Daniel Boone
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Awarded the John Newbery Medal 'for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children' in 1940" James Daugherty has dipped his pen and his brush into our nation's most dynamic character whose life adventures are more exciting than the shadowy legend his name brings to mind. Daniel Boone was a farmer who couldn't stay put. Something was always pulling him westward into new and mysterious lands, and when this pull got so strong that he could no longer ignore it, and his wife and children could not persuade him to stay, he just went, with his toes pointing into the West and his eyes glued to the hills. The rugged sweep which has always distinguished Mr. Daugherty's illustrations and painting distinguishes his epic prose here as well, and makes for perfect portrayal of the vigorous character of Daniel Boone. It is interesting to recall that among the first book illustrations which Mr. Daugherty ever did were his interpretations of this same character for Stewart Edward White's "Daniel Boone"
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And, at last, I dared to read Daniel Boone. It's a story full of wicked Indians and good-guy white settlers, full of killing and attacking. You can almost see Daniel's halo and the devil horns of the Indians as you read the story. It is told in the vernacular of Daugherty's time and it is undoubtedly an interesting and exciting story. Must we pull it from our shelves simply because it is chockfull of opinions and prejudices? Can it not be read as a story without vilifying either the Indians or the white people of the book? What about reading it as a legend, a folk tale, which, of course, it is?
