After completing the third grade for the fourth time, fifteen year old Simon Green is summarily graduated by his teacher. “Go out in the world and spread your wings, Simon,” she says. She is sorry to see him go, Simon has always been her kindest and most helpful student. (After all, he single-handedly cuts all the firewood in the winter.) Once Simon finds that Missouri turkeys sell for twenty times the local price in the hungry boom town of Denver, he hatches his first business scheme. Even at fifteen, Simon towers over his uncle and cousins, but they tease him about being all brawn and no brains. No one thinks Simon has much chance of success except his teacher. She has such faith that she invests her entire life savings of $250 in a flock of 1,000 birds for Simon to herd by foot all the way to Denver. Along the way Simon meets up with a host of colorful characters including a runaway slave, Indians, the U.S. Cavalry, lions, tigers, camels, and the father who abandoned him when his mother died 10 years ago. Will Simple Simon fail miserably in the real world or surprise everyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment