Ox-Cart Man

This Caldecott award-winning picture book written by Donald Hall and illustrated by Barbara Cooney shows a year in the life of a family living long ago. It begins in the fall where a man is packing his cart to go into town to sell goods his family made during the year and ends the next spring when the land was renewing itself. This book is a great history lesson for young children. It is a wonderful depiction of how they made use of every last thing that they had, whether they used it themselves or traded or sold it to others. The book shows how the cycle of life continues on for this family, year after year.

A major literary device used by Hall in this book is repetition; for example, “He sold the bag of wool. He sold the shawl his wife made. He sold five pairs of mittens. He sold candles and shingles…etc.” This helps to make the story a little easier for younger readers because it allows them to realize the emphasis placed on this aspect of the story.

I am always bothered when I am not told where a story takes place, and although the author of this book never told me, the pictures allowed me to imagine where this story took place. I imagined a small town in rural New England, fueled by Cooney’s illustrations of quaint farmhouses and rolling hills. The pictures made me want to jump into the book and become part of the family. I could see myself sitting around the fire with them, making candles and embroidering. Because the book is an accurate depiction of family life at a time in the past, it is appropriate that the pictures are all accurately drawn. All of the people look so life-like and happy. All of the pictures make me think of two pictures in my house at home that depict early American life. The pictures in this book seem to be drawn like folk art of the time, adding to how realistic the book is.

The reader can get a real sense of what life might be like just looking at the pictures. Although some of the words Hall uses are difficult, the illustrations help the readers understand what the words mean. For example, Hall says “in April they sheared the sheep, spun yarn, and wove and knitted”; on the accompanying page is an illustration of the father and daughter shearing a sheep. This way, young readers can know what shearing a sheep is, even if they have never heard the phrase before.