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doma_22's review against another edition
4.0
Mi devo rifare anche con i classici per ragazzi, questo non l'ho mai letto da piccola, è mancato alle mie letture anche se per qualche motivo lo conoscevo e quando l'ho ritrovato in formato ebook è andato a finire tra i libri da leggere.
Per svagarmi un po' e cambiare letture ho voluto provare a leggerlo in questi giorni di fine gennaio, freddi come l'Olanda descritta in queste pagine.
Due fratelli, Hans e Gretel, poveri anche a causa di un incidente che ha reso inabile il padre anni prima, ma di gran cuore, volenterosi e generosi con tutti, anche con chi li allontana.
Una piccola comunità, un gruppo di ragazzi molto uniti, di carattere diverso ma uniti, che nonostante tutto, aiutano Hans come possono. Un medico che opera il malato senza voler nulla in cambio ma ce verrà ricompensato in modo diverso.
Una storia semplice che però vuol trasmettere, e ci riesce, tante cose, dal non arrendersi di fronte alle difficoltà, alla condivisione, all'aiuto reciproco senza aspettarsi qualcosa in cambio, a non perdere la speranza e potrei ancora continuare....
Le atmosfere di una terra "ghiacciata" e percorribile sui pattini, anche nelle grandi distanze è particolare, così come belle sono le notizie e le storie che i ragazzini raccontano sul loro paese all'amico inglese in vacanza e anche a noi che leggiamo una "piccola storia" dentro l'altra storia.
Piccola curiosità. Anche in questo caso questa gita tutta sui pattini per svariati km ha attirato la mia curiosità ed ho scoperto che esiste una gara di quasi 200 km che partendo dal capoluogo della Frisia percorre altri 11 paesi e cittadine per poi concludersi nella cittadina di partenza e che questa si svolgeva già alla fine del 1800 ma che prende spunto da un evento di quasi un secolo prima!
Ed io lì per lì pensavo che fosse "troppa fantasia e immaginazione" che avesse spinto l'autrice a scrivere una cosa del genere!
Per svagarmi un po' e cambiare letture ho voluto provare a leggerlo in questi giorni di fine gennaio, freddi come l'Olanda descritta in queste pagine.
Due fratelli, Hans e Gretel, poveri anche a causa di un incidente che ha reso inabile il padre anni prima, ma di gran cuore, volenterosi e generosi con tutti, anche con chi li allontana.
Una piccola comunità, un gruppo di ragazzi molto uniti, di carattere diverso ma uniti, che nonostante tutto, aiutano Hans come possono. Un medico che opera il malato senza voler nulla in cambio ma ce verrà ricompensato in modo diverso.
Una storia semplice che però vuol trasmettere, e ci riesce, tante cose, dal non arrendersi di fronte alle difficoltà, alla condivisione, all'aiuto reciproco senza aspettarsi qualcosa in cambio, a non perdere la speranza e potrei ancora continuare....
Le atmosfere di una terra "ghiacciata" e percorribile sui pattini, anche nelle grandi distanze è particolare, così come belle sono le notizie e le storie che i ragazzini raccontano sul loro paese all'amico inglese in vacanza e anche a noi che leggiamo una "piccola storia" dentro l'altra storia.
Piccola curiosità. Anche in questo caso questa gita tutta sui pattini per svariati km ha attirato la mia curiosità ed ho scoperto che esiste una gara di quasi 200 km che partendo dal capoluogo della Frisia percorre altri 11 paesi e cittadine per poi concludersi nella cittadina di partenza e che questa si svolgeva già alla fine del 1800 ma che prende spunto da un evento di quasi un secolo prima!
Ed io lì per lì pensavo che fosse "troppa fantasia e immaginazione" che avesse spinto l'autrice a scrivere una cosa del genere!
margaretann84's review against another edition
1.0
Worst. Book. Ever.
Okay, maybe not the worst, but a really boring, awful book. The actual story of Hans could be told in about fifty pages. The edition I read on Google Books was nearly three hundred pages long. I can appreciate it for the historical things--I've read enough books from this time period to know that the personalities of the Brinker children and some of the other boys are how the authors imagined children, and the "history of Holland" asides are in there to educate small children back in the day--but the book was much too long and drawn-out to actually be entertaining, especially for a modern reader. I wouldn't recommend this at all.
1/5 on here, 1/10 for myself
Okay, maybe not the worst, but a really boring, awful book. The actual story of Hans could be told in about fifty pages. The edition I read on Google Books was nearly three hundred pages long. I can appreciate it for the historical things--I've read enough books from this time period to know that the personalities of the Brinker children and some of the other boys are how the authors imagined children, and the "history of Holland" asides are in there to educate small children back in the day--but the book was much too long and drawn-out to actually be entertaining, especially for a modern reader. I wouldn't recommend this at all.
