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Title: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold ISBN: 0-8124-0771-7 Publisher: Perfection Learning Prebound Pub. Date: January, 1984 Format: Unknown Binding List Price(USD): $12.19

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Average Customer Rating: 3.25 (16 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Couldn't happen today
Comment: In a recent writing assignment, my son wrote the following about Onion John:

The events that take place in Krumgolds' Onion John would probably never happen today. For instance, if a homeless man dressed in a strange coat and reeking of onions approached me on the street and spoke in a foreign language, I would not stop to wonder, If I listened long enough, would he start making sense? No! I would walk away - quickly. Not Andrew J. Rusch, Jr. He stops and really listens to Onion John, leading to their friendship and, eventually, the concern and care of their home town, Serenity. I enjoyed the interesting ideas Onion John had; for example, making rain with a parade and driving ghosts and evil spirits away with smells. I also like the part of the story that dealt with the "race to space" and Andy's dad's desire for Andy to get to the moon. I tend to prefer more adventurous stories or stories with a little more "action," which is why I chose to give Onion John four stars.

Rating: 3
Summary: TUG OF WAR BETWEEN FATHER AND FRIEND
Comment: Twelve-year-old Andy Rusch has lived in a small town named Serenity all his life, working part time in his father's hardware store, but this fall proves anything but serene. In additon to a few buddies his own age, he has added a most unusual, adult, friend, who quietly grows in personal influence on the impressionable youth. Eventually Andy feels the strain and frustration of this emotional tug of war; he writhes under the unfair burden of having to choose to honor his new friend's different background or to obey his father re his future. The book presents this moral dilemma: does a Democracy--with the best of intentions--have the right to force modernization upon a harmless immigrant with a childlike faith in his power over Nature and the human heart?

Onion John is the kindly-given nickname of a man from Eastern Europe, whose English is undecipherable to everyone but Andy--who has to work at understanding his speech, until he discovers the trick of translating John's gutteral tongue and bizarre (medieval) ideas.

The boy, with no more ambition than to become a shopkeeper in New Jersey, becomes a companion to the strange but friendly hermit; they combine forces and enthusaism as they attempt to produce first rain, then gold. Onion John knows the rites to ward off "evil" spirits, to protect innocent workers, and even to fumigate an entire town. But does Serenity Need to be fumigated out of its expansive good will and generous desire to improve

John's living conditions--dragging him into the 20th century against his will? There is NO black magic, just European folklore and superstition. This is a simple, down home story about a boy who views his dad as a hero and his adult friend as a victim. Serious themes with elements of humor and touching family values.

Rating: 4
Summary: Onion John Rules
Comment: Onion John is a really good book!