Shagbark Hickory

HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW






Book: Shagbark Hickory



Author: Joseph Stoll



Publisher: Pathway Publishers, republished 2020



ASIN:  B000HD7OUO



Language level:  1



(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)



Recommended reading level:  Ages 8-12



Rating: ***** 5 stars



(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)



Category: Historical fiction



Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker



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     Stoll Joseph.  Shagbark Hickory (Published in 1981 and republished in 2020 by Pathway Publishers, Aylmer, Ontario, Canada).  It is April, 1944, and ten year old Joni and nine year old Sammy Troyer are the sons of an Old Order Amish family and live on an eighty acre farm near Litchfield in southern Michigan with their parents, Benjamin and Sarah, older sister Millie, five year old twin siblings Elmer and Ruth, and baby sister Mary.  The boys attend Stoddard School.  This very plainly written but delightful story, told for the most part from the oldest boy’s perspective, spans a year in the lives of the Troyer family.  What kind of troubles do the boys get into?  Do they learn their lessons?  And how will they react when Dad Troyer announces a move to another farm twenty miles away near Jerome?



    Shagbark Hickory is in large part the story of author’s own childhood.  The editor of Family Life Magazine , he wrote, “I have written these stories for my own children (and grandchildren, perhaps, someday).  It would make me happy if other children, too, could glean some enjoyment and worth from them.”  Readers will find themselves caught up in the story of this family. There is good, wholesome fun with a bit of suspense too. Joni and Sammy Troyer have many lessons to learn, but the hardest assignment of all is to practice the Golden Rule—to think of others, to be unselfish, and to share and care.  As it pertains to the time of World War II, there is some emphasis on the Amish belief in pacifism.  There are two sequels, A Michigan Summer and Sandy Knoll Farm .