The year is 1773; the scene is Boston. Johnny Tremain is fourteen and apprenticed to a silversmith. He is gifted and knows it. He is cheerful and clever and lords it over the other apprentices until the tragic day when a crucible of molten silver breaks and Johnny's right hand is so burned as to be useless. After a period of despair and humiliation, Johnny becomes a dispatch rider for the Committee of Public Safety, a job that brings him in touch with Otis, Hancock, John and Samuel Adams, and other Boston patriots, and with all the exciting currents and undercurrents that were to lead to the Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. There, on the battlefield, he learns from Dr. Warren that his maimed hand can be cured so that he can use a musket and some day return to his trade.
To read Johnny Tremain is to live through two dramatic years of our country's history and see these real events from a new angle through the shrewd eyes of an observant boy.
This was an unexpectedly delightful book in many ways. Full of history. Did you know that Paul Revere was a silver smith? I kept expecting Benjamin Franklin to show up, but he never did. I know he was in France before the war. That must be when this story takes place.
Those who enjoy this story might also like "FEVER 1773" by Laurie Halsey Andersen. (The date may be wrong.) She is also the author of "SPEAK," which I know is on Audio tape.
