The Matchlock Gun

Books of this time represent Native Americans as savages and illustrations are stereotypical and awful and they are not represented as a people fighting for their beautiful land. I read this title right after reading "Daniel Boone" which in its attempt to represent early American heroes represents early American terrorists pouring in to kill anyone in the way of their getting more land. It is a terrible history, so poorly portrayed and so shameful.

Despite the beautiful illustrations and the simply told true story of a young family settling in upstate New York, "The Matchlock Gun" is a story of kill or be killed in which the Native Americans are again portrayed as savages that must be destroyed to save the poor settlers. The show more illustrations accurately show what life would have been like for the settlers, from the simple wood structure to the warming pans and cauldron in the fireplace and should not be ignored, despite the representations, but any introduction of this book to children today would have to be provided with a more fully informed perspective of how America was settled, not just as a victor's tale. Illustrations feature prominently, sometimes in double-page color spreads, other times in small, black and white supplements, making this much more akin to a picture book than a chapter book. A very quick read. I had a hard time "rating" it as the simply told story and illustrations are so well done, despite the message. It may be important to note that both "The Matchlock Gun" and "Daniel Boone" won the Newbery in the early 1940's, when the United States was preparing to enter World War II and when patriotism, nationalism and a sense of "othering" was going strong. show less

Walter D Edmonds, teacher and historical writer, wrote the classic adult historical fiction book, Drums Along the Mohawk that was made into a popular movie. With his children’s book, The Matchlock Gun, he demonstrated his mastery not only of colonial New York history in the 1700s, America’s western frontier at the time, but also of world history. He presents it in a way that is not dry or preachy, but his casual adjectives and descriptions such as St Francis Indians, the Spanish gun from Bergom Op Zoom, and that Mama is a Palatine disliked by her Dutch mother-in-law show the depths of his knowledge and create a clear picture for us of those times.
The French and their Algonquian allies raided the American settlements before we were show more a nation, hoping to secure this country for their own, fighting the English, Dutch and Palatine settlers that had established themselves here. Through the young boy’s eyes we hear the story of the events around 1757 leading up to and including the Indian raid. Not a casual onlooker, Edward does his part to protect his family.
Some people ask me why I am interested in stories of the past that appear to us today to be racist or “politically incorrect”. We read that the boy’s Dutch grandmother barricaded herself in the house with her slaves and there is no understanding of why the St Francis Indians (Native Americans to us today) are visiting this horror on the frontier farmers. It is important to see the world through their eyes and not to forget our history. More importantly, I think we should not clean history up too much to suit todays norms or we may not remember the lessons we can learn from the past. There were Dutch slave owners in New York and New Jersey and the state of Rhode Island had the largest slave population in the country for a time. Historical writing is a wonderful starting point for looking into the realities of a situation.
The hard feelings between the Dutch and the Palatines lasted a long time and the divisions between the Dutch and the English were so strong, that after the English conquered New York in 1664 and the Dutch rebellion conquered it back for a year in 1673-1674, some of the Dutch refused to live under English rule and moved to New Jersey. The English and the French took even longer to make peace with each other on this side of the Atlantic. As a descendant of all of the parties involved, the Palatines, Dutch, French and St. Francis Indians, this book is a treasure, showing through the eyes of a child, the simple realities of life and survival on the frontier of New York State in the 1700s. It is still a good book for very young children and interesting and informative adult reading. show less

In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. His father had shown him how to use the huge matchlock gun, an old Spanish gun that was twice as long as he was, but would Edward be able to handle it if trouble actually came?

In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. His father had shown him how to use the huge matchlock gun, an old Spanish gun that was twice as long as he was, but would Edward be able to handle it if trouble actually came?

review from my 13 year old
“It tells the story of Edward and his grandparents who came to the U.S. during the time period of the French-Indian War. His father is in the militia. Everyone else is left alone (children and mother) and a raid came near them. Instead of choosing to go to Grandma’s, they stayed. They had their large gun brought from Holland which the Mother says not to fire til she says so. The raiding party comes to the house and the gun is fired. There is a fire. Then the father comes home.”

*YMMV, obviously guns, shooting.

Also a true story.

Here is one perspective http://www.readathomemom.com/2017/03/reading-through-history-matchlock-gun.html

Here is a quote from Wikipedia “ The book has been accused of depicting show more Native Americans as "horror, the ultimate nightmare [...which] may very well be one of the worst descriptions of Native people in children’s literature, certainly in the 20th century", and "eulogiz[ing] an American past in which the indigenous populations were regarded as sub-human, and every effort made to exterminate them."[1]”

Clearly a book that can have strong feelings raised. I encourage you to read this book for yourself and some of the other Library Thing reviews. show less

Written in 1942, The matchlock Gun focuses on Edward, a young boy left in charge of the family farm when his father leaves to fight in the French-Indian War. Before leaving, his father gives him a matchlock gun to help protect his mother and sister.

While this is the shortest Newbery winner that I've read, it packed quite a punch in its brief pages. Obviously, there are quite a few depictions of war type violence so this might be best for slightly older children. There is a great feeling of bravery in difficult circumstances throughout the story that I enjoyed. Overall, though, I didn't like this book as much as I did other Newbery winners.

Another Newbery tale that was once popular and now is seen as wrong-minded. This is an old family story of a boy who saved his mother and sister from Indian attack in the early years of New York. The boy was able to fire off an ancient family gun and stop the invaders from destroying his family. I understand how a group of people, in this case the Native Americans, can be unilaterally seen as cruel and aggressive from books such as Daniel Boone and The Matchlock Gun, but another part of me sees this book as part of history, albeit a part of history that is no longer recognized as unbiased.