Davy Crockett

by George Sullivan

This unique biography of Davy Crockett uses personal recollections, letters, and newspaper articles to tell the fascinating story of his life."I stood no chance to become great in any other way than by accident." With these words, Davy Crockett reflects on his extraordinary journey from growing up in the backwoods of Tennessee to becoming a congressperson in Washington, D.C. People often do not know the truth about the man made famous for the crucial...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439263182
• ISBN13: 9780439263184
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 5

Customer Reviews

The Davy Crockett of fact and legend in his own words

The big budget movie of "The Alamo" that is opening next month was supposed to open last December. Supposedly the reason for the delay was that the director needed to work on the film some more but the big rumor was that he had to change part of the ending which depicted Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) surviving the final battle and then being executed by General Santa Anna along with a few other prisoners. The story was that Texans were outraged by this distortion of history and insisting that the film show Crockett going down fighting, as was seen in John Wayne's version of "The Alamo" (and even going back to Fess Parker in the stories of Davy Crockett aired on "The Wonderful World of Disney").In this volume of Scholastic's In Their Own World series, George Sullivan explains the conflicting stories about Crockett's death at the Alamo, explaining to young readers the origins of the two conflicting stories. More importantly, this juvenile biography of Davy Crockett is based on his own personal recollections, letters, and newspaper articles. Crockett's declaration from his own 1834 biography, published two years before the siege of the Alamo, "I stood no chance to become great in any other way than by accident," becomes a guiding idea in Sullivan's biography. The goal is to help separate the legends from the reality, but Sullivan does provide insights into both.I certainly learned a lot of new information about Crockett's life. Crockett's autobiography was basically written for his last campaign for Congress. I always knew he had lost his last election and headed off for Texas, but I did not know that this was the second time he had been defeated for reelection: he won in 1827 and 1829, was defeated in 1831, reelected in 1833, and then defeated the final time in 1835. Nor did I know that the remains of the Alamo defenders are in a sealed marble casket in a San Antonio church. I especially like the contemporary art work , which includes several illustrations from the books and almanacs the helped created the Crockett legend. Interest in Crockett will certainly be renewed by the new movie and Sullivan's biography will impress all the young readers who come across it. Sullivan covers Crockett's extraordinary life from growing up in the backwoods of Tennessee to how he made it to the U.S. Congress. His sense of humor and dedication to helping others were constant elements and young students will be surprised to learn Crockett ran away from home when he was only thirteen and even though he was a poor speller ended up being a frontier judge. Additionally, Sullivan takes pains to not only separate fact from fiction but explain where some of the Crockett legends sprang from in this solid juvenile biography.