Module 7: Home on the Range

Bibliography: Hopkinson, D. (2009). Home on the Range. New York, NY: The Penguin Group.

Summary: This story follows the early life of famous song hunter John Avery Lomax.  Lomax grows up on a small farm near the Chisholm Trail.  He learns various types of folk songs from his family and cowboys herding cattle along the trail.  Years later he is attending college at Harvard University when he decides to write a paper about the many different kinds of folk songs sung in the West.  He collects songs from people all over who shared cowboy songs, sea chanteys, lumberjack songs and many others with him.  His paper was a hit and he decides to devote his life to collecting and recording folk songs from all over the country.  Liberally sprinkled throughout the book are excerpts from a number of well-known and not-so-well-known folk songs.

Impressions: A charming introduction to an early pioneer in the collection and recording of American folk music.  The story is kept simple enough for young readers to understand and those of all ages will appreciate the numerous folk song excerpts scattered throughout the book.  These songs are a nice addition to the text and give readers a taste of American culture in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.  The illustrations are also well done and capture the emotions expressed by Lomax in his journey of self-discovery.

Reviews:

“This picture book traces the early life of John Avery Lomax (1867–1948), whose childhood love of cowboy songs led to a career collecting and recording America’s folk songs. His discovery of the now-familiar “Home on the Range” is featured on two double-page spreads, but the book covers much more ground than that. Nicely written for a young audience, it portrays Lomax growing up on a Texas farm, attending two universities, and traveling about the country as a young man with an unusual calling: song hunting. Throughout the book, appealing line-and-wash illustrations depict believably quirky individuals within nicely composed settings. The landscapes are particularly fine. In the appended author’s note, Hopkinson calls the book historical fiction “based closely on the life of John Avery Lomax,” but it’s unclear what parts are fictional. The book concludes with a note on sources and a brief bibliography.” – Carolyn Phelan (Booklist)

-          Phelan, C. (2009). Home on the Range Review. Booklist (Vol. 105, No. 9). Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2378/cgi-bin/member/search/f?./temp/~1VY3v8:1

“This picture-book-style biography traces the life and contributions of pioneering musicologist John Lomax. The account follows Lomax through his youth in nineteenth century Texas, where he became fascinated with cowboys and their music, to his study at the University of Texas (where his interest was discouraged) and at Harvard (where it was welcomed and celebrated). Embarking on a professional career of collecting songs, he found cowboys often shy of singing into the huge old-fashioned recording Ediphone, but between it and pen and paper he managed to record a tremendous oeuvre of American song (including the classic “Home on the Range”) and preserve it for posterity. Lomax, hardly a household name, is an unusual choice for a biography, but his influence on music is inarguable, and it’s most deeply felt nowadays by youngsters learning classic old tunes; they’ll be intrigued to realize that songbook standards didn’t just turn up out of thin air. Hopkinson is a dab hand at choosing particularly resonant details in her subject’s life, so even less musically inclined kids will find interest in Lomax’s peripatetic life and cowboy-adjacent labors. Snatches of song lyrics (with no musical notation, unfortunately) are interspersed throughout, offering practical as well as learning opportunities should the title be integrated into a music curriculum. While Schindler’s polished line-and-watercolor artwork is friendly and familiar, he’s moved from his usual black line for hatching and outline to softer self-colors, and he reserves his droll caricature for the academics while drafting the cowpokes with a rough and earnest respect.” – Deborah Stevenson (The Bulleting of the Center for Children’s Books)

-          Stevenson, D. (2009). Home on the Range Review. The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (Vol. 62, No. 5). Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2378/cgi-bin/member/search/f?./temp/~1VY3v8:1

Suggestions for Use in a Library:

Invite a local singer to the library.  Gather a group of children and have them pick out a few songs from the book.  As the singer plays each tune, the group can sing along.  Children can also suggest other songs they might know.