"This is the story of Jon Chapman, more commonly known as Johnny Appleseed. At the age of two, Jon's mother died while his father was away fighting the British in the Revolutionary War. When his father returned, with a new wife, Jon and his older sister moved to southern Massachusetts, where he met and fell in love with a young girl - Wendy. After a lengthy courtship and engagement, Jon finds himself standing at the altar on his wedding day in a church decorated with Wendy's favorite flower - the apple blossom. To his horror, Jon learns from Wendy's cousin that Wendy died on the morning of their wedding day from a heart disease she'd suffered from all her life. In a selfless act of love, Jon vows to create a memorial to his lost beloved and heads west to spread the sweet fragrance of her favorite flower across the face of the nation. Along the way, Jon Chapman mediates tensions between white settlers and the Native Americans, spreads the word of the gospel along the frontier, and helps a young Abraham Lincoln lead a slave and his family to freedom on the eve of the Civil War."
Steve Martini, Resident Scholar
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- upbeat
Time/era of story
- 18th century
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Exploring into the wild
Yes
kind of story
- colonizing/settling in new area
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- farmer
Age:
- long lived adults
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Genius
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 4 (a fair amount)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Mountains/Cliffs
Yes
Mountains:
- climbing on trails
Forest?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
