In the bustling Boston of 1773, Johnny Tremain is a fourteen-year-old apprentice to a silversmith. He is gifted and knows it. He cheerfully lords it over the other apprentices until the tragic day when a crucible of molten silver breaks and Johnny's right hand is so burned as to be useless. After a period of despair and humiliation, Johnny becomes a dispatch rider for the Committee of Public Safety, a job that brings him in touch with the infamous Boston patriots, and with all the exciting currents that were to lead to the Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington.

Publisher's note: The late Esther Forbes bequesthed the royalties from the sale of her works to the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., where for years she had done most of her historical research.