1/5 on here, 1/10 for myself
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Hans Brinker is a classic children's story set in Holland and focusing on the poor, but honorable Brinker family. Hans, at 15 years old, and his little sister Gretel, 12, have few friends and miss out on much schooling because they must work to help their mother support their family. Mr. Brinker was a worker on the dykes and made a decent living until he suffered a head injury from a fall from the dyke ten years ago. Since that time, he never speaks and mostly just stares into space. But when he grows irritable and causes physical damage to their home and scares their mother, Hans decides that something must be done.
The two children wanted more than anything to be able to skate in the great race down the frozen canals. There would be two winners--a boy and a girl--and the prize would a set of beautiful silver skates. But the Brinkers cannot afford good skates and only have homemade skates made of sharpened wood and tied to their boots. Two kind-hearted children arrange for both Gretel and Hans to have fine, new skates. But proud Hans insists on working for the money and carves wooden necklaces. Peter, one of the kind-hearted children, suggests to his family that Hans could do the carving which they have wanted done on the front door frame. And Hans sees this as a way to earn money for a doctor.
But with his father's recent behavior, he has to approach the doctor before he has earned the money and sells his new skates to pay the doctor. Fortunately, Dr. Boekman takes a liking to Hans and offers his services for free. He performs a risky operation and Mr. Brinker regains his speech. Memories follow--but more slowly. The family are anxious for all of his memories to return because there are some mysteries to clear up.
I never realized that Hans Brinker had--in addition to a charming children's story--a mystery at the heart of it. Two mysteries, in fact. First, there is the missing savings of the Brinker family. A large sum of money--all of their savings--went missing on the same night that Mr. Brinker had his fall from the dyke. The second mystery involves Dr. Boekman's missing son. The answers to both mysteries are locked in Mr. Brinker's brain and it isn't until Hans convinces Dr. Boekman to treat his father that the mysteries will be solved.
This was an enjoyable, uplifting children's story that focuses on family, loyalty, and friendship. It, of course, has a happy ending though {SPOILER} I was surprised to find that Hans isn't the one who wins the silver skates. Since he's in the title and is our primary protagonist, I really expected him to be the winner. But the ending is most satisfactory anyway--Hans's sense of loyalty prompts him to help a friend win and Gretel does wind up the winner of the girls' race. I appreciated the fact that Dodge tells us what happened to all of our primary characters in the years that followed. She also manages to relay a great amount of information gleaned in researches about the Netherlands without making the reader feel like the recipient of info dumps.
si_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I was disappointed with how little there was of Hans and also how the Silver Skates were only a big thing in the last 25% of the book. And finally there was way to much talk about Hollands history which got a bit boring.
atticmoth's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The strange association that came to mind is Wes Anderson’s animated film Isle of Dogs; which I didn’t have a problem with the content, but the structure was so lazy that it was impossible to overlook. Mary Mapes Dodge’s Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates starts out with a strong enough premise that shouldn’t have been that hard to follow through with: The eponymous Hans Brinker competing in an ice-skating race to win the title Silver Skates. Instead, like Isle of Dogs, most of the narrative follows a quirky ensemble cast that only tangentially relates to the main story. Towards the end of the book, Dodge does return to the race, but over 50% of this book is composed of “meanwhiles”. Perhaps Dodge abandoned the “main” story because it was so sentimentalist and cloying she knew no one would sit through it, so she focused too much energy on the slapstick antics of four or five Dutch boys skating from city to city. And indeed, when she returned to Hans Brinker’s story, I was so annoyed I no longer cared. Hans Brinker represents the worst of Victorian-era moralistic childrens’ literature. The protagonists are so perfect, and their situation so miserable; they toil with such dignity that it almost seems to glamorize poverty. The ending is replete with fortuitous coincidences that wouldn’t make sense in any book; it started to feel like a parody of itself. It’s got the preachy tone of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but if the entire thing was about Tiny Tim.
Hans Brinker’s main claim to fame is originating the folk tale of the Dutch boy who saved his city from floodwaters by plugging a hole with his finger. In context, it’s a story that one character tells another. The most interesting part of this book was how the Netherlands were presented; I almost want to use the word worldbuilding. Mary Mapes Dodge was American, and wrote for American audiences; a common point of discussion in my book club was how Hans Brinker actually treats Dutch culture with an Orientalist lens. A couple people in the book club are actually Dutch, and said that reading this gave them “a new perspective on Orientalism”. Her portrayal of the Netherlands is quaint and backwards, while simultaneously utopic. There are so many bizarre details that serve to otherize Dutch culture, and it’s an interesting snapshot of what happens when white people exoticize other white people.
