Crows and Cards (Houghton Mifflin Stereotype Editions)
"Crows and Cards (Houghton Mifflin Stereotype Editions)" Bargain Kindle Books
Brief of "Crows and Cards (Houghton Mifflin Stereotype Editions)" Kindle Book :
Three warnings for readers who hate surprises: 1. Beware of slivers, 2. and gamblers, 3. and aces.
Zebulon Crabtree found all that out the hard way back in 1849 when his mother and father shipped him off to St. Louis to apprentice with a tanner. Too bad he had serious allergies to fur and advice from his parents. Hearing the beat of a different drummer, Zeb takes up with a riverboat gambler who has some special plans for him, crosses paths with a slave who turns out to be a better friend than cook, and learns that some Indian medicine men can see even though blind. And then there’s the Brotherhood—the one that Zeb can’t seem to get out of . . . Lucky for us, the price of living in turbulent times is often a good story, and Zeb spins an unforgettable one.
Zebulon Crabtree found all that out the hard way back in 1849 when his mother and father shipped him off to St. Louis to apprentice with a tanner. Too bad he had serious allergies to fur and advice from his parents. Hearing the beat of a different drummer, Zeb takes up with a riverboat gambler who has some special plans for him, crosses paths with a slave who turns out to be a better friend than cook, and learns that some Indian medicine men can see even though blind. And then there’s the Brotherhood—the one that Zeb can’t seem to get out of . . . Lucky for us, the price of living in turbulent times is often a good story, and Zeb spins an unforgettable one.
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Customer Review for "Crows and Cards (Houghton Mifflin Stereotype Editions)" Bargain Kindle Books
Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A delightfully wonderful kindle bookBy Tim Martin
This is a very funny and entertaining novel about a few months in the life of twelve year old Zebulon Crabtree, Zebulon (Zeb) is sent to St. Louis to become a tanner's apprentice. Though, as things usually happen in kindle books like this, that is not quite what happens. Instead Zeb encounters river boat gamblers, a traveling medicine show, a real live Indian chef and his beautiful daughter, a slave and a handful of other eccentric characters.
The kindle book is set in 1849 St. Louis and the author does a wonderful job of conveying the sights and smells of the bustling frontier town. The novel is told in first person and the author's mastery of slang and historical colloquialisms is impressive. There are many laugh at loud phrases scattered throughout the kindle book and the kindle book will keep you very entertained. The illustrations are also nicely done and entertaining.
The author does a good job of sneaking in historical lessons and includes some informative summaries at the end of the kindle book. There is also a "Dictionarium Americannicum," a humorous dictionary that explains words and phrases that might be unfamiliar to the reader.
But, enough rambling, this kindle book is very good and you should buy it for your child to read and then read it yourself. Any story that is very entertaining and slips in history.....you can't go wrong there! Enjoy!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Both "Wimpy Kid" and Mark Twain fans will enjoy this frontier/riverboat coming of age taleBy N. Ferguson
I read this kindle book in one sitting. It has much to recommend it!
The major strength of this kindle book is the first-person narration by our 12-year old main character, Zeb. Zeb's humorous, folksy, and absolutely unique voice is fun and convincing. I also really enjoyed the illustration of the kindle book-- although it is not heavily illustrated, some of the illustrations are very special, and all greatly contribute to the characterization.
In essence, this is the story of a boy reaching the age when he was expected to begin supporting himself-- 12 years old. Zeb and his father discuss many apprenticeship options available to him on the frontier in 1849; in the end (after Zeb has rejected every other idea his father has) his father decides to apprentice him to his great-uncle who is a tanner in St. Louis. No amount of fussing helps-- after spring planting Zeb is packed off on a river boat, leaving his family for a planned 6 year apprenticeship very far from home. He feels lost and abandoned (as well as resentful and defiant about having to work as an all-but captive servant in a profession that doesn't interest him), and so is easy prey for a riverboat gambler who absconds with the $70 Zeb's father had given him to pay for the apprenticeship. The gambler, "Chilly", cons Zeb into accepting an "apprenticeship" with him. He convinces Zeb that this life's work is noble-- that they are teaching the rich about the satisfaction of giving their money to others!
