Remembering Donald Hall
Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man. Illus. by Barbara Cooney. New York: The Viking Press, 1979.
I first read the poem, which is the text for this picture book, when it appeared in The New Yorker magazine in the late '70s. I was immediately drawn to the simplicity and the strength of both the poem and the oxcart man himself. I was working in an adult literacy program at the time. Reading the poem, then discovering the picture book soon after, was one of my earliest recognitions that certain pictures books could be used with adults learning to read.
The book depicts a nineteenth century New England farmer and his family who use or sell everything they raise, even their beloved ox. The illustrations match the quiet lyricism of the text and capture the integrity of a life lived in harmony with the cycles of nature.
Donald Hall died on Saturday, June 23, 2018. He was 89 years old.
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