Bernie Fuchs (1932–2009)

The story takes place in Nevada in 1860. An orphan named Johnny Free is a rider for the Pony Express. During one of his rides he is attacked by a group of Paiute Indians and falls off of his horse. The horse, Jennysoo, keeps going and completes the mission. One the mail is delivered safely Jennysoo turns around to find Johnny. She rescues him and brings him to safety. Once the Pony Express ends, Johnny and Jennysoo go west to live on a ranch. Johnny's favorite story to tell is the one where Jennysoo saved his life. I enjoyed this book. It portrayed how the Pony Express worked very well. The illustrations really capture the relationship between Johnny and Jennysoo.… (más)

This book might be historical fiction! With the Amish lifestyle there is no way to know. The illustrations of this book are really beautiful and sophisticated. I was actually surprised to see that Fuchs does children's books frequently because his style is to mature, definitely not intentionally catered for children. I like that the narrator within this book gives several depictions of Amish values such as their farming techniques and foods such as apple butter and we are brought through traditional Amish barn raising but I wish there was more concrete information about the general lifestyle. I do not feel like a book should need a lesson before or after on the community that it is depicting and I cannot see any other way of reading this book.… (más)

Raising Yoder's Barn is about an Amish family that loses their barn on a July night after being stuck by lightning during a thunderstorm. After the family realizes that their barn is no longer reliable they are told by Samuel Stulzfoot to tear it down and a new barn will be built. The next day, the entire Amish community helped to rebuild that family's barn. Personally I felt a connection with the whole Amish family because if something were to happen in my family we would all try our best to help each other out. This book can teach children about community and how to be supportive of others.… (más)

Summary
This book is about a hard working Amish family who in one night loses everything when light strikes their barn and burns it to the ground. Their Amish neighbors come together to help them and together they work and rebuilt their livelihood.
Personal Reaction
I liked this book I thought some of the phrases sounded poetic. It was a great book to show hard work and how good it is to help one another also shed some light on the Amish culture.
Extension ideas
This book is a great way to show children how the Amish live and what it would be like to live so old fashion without the things we have today.
Many activities could be done like having the kids pretend to work and cook like Amish do.… (más)