Ox-Cart Man

This beautiful Caldecott winner offers a heartfelt but spare story about the necessity and love of family, teamwork and sustainability in nineteenth-century rural New England. The story begins as a father packs up an ox cart against the backdrop of a colorful October day. Every item loaded into the cart has been carefully made by a family of four. There is wool sheared from their own sheep, items woven on a loom from yarn spun from the wool, mittens knit from yarn spun at the spinning wheel. There are homemade candles, birch brooms, apples, maple sugar, goose feathers and so much more. Once packed, the ox-cart man walks for ten days at the ox’s head toward market. We soon see that the city folk need candles, mittens, and goose feathers. We see the ox-cart man’s efficiency. My grandchildren and I are amazed that every single thing is sold. The man buys an iron kettle for the fire and one embroidery needle for his daughter. (Eyebrows were raised from our grands, “She got ONE needle?” That drives home an important point.) Soon the ox-cart man is traveling home. Now readers see the rest of the cycle—all the work this small family must now do to prepare for the following year. They will work throughout the winter, spring and summer making shawls, embroidering linen. A new ox-cart will be constructed and a new yoke carved. What we see is the life cycle of a nineteenth-century rural New England farm. This short story by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney offers children simple clarity about the circle of life and how this family is not only connected to each other, they are also connected to the land, the orchard, the animals. We need each other. Sustainability is essential. The Ox-cart Man is moving and wonderful.

Children are fascinated by this book. Not sure why. It explains the world in a way. It has a family at its core. It’s set in the past when things perhaps made more sense. Everything contributes to the farm and family. It’s a happy book that includes duties and work as well as seasonal tasks needed to keep the farm running. I just gave it to a friend for him to read to his grandchild and the kid liked it so much he asked him to read it three times in a row. It’s not that short. It strikes a chord for adults as well as kids. Great illustrations! Lively writing. Very spare. Old world New England simplicity, in a tale for today.

This is a gem of a book! The book visualizes a wholesome family and teaches kids about how food, materials, and goods are made and sold. There are not many words on each page and the illustrations are fun too. My toddler likes to point out the things he recognizes and older children have fun learning about different things that go into homesteading. It is also just a peaceful and appropriate book to read during quiet time, before bed, or during a snack.

I remember this book's illustrations from my childhood and recently purchased it for my daughter. What I didn't remember was how poetic the story is.... The value of hard work, changing of the seasons, and the simple things in life. Snag a hard copy, this one's a keeper.

I want my life to look like a Barbara Cooney illustration. This book is truly beautiful. The artwork is simple and captivating. My year, 4, and 2 year old love this book. I purchased it for use in our colonial unit, but we must have read it twice a day the entire month of November until I packed it away for next time.

My daughter enjoyed this book in mid 1980s. Her children enjoyed it in 2010s. Yesterday I sent this book to a friend of mine who is a teacher of an elementary school. This story about one farm family of New Hampshire in 19th century tells us the importance of the value of things. What a wonderful story!

I didn’t expect this book to be so popular but my kids love it. It’s been on heavy rotation that last two months. The simple yet elegant artwork mirrors the straightforward yet understated text. We will be reading this all winter long.

Accurate history of the old days selling products home made out of a wagon

This has a great pace of which it was written. The description is interesting as well as simple. Our whole family loves it.

This book does not follow the natural story progression you might expect, with conflict and climax and resolution. It is a simple story of a simple family working hard to live their life and enjoy it. This boom is very lovely and I highly recommend. I bought this book as a gift for a friend's child's first birthday, but my 5 & 7 year old loved giving it a pre-read.

This book is a wonderful story about a family living as farmers in the country. They (father, mother and 2 kids) can be watched by their tasks. The story shows the reader all seasons of a year: shared life, work and enjoyment of each others's company.

This book was much loved when my children were small, and I have now bought a copy for the second family of grandchildren. It is the story of the yearly routine of a family of settlers in New England, I suppose somewhere in the 1800s. Once a year, the father made the long journey to the market town to sell 'everything they made or grew all year, that was left over' , which provided their cash income for the year. A gentle story told in simple, lyrical language . My 2 year old granddaughter particularly loves the pictures of sheep and geese.

In The Ox Cart Man, a 19th century farmer loads up his cart with the produce from his farm, and items his family has crafted, and takes it all to the city where he sells everything, even the ox and cart. He then returns back to his farm to start growing and making everything all over again. He even starts work on a new harness for the young ox in his barn. The first time I read through this book I was slightly confused--there doesn't seem to be much of a story here. Where is the conflict, where is the action? In truth, this is one of those rare stories that breaks the rules of what makes a good story, and succeeds. There is no conflict, there is not even any adventure, but there is so much richness to this book that my two-year old son always enjoys having it read to him. And I enjoy it too. The way the book chronicles the peaceful-old fashioned life on the farm, and the changing of the seasons, is strangely comforting to us today, we who are used to a much more frantic pace of life. The prose is repetitive and soothing. And children will also find the book to be interesting for its mention of skills and crafts that are much less common today than they used to be. Even the little boy in the story whittles brooms for his father to sell, and the little girl knits mittens (from yarn made from wool from the family's sheep) and does embroidery. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a gentle book for bedtime reading, or to anyone looking for illustrations which give a view of 19th century rural life.