reviewed

Summary:

A very big and strong man is a worker who spends his work day hammering, drilling, that works on railroads alongside the mountain. The foreman one day tells the workers that they will be replaced by a machine because it is faster then any man. John Henry is very upset by this and said that it may not be true unless they see, so he continues to drive rods through the steel all day and the next day too. People around him are shocked by how string willed and impressive John Henry is compared to the machine and tell him so. He in turn tells them you never know how much you can do until you try and hr collapses and dies at the end if the story where he is buried beside the mountain.

Personal Reaction:

This is one if my favorite stories I have heard since I was a little girl also in school. Another story that shows a hero that put his mind forward to accomplish a goal that he was told he could not do.

Extension Ideas:

1) ask the children their thoughts on if they agree with what John Henry did
2) draw a picture of the mountains, railroads, and John Henry working alongside the machine

John Henry was a litte boy that grew up extremly fast. He was a hard worker and really liked challenges. He liked to hammer a lot of that also while he was working. At the end of the story he ended up hammering something so hard that he hammered his heart out. He proved to other people that he works so hard, he actually worked harder than machines.

I personally thought this book would have been for the age group of 6th graders. It had good pictures but also had big words that some of the kids would have a hard time understanding. I liked the book a lot though, but it might have been a little harders for the younger ones to follow.

This book can teach them that kids need to always work hard and to never give up. Also in the book the story has a song that appears a lot of different times. I would have the kinds interact by giving them the opportunity to sing along with me.