Hans Brinker’s main claim to fame is originating the folk tale of the Dutch boy who saved his city from floodwaters by plugging a hole with his finger. In context, it’s a story that one character tells another. The most interesting part of this book was how the Netherlands were presented; I almost want to use the word worldbuilding. Mary Mapes Dodge was American, and wrote for American audiences; a common point of discussion in my book club was how Hans Brinker actually treats Dutch culture with an Orientalist lens. A couple people in the book club are actually Dutch, and said that reading this gave them “a new perspective on Orientalism”. Her portrayal of the Netherlands is quaint and backwards, while simultaneously utopic. There are so many bizarre details that serve to otherize Dutch culture, and it’s an interesting snapshot of what happens when white people exoticize other white people.
cmbohn's review against another edition
2.0
would only be tolerable if abridged. I liked the story of Hans and his little family, their tragedy and their determination to get through it. But then somehow we got this group of young boys who were allowed to spend a winter holiday unsupervised with plenty of money skating all over Amsterdam, having various adventures, and delivering long tedious lessons about Dutch life and history and culture to the token English boy who makes all this slightly plausible. I SOOOOOOO didn't care. If want to read Dutch history - and I wouldn't mind, actually - I will, but if I want to read about the Brinkers, and I did when I picked up the book, TELL ME THE STORY YOU STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE! Skipped to end, where of course, everything turned out happily ever after. So there.
marjolaine_lafreniere's review against another edition
2.0
I first read that book in my early teens, and it was an abridged version, heavily illustrated and translated in French. Some sort of combination of all those facts made me remember the story as much better then I actually found it this time around. Some things should stay in the past, I guess.
elleainea's review
3.0
Lately children's novels give me a certain feeling, one which I can't find the right word for. But a positive one, that's for sure.
As for the book, even though the development was not to my personal taste, the characters seemed well written.
As for the book, even though the development was not to my personal taste, the characters seemed well written.
kailey_luminouslibro's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Hans and his sister Gretel are poor. Their father was injured years ago and left with brain damage, so it is up to their mother to support the family. Hans tries to get work, but there are no jobs available in the winter time in Holland.
All the children in their village are excited for a grand skating race that will be held after Christmas, but Hans and Gretel only have cheap wooden skates that Hans made himself.
One of my favorite books as a child! Love it! There are so many elements to the story, and yet it is simple and pretty. The writing is so charming and sweet! The plot kept my interest, and I got so attached to the characters.
Hans is such a plucky character, and it was heart-breaking to see him striving so earnestly to help his family, even when it meant a personal sacrifice for him, like not being able to participate in the skating race. He is honorable and hard-working, always ready to do the right thing no matter the cost.
Gretel is sweet and cute, and her family really rely on her to bring cheerfulness and affection into their home. When her father acts strangely because of his mental damage, Gretel is the one who knows how to calm him by singing his favorite songs. Gretel is the emotional compass of the family.
A great deal of the story does not follow Hans or Gretel, but a group of boys from their village who are taking a sight-seeing trip to neighboring towns and cities. Peter is the leader of the group, and they are joined by a British boy, Benjamin, who is visiting his Dutch cousin. Through their sight-seeing, they talk a lot about the history of Holland, educating the reader about various battles, famous people, scientific achievements, and beautiful architecture.
I especially loved the scenes that show particular traditions of Dutch culture at the time. There is a scene where the boys visit a church to hear some beautiful music at a church service, and they are in awe of the wonderful music. I loved that scene, because it shows the rich culture and appreciation for the arts!
All the children in their village are excited for a grand skating race that will be held after Christmas, but Hans and Gretel only have cheap wooden skates that Hans made himself.
One of my favorite books as a child! Love it! There are so many elements to the story, and yet it is simple and pretty. The writing is so charming and sweet! The plot kept my interest, and I got so attached to the characters.
Hans is such a plucky character, and it was heart-breaking to see him striving so earnestly to help his family, even when it meant a personal sacrifice for him, like not being able to participate in the skating race. He is honorable and hard-working, always ready to do the right thing no matter the cost.
Gretel is sweet and cute, and her family really rely on her to bring cheerfulness and affection into their home. When her father acts strangely because of his mental damage, Gretel is the one who knows how to calm him by singing his favorite songs. Gretel is the emotional compass of the family.
A great deal of the story does not follow Hans or Gretel, but a group of boys from their village who are taking a sight-seeing trip to neighboring towns and cities. Peter is the leader of the group, and they are joined by a British boy, Benjamin, who is visiting his Dutch cousin. Through their sight-seeing, they talk a lot about the history of Holland, educating the reader about various battles, famous people, scientific achievements, and beautiful architecture.
I especially loved the scenes that show particular traditions of Dutch culture at the time. There is a scene where the boys visit a church to hear some beautiful music at a church service, and they are in awe of the wonderful music. I loved that scene, because it shows the rich culture and appreciation for the arts!