The Rifle

By: Gary Paulsen (1995)

This book tells the story of a rifle that is created during the Revolutionary War time period. The creator of this rifle sells it to a man that is passing by because he is planning on starting a family and he needs the money to support them. The new owner of the rifle encounters some British soldiers and he shoots one of them and escapes from the rest of the soldiers. This man then joins the revolution and becomes famous for being such a good shot with the help of his expertly crafted rifle. This man eventually dies in battle and the rifle is passed down through many owners and many generations until it eventually ends up on the mantle of family's home in Missouri. The rifle accidentally goes off as a lit candle ignites the weapon and a ball that has been lodged inside the gun for over 200 years hits and kills a neighbor boy.

This book was interesting because the main character of the book actually seemed to be the gun instead of one of the people that were associated with the gun. These people were discarded throughout the story, with the only constant character being the rifle itself. The first quarter of the book was spent describing how the gun was created, and while this was very descriptive, it was also hard to follow because of all of the technical terms that were used to describe what was happening. I enjoyed reading about the different time periods that were described, especially the Revolutionary War, as the different types of warfare employed by both sides were described.

While this was certainly an interesting book, I'm not sure if I would choose to read it in my classroom because of how focused the story is on this rifle. The book seems to glorify this weapon and what it can do which I do not think is a very good message for elementary school children. Given the ending of the book, the overall message seems to be that guns are dangerous and are designed to kill people, which is good for children to understand, but I'm not sure if this book is the best vehicle for this message. Overall, if your goal as a teacher is to have students read a historical fiction piece over the Revolutionary War time period, I would think there are probably better choices available.