Johnny Tremain is a book about an apprentice silversmith living in Boston before the American Revolution. When an accident happens at the silver shop his hand is burned with liquid silver and his fingers are glued together. Now that he cannot work as a silversmith he goes out in search of work and finds a boy named Rab. Rab works for a printshop and is also a Son of Liberty, a group of rebels in the 13 colonies who are organizing against the British. Johnny goes one day to look for work and ends up in the print shop where Rab offers Johnny a job as the paper delivery boy. Johnny accepts this offer and must now learn how to ride a horse named Goblin (the only problem with Goblin is that he is scared of everything). Soon after Johnny gets his new job, he starts to read the paper that he is delivering. Johnny ends up becomes a rebel, and when Rab offers to let him join the Boston Tea Party he agrees to participate. After that, he starts to help the committee for the Sons of Liberty who meet in the attic of the printshop where Johnny works. Later in the book, Rab goes off to war with the Boston militia and gets killed. (SPOILER ALERT) As Johnny learns that his best friend has died, he decides to have the doctor cut his fingers apart to make them normal again so he can go and fight.
This is a collage of pictures that relates to the events or people in Johnny Tremain. In the middle of the collage is a coin from the group called the Sons of Liberty. Johnny worked with the Sons of Liberty a lot. He would help them and participate in their meetings even though he was too young to be one of them. On the right you can see some of the most important members of the Sons of Liberty: Sam Adams, John Adams and John Hancock.These three men played a huge part in the fight against the British. At the top of the page you can see some of the flags that relate to the story. The two on the ends are different examples of the 13 starred American flag, the yellow one with the snake is the flag of liberty, the one in the middle is the Sons of Liberty flag, and the last one is the Massachusetts state flag where the story takes place. The photo on the collage with the man making a bowl represents that in the beginning of the book Johnny is an apprentice silversmith. The image in the far right bottom corner shows a man working in a printshop which is Johnny’s second job.The picture above that shows a man on a horse, because Johnny would also deliver the papers as well as make them. The picture showing an Indian throwing tea over board represents the Boston tea party. The picture in the middle at the bottom is a painting of the state militia who fought against the British. These men would have been farmers, blacksmiths, silversmiths and any other job but almost none of them had any formal training. There are also two pictures of minutemen which Johnny wants to be.
Overall this was one of my favorite historical fiction books because it shows what life would have been like during the time of the Revolutionary War for the colonists. It also shows a bit about what it would have been like back then for British soldiers. I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in this time period. You can also watch the movie based on the book but I think it isn’t as good as the story. I didn’t use any of the pictures from the movie in my collage.