Johnny Tremain

Johnny Tremain, a 1943 children's novel by Esther Forbes, retells in narrative form the final years in Boston, Massachusetts, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. The novel's themes include the apprenticeship system, the conflicts in Boston between the Sons of Liberty and Loyalists as the war approaches, and the reasons why each character in the novel chooses one side or the other.

Events that were described in the novel include the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the British blockade of the Port of Boston, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

The book won the 1944 Newbery Medal and is the 16th bestselling children's book of all time.[1] A movie version was made in 1957 by Walt Disney Pictures

Johnny Tremain, the main character of the novel, is depicted as an apprentice silversmith. Originally skillful at his craft, Johnny is forced to give up his apprenticeship after Dove, a fellow apprentice, plays a harmful joke on Johnny and causes his thumb and palm to fuse together from exposure to molten silver. The combination of cruelty and condescending kindness that Johnny faces after this mishap is one of the most vividly drawn sections of the novel.

After descending into psychological depression, Johnny is rescued by a kind family who owns a hand-operated printing press, where they do job printing and publish a newspaper, the Boston Observer. Young Tremain joins this household, becomes part of the printshop, and delivers papers to the people of Boston. From this vantage point he and the novel's readers can look on as the unfolding events of the American Revolution move forward. Along the way Johnny befriends several historical figures including Paul Revere, Samuel Adams,John Hancock, and Joseph Warren.

The novel was written during the regionalist period of American fiction, and includes many examples of local color in Boston during the 1770s.