, Jesse finds his book gone, but Mr. Edwards has another copy, a bit more worn, but cheaper for it. This simple story illuminates an overlooked facet of library historyfloating librarieswhile combining the honest values of an earlier era with a straightforward telling. Cotten's clean language feels true to its time, matched by the direct composition of Lessac's primitive-style paintings. An author's note fills in some historical details about the Erie Canal and the boats that traveled along it, adding curricular opportunities to this earnest, old-fashioned tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2013
Jesse, who loves books, has "read every single one on the shelf behind Miss Howard's desk at school, some of them twice." When he discovers his favorite, The Swiss Family Robinson, on nice Mr. Edwards's "Book Boat" (one of the rental library/bookstores that cruised the new Erie Canal in the early nineteenth century, as Cotten explains in a note), he sets out to earn its price: twenty cents. With his own small stash plus what he gets from neighbors for tasks like sweeping and chopping wood, he has almost enough when the boat returns, but the coveted book has been sold. Fortunately, there's a slightly more worn copy for sale, within Jesse's means. The way this small drama looms large in a rural community in what readers may find an unimaginably simpler time works well to illuminate the historical setting, which is also nicely evoked in Lessac's vivid gouache paintings with their broadly rendered figures, flat perspectives, brilliant greens and blues, and rich tones of brown. Pair this with Elsa Beskow's Pelle's New Suit or Tomie dePaola's "Charlie Needs a Cloak" (rev. 4/74) to introduce notions of other times, other values, and other means of acquiring the needful. joanna rudge long

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2013
When Jesse discovers his favorite book, The Swiss Family Robinson, on the "Book Boat" (one of the rental library/bookstores that cruised the Erie Canal in the early 1800s), he sets out to earn its price: twenty cents. The way this small drama looms large works well to illuminate the historical setting, which is also nicely evoked in vivid gouache paintings.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)