Eventually Zeb's conscience begins to bother him mightily, as he is forced to help Chilly cheat other gamblers. Chilly's behavior becomes increasingly brutal, and Zeb comes to realize he has made a mistake in joining forces with him. His compassion for a slave in Chilly's gambling house grows, and he begins to worry about his family and their reaction to what he is doing. In the end, Zeb balks at Chilly's scheme to cheat a blind Native American chief, and he settles on a plan to escape. The chief's wisdom and access to magical guidance are important to the resolution of the story.
This kindle book owes much to the tales of Mark Twain-- it is a coming-of-age story with humor, good character development, and lots of riverboat/frontier town color. It is also reminiscent of the story of Pinocchio being led astray/failing to listen to his conscience and being taken in, for a time, by con men. The main character's voice reminded me of the appeal of "The Great Brain" series in some ways. Surprisingly, despite the historical setting the sassy, less-than-wise (for most of the story), and extremely honest Zeb may remind young readers of the "Wimpy Kid" kindle books, too.
I do have reservations about sharing this kindle book with kids under the recommended age range-- I think little ones might find the story confusing or scary-- but like "Treasure Island" or "Huckleberry Finn" this might be a good read-aloud adventure for parents to share with older kids. There's a lot to discuss and process, from interacting with charming but unsafe strangers to the terribly sad treatment of a slave. I think this kindle book would be most appropriate for ages 10 and up.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Solid coming of age story; not very engaging thoughBy Karissa Eckert
I got this kindle book as an Advanced Reading Copy through Amazon Vine. I was excited to read it because it is written by a local MN author and I had heard good things about it from other Vine members. It was a clever little kindle book but I had a lot of trouble getting into it.
Zeb gets sent off by his parents to apprentice with a tanner. Only thing is, Zeb meets up with a gentleman on his way to St. Louis named Chilly. Chilly accepts the money for Zeb's tanner apprenticeship and agrees to take Zeb on as a apprentice riverboat gambler. Zeb, isn't sure if he holds with the cheating aspect of what Chilly is up to and when he crosses paths with an old Indian chief and his daughter Zeb really starts to wonder if he's made the right choice to serve as a gambling apprentice.
I really wanted to love this kindle book. It is reminiscent of something written by Mark Twain. You can tell a lot of research went into getting the quirks of language and the surroundings as right as you can without living them. There is even a dictionary in the back of the kindle book that will help you familiarize yourself with all slang of the times if you're having trouble following.
Zeb is an interesting character that has enduring phobias of everything from chickens, to splinters, to the river. As an outsider looking in, you sometimes want to smack Zeb for his naivete but I suppose that is part of his charm. The Indian Chief and the Indian Princess are intriguing characters that really add some mystery to the story.
As I said, I was excited to read and love this kindle book. I had a lot of trouble starting it out though. Although Zeb and Chilly are interesting characters the story didn't hold a lot of suspense for me; it didn't really pull me through. I also did not find any of the characters to be especially likable; I had a lot of trouble caring about where the story was going. I really had to push myself to get through this kindle book. Even when Zeb was facing the driest of consequences I wasn't really all that engaged in the story.
All in all, it was an okay kindle book. It's a pretty common-type coming of age story set in the river-boat era of the Mississippi. Young boys would probably enjoy it, young girls would be disappointed that there isn't a place for them in that era. The writing was good and you could tell the kindle book was well researched. I wish though that more work had gone into writing a really engaging and detailed story. I'd recommend this kindle book to young boys or fans of Mark Twain. Will I read more of Helgerson's books? Probably not, the writing style and story line didn't really mesmerize me. I can imagine though that a lot of people will really like this kindle book given the rarity of young adult kindle books written in the setting of this kindle book and the solid coming of age lessons included in it.
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Crows and Cards (Houghton Mifflin Stereotype Editions)
4.0 out of 5 from 46 user reviews.
4.0 out of 5 from 46 user reviews.
