Johnny Tremain

Johnny Tremain (1943), by Esther Forbes, a beautifully written, richly detailed story of the Revolution, stood out as one of the few high points, as did The Innocent Wayfaring (1943), a tale of Chaucer’s England by the equally scholarly Marchette Chute. Poetry for children had…

…an adaptation of Esther Forbes’s novel about a youth’s adventures during the American Revolution. Later in 1957 came Old Yeller, a heartbreaking drama based on Fred Gipson’s book about a boy (Tommy Kirk) and his dog in 1850s Texas; his parents were played by Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker. Also…