When I First Came to This Land

by Harriet Ziefert and Oscar Brand

Book Overview

Caldecott Award-winning artist Simms Taback joyfully brings to life the immigrant experience... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399247939
• ISBN13: 9780399247934
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.8" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 5 years and up
• Grade Range: Kindergarten and higher

Customer Reviews

Song by Oscar Brand, retold by Harriet Ziefert

When I First Came to this Land was inspired by an old PA Dutch folksong, but was actually written with a new melody and English text in the 1940s by Oscar Brand. Pete Seeger then made it popular, and it does have that folk appeal for which he is well-known. Ms. Ziefert changed some of the lyrics--some to be nicer for kids, which is why it is "retold by. . ." (Brand's song lists the horse verse as "and I called my horse-dead, of course.") All in all a cheerful book with fun illustrations!

Old american folk-tune, illustrated with charming pictures.

I don't know how this could be considered "re-told" as it says on the cover. These words are not new. They are the lyrics to an old folk song. The illustrations, however, are original, and they illustrate the song in a folk art style that synchronises nicely with the story that the lyrics tell.