Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
(New York: HarperCollins, 1943), 306
Johnny Tremain, silversmith apprentice, burns his hand in an accident and is turned out. He becomes a revolutionary messenger boy and witnesses the revolt in Boston and the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
- "I doubt God cares even a little bit whether Mr. Hancock has any silver. It's better to break faith with him, isn't it, than with the Lord?" (34)
- "As he drew, his children crowded about him, standing on the runs of his chair, breathing down his neck, dropping crumbs of gingerbread into his hair; but Paul Revere took all this confusion as he took everything else, without any fussing." (131)
- "Johnny was an Englishman. The sullen, rebellious people standing about watching Percy and his staff approaching, waiting for the brigade to march, all were Englishmen. That flag—it stood for Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, Charles the First's head upon a block, centuries of struggle for 'English liberty.' But over here there had grown up a broader interpretation of the word 'liberty': no man to be ruled or taxed except by men of his own choice. But we are still fighting for 'English liberty' and don't you forget it. French slaves to the north of us, Spanish slaves to the south of us. Only English colonies are allowed to taste the forbidden fruit of liberty—we who grew up under England. Johnny thought of James Otis's words. Upholding the torch of liberty which had been lighted on the fires of England." (262)
- "Well, men have got the right to risk their lives for things they think worth it." (277)
- "They had no cannon. Seemingly they had nothing but the guns in their hands and the fire in their hearts." (288)
- "Then Rab began to smile. Everything he had never put in words was in that smile." (294)
- "Yes. And some of us would die so other men can stand up on their feet like men. A great many are going to die for that. They have in the past. They will a hundred years from now—two hundred. God grant there will always be men good enough. Men like Rab.'" (197)
Topic: History, Kid's Books
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Created: 2026-07-12-Sun
Updated: 2026-08-26-Wed