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| Edition: | Yearling (Paperback) |
| Author: | Esther Forbes |
| Published: | May 1987 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| ISBN 10: | 0440442508 |
| New: | $3.55 (73) |
| Used: | $0.01 (741) |
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Johnny Tremain, a 1943 children's novel by Esther Forbes, retells in narrative form the final years in Boston prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. The novel's themes include the apprenticeship system, the conflicts in Boston between the Sons of Liberty and Loyalists as the war approaches, and the reasons why each character in the novel chooses one side or the other.
Events that were described in the novel include the Boston Tea Party, the British blockade of the Port of Boston, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
The book won the 1944 Newbery Medal and is the 16th bestselling children's book as of the year 2000 in the United States, according to Publishers Weekly.
Plot summary
The main character of the novel, Johnny Tremain, is an apprentice silversmith to Ephraim Lapham. Johnny is forced to give up his apprenticeship after Dove, a fellow apprentice, plays a harmful joke on Johnny that causes his thumb and palm to fuse together from exposure to molten silver.The combination of cruelty and condescending kindness that Johnny faces from the townspeople of Boston after this mishap is one of the most vividly drawn sections of the novel.
After descending into depression, Johnny is rescued by a kind family who owns a hand-operated printing press, where they do job printing and publish a newspaper, the Boston Observer. He meets Rab Silsbee, a young man between two and three years older than him, who becomes his best friend and role model and introduces him to political views in Boston, revolutionary acts, and helps Johnny mature. Young Tremain joins this household, becomes part of the printshop, and delivers papers to the people of Boston. From this vantage point he and the novel's readers can look on as the events of the American Revolution unwind. Along the way Johnny befriends several historical figures including Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph Warren.
The novel includes historical events like the Boston Tea Party and the famous run by Paul Revere.
