Tuttle's Red Barn

Tuttle’s Red Barn: The Story of America’s Oldest Family Barn

Author Richard Michelson

Illustrator Mary Azarian

Published by The Penguin Group

Copyright 2007

39 Pages

Nonfiction

            I chose to read this book because I have never heard of the Tuttle family and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this historic family. This book starts with John Tuttle coming to the Americas and settling into a colony in Dover. The book continues to describe the life of John Tuttle and that of his decedents that inherited the farm the John Tuttle worked so hard for. Each owner of the Tuttle farm is described and what he learned from being raised on the farm. The author describes new inventions that each of the Tuttle generations witnessed and incorporated into their family farm. The book ends by showing a picture of the Tuttle’s Red Barn and lists the many accomplishments that the Tuttle family has achieved since John Tuttle first built his house in Dover.

            The illustrator of Tuttle’s Red Barn chose to full page illustrations as well as spot art throughout the book. The colors that the illustrator used are rather neutral in hue and intensity. The text in the book is in a very formal to formal place setting. The illustrator also chose to include very many small details that relate to the time period within the text. The illustrations lack some definition in details such as the faces of the characters. The illustrator of Tuttle’s Red Barn chose to include small details of the time period; however, she decided to keep most of the illustrations simple. The medium that was used seems to have been oil paintings and watercolors.

            This book would be appropriate for older children that are studying history or about America’s first settlers. Most younger children would not understand the complexity of the family tree and might loss the connects betweens characters. Teachers could incorporate this book into their classroom has they are introducing the topic of the first settlers in America, the Revolutionary War. Most teachers could also use this book to introduce the topic of family trees.