Ox-Cart Man

This is a simple story of a man whose life consists mainly of what he makes with his hands, who then sells those things and starts again the following year. He doesn't amass material goods or wealth. Those things are unimportant. Emphasized instead is the rhythm of life, the quiet deliberation of a life free from harried schedules, worry, and danger. Keeping in mind that author Donald Hall is a poet will prevent the reader from expecting a dynamic plot. Rather, Hall creates a mood through vivid detail and selected information. Illustrator Barbara Cooney contributes to the story, emphasizing the passing of time, the personalities of the family (notice, for example, that he cares for his ox before he sells his goods), and the simple way show more of life depicted in the text. This book makes an excellent read aloud for a classroom, a good book to check out at the library, but not necessarily an essential book for one's library. What's missing, is a reason for living beyond mere simplicity, which can become an inadequate and ultimately unsatisfying ideal to strive for. show less

I loved the story and illustrations in this one, and the taste that we get of what life was like back then - there was no Wal-Mart or convenience store to get groceries or other supplies, so it was important to take care of what you had, as well as work hard to produce crops (or other viable goods) for sale just to eke out a basic living. Barbara Cooney is also a fantastic illustrator, any book that features art of hers always adds gorgeous visuals to the story.

This story takes place back when horses and oxen were the form of transportation and when you wanted something to eat, you had to go out and get it. The story follows a man and his family and tells of how they work hard all year long through the changing seasons to make enough things to sell at the end of the year when the man would go to town and sell their goods. When he does sell everything, he buys a few goodies for his family and buys some supplies so that they can get to work making things to sell the next year.
I liked this book. It has really pretty pictures and, coming from a farm, I could really relate to it in some ways, even though it isn’t set in the present. I love how it shows that if you work hard, it will all pay off show more in the end. Too many stories these days don’t share this same upbeat message.
If working with a group of children, I think this book would be great to use when discussing seasons. Throughout the book it tells and shows what they do for each new season. It would also be a good one to use if you wanted to teach cause and effect. The family worked hard all year so that when it came time to sell, they were able to get lots of good things. If they had not worked hard, they would not have had anything to sell and no money to get what they wanted. I think kids who live on a farm would also enjoy this because it would be something they could probably relate to a bit more than kids who were not from a farming community. show less

A lyrical journey through the days and weeks, the months, and the changing seasons in the life of one New Englander and his family. The oxcart man packs his goods - the wool from his sheep, the shawl his wife made, the mittens his daughter knitted, and the linen they wove. He packs the birch brooms his son carved, and even a bag of goose feathers from the barnyard geese.

He travels over hills, through valleys, by streams, past farms and villages. At Portsmouth Market he sells his goods, one by one - even his beloved ox. Then, with his pockets full of coins, he wanders through the market, buying provisions for his family, and returns to his home. And the cycle begins again.

The illustrations of [a:Barbara Cooney|191976|Barbara Cooney|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1304790937p2/191976.jpg] really "make" this book. But the "dated" story is touching, how the farmer and his family work the land, harvest and make, knit, carve, weave things to sell at the market, how they make the utmost use of everything the farm and the land give them. It was a great opportunity to explain how people used to live in the "olden days" and how there used to be an age where people did not have stoves (well, okay, some people may still not have stoves), cars, supermarkets, TV, iPads ... All references to gender roles are of course very old fashioned, the daughter knits, the son carves and the father goes to the show more market and takes care of business. That makes one more thing to talk about, as we read the book. Finally, and again, the pictures are so beautiful, especially the big spreads, depicting the seasons. Some of the pages made me want to tear them out of the book to frame and hang, such as the sunset scene where the farmer is finally making his way home, or the winter scene with the low rising sun putting the clouds on fire. The vocabulary is a little bit challenging for a four year old, especially since so many of the terms and objects described are not part of our modern day reality. Other than that, it could even be an early reader book. show less

Hall’s extended version of his poem illustrated by Cooney depicts the annual cycle of life on a 19th century New Hampshire farm. The farmer hitches his ox to an ox-cart laden with the produce of the farm, potatoes, apples, brooms, maple sugar, candles, and the linen spun by his wife from the flax grown on the farm and embroidered by his daughter, and travels for days to reach the seaport at Portsmouth. There he sells all their goods, including the ox and cart, purchases an iron kettle, a knife, an imported embroidery needle from England, and two pounds of wintergreen peppermint candies. With his purchases he walks slowly home to the farm, where the family after enjoying a hot dinner from the new cooking pot followed by some show more wintergreen peppermint candies while sitting around the fireplace, begins the next year’s work, making farm produce for next year’s market.

It is a beautiful book. show less

This book has incredible vocabulary. It is about a man who packs up everything he grew or built all year to sell for the winter months. It is good for students to see how he was able to sell absolutely everything he and his family made throughout the summer. The book also showed how after the oxcart man sells everything, his family immediately begins to grow and build news things to sell the next year.