Winner of the Caldecott Medal
Thus begins 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.
"Like a pastoral symphony translated into picture book format, the stunning combination of text and illustrations recreates the mood of 19-century rural New England."—The Horn Book
Originally published: New York: Viking Press, 1979. Describes the day-to-day life of an early nineteenth-century New England family throughout the changing seasons.
Donald Hall is an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He is the author of more than 50 books across several genres from children's literature to biography, memoir, and essays, and including 22 volumes of verse. Hall was named the fourteenth US poet laureate in 2006 and served for one year. His book Ox-Cart Man (illustrated by Barbara Cooney) is the winner of the 1980 Caldecott Medal.
Barbara Cooney traveled the world, lived in a house by the sea in Maine, and made the world more beautiful through her art. She was a two-time Caldecott Medal winner, for Chanticleer and the Fox in 1959 and Ox-Cart Man in 1980. Her beloved book Miss Rumphius was the winner of the American Book Award in 1982. Barbara Cooney died in 2000 at the age of eighty-two.
Target Age: 2-5
Puffin Books paperback: 8.27"W x 10.25"H x 0.15"D, 48 pages
Pub Date: October 27, 1983
Viking Books for Young Readers hardcover: 8.63"W x 10.75"H x 0.35"D, 40 pages
Pub Date: October 08, 1979