The Journeyman

I read this as a read aloud with two of my children, ages 15 and 10, both boys. We all loved it! The story is great and has some good morals and themes throughout. It is an easy read which is nice to have sometimes.

Purchased this for my daughter literature class. This is a good book for children reading.

This tale twines around your heart. The integrity and work ethic, the beloved-ness for people, in the character of Jared is carefully crafted. There is tangible honesty , faith-granted wisdom, and hope in every word penned in "The Journeyman."

I never post........this is powerful read........4 thumbs up!!!!!!

Beautiful story

This story by Elizabeth Yates sat on my shelf for a long time before I read it. Now I’m not sure why. =) The Journeyman gives a good look at what the life of a journeyman painter was, with lots of information included, but as it’s all story it doesn’t feel contrived. I learned much: that a pineapple is a sign of hospitality, used regularly in the early days of our country; that a painter would use powders that he would mix with milk for paint; that there was a year in New England where it snowed every single month; and that the folks of the early 1800s wanted the cheeriness of paintings on their walls, and the person who provided it for them was doing a grand service for their morale and happiness. The main character (I want to call him Nat, and his “girl” Elizabeth, because this book reminds me so much of “Carry On, Mr. Bowditch” in style and era, but those aren’t the main characters here…I’ll have to pull my book out again to remind myself if I don't remember before this review is done) is a good hero to cheer for. The plot pulls one along, the writing immerses the reader in the time period with nothing to jar them out of that era, the spiritual aspect is light but far more substantial than much current Christian Fiction, nothing objectionable that I can remember, and the only ‘off’ thing was the out-of-characterness of one character when… Well, I won’t give it away, and it didn’t detract from the overall story too much. =)The man the main character (Josh? Joel? Jared? Yes! Jared. That was it. Now if I can only remember the girl’s name…) apprenticed with was a good man, with wise little bits that he said from time to time that were quite worthy of being highlighted. One general concept (I haven’t quite got the words right) was, “Know your customer.” If you know your customer, you’ll know how best to please them. That was especially important for the journeyman painters, who were sometimes simply told, “Paint this room.” If they knew the customer well enough, (Jennet! That’s her name. =D) they could choose the shapes and color tones that would please their customer best.Now, Jennet wasn’t fully developed, but she wasn’t in the story much. And, now that I think about it, she did lie once. (Sort of an end justifies the means thing, I think). But she did have an important role in the end of the story.My favorite part of the story was Jared’s empathy for others, and his desire to help them. This wasn’t expressed by him, or by the author, it was just skillfully shown.This book definitely earned a place on my shelf of favorites.

I’ve loved this book almost as long as I could remember. It was part of my school curriculum years ago, and I remember telling my grandma that she must read it, too, after hearing it the first time. I don’t know what it is about Elizabeth Yates’ work that I like so much—perhaps the realism, or the faith and courage of the characters, or the setting—I don’t know. But she’s always been one of my favorite authors.Jared’s life, from the time he learned to fear his father’s anger, was never easy. As time went on, he became a journeyman painter, and dreamed of the day he could prove himself to his father. He also hoped he’d have something to give to the girl who had captured his heart so many years ago. But as the year of 1816 drew on, and things started to go wrong, he had to decide whether he’d throw in the towel, or keep pushing through with the work he knew he had to do now and trust the Lord to work everything out.I loved the faith aspect of this story. Jared had a lot coming against him in a very short amount of time, but he chose to keep his eyes on the Lord no matter what came. He had his times wondering what would happen, but faith kept him steady through the years.I also loved the reminders that creativity is a blessing from the Lord, too. I haven’t read that many books that talk about the blessing of creativity—or how to deal with others who may not like one’s work all that well. In here, there were several wise quotes dealing with that subject, though, and I found it to be a very encouraging part! It was just in a chapter or two, but even that is enough to be helpful!Two of my favorite quotes: “ ‘Will it always be beautiful, Mr. Toppan?’ “ ‘Yes,’ he answered with conviction, ‘if you keep true to your own feeling for beauty. Some may call it dainty, some may call it darling—but none will call it aught but beautiful.’ ” “It’s letting God have your life, so that your hands do the work He wants you to do.” —Mr. Toppan

The author did an excellent job with the overall writing of this book. It had interesting characters, a good storyline, and scenes I could almost see myself. In the beginning though, it mentions that Jared has religion, but doesn't clearly say if the author had Jared believe that God is in all of us, or if salvation comes by faith, by believing on Jesus Christ. I do like how he became a leader, was confident, and willing to lead spiritually. The end, though, was a little disappointing. Didn't quite seem realistic, plus some of the behaviors that took place most likely would not have occurred with the type of personalities and typical behaviors of those certain people. Characters seemed to change personality too. But, I still liked the rest of the book, and I actually learned a lot about working with people and finding ways to make their lives happier!