Reviews

Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness, by John Mason Brown

jcox3814's review

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I read this with my 10, 8 and 4 year old children. It took them a little to get into it but once we did we loved it a great historical read aloud. They were all caught by how often Daniel almost made it, and were cheering him on hoping that he would get a break.

librarydeb's review

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4.0

I loved this book. I had no idea the hardships that Daniel Boone and his family went through. Most of the troubles were because he did not take to his school lessons when he was young, but spent all his time out of doors. He grew up in Pennsylvania, but his family moved to North Carolina when Daniel was 18 years old. Later Daniel married and when Indian trouble came to the area moved his wife and children to Virginia. It got to crowded there and Daniel moved his family again to Kentucky and helped settle that new territory. "Daniel was a man made to live close to nature rather than to men." "...land as something controlled by law: land as private property instead of a wilderness; land to be bought and sold and fenced in; land, in short, as what he described as a "Bissness," he did not understand." "He was simple enough to believe that the mere act of getting somewhere first, and fighting for what one had explored or settled, was enough to establish ownership." pg. 151 "Bit by bit, because his claims had been carelessly made, his land was taken from him." pg. 152 He moved his family again, to Missouri, which I did not know about at all, and had more land trouble there. I love the closing chapter and the love and fear of God and belief in Jesus Christ that he expressed in a letter when he was in his 80's. It was a wonderful book.
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