Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wish I could recall how this book came into my awareness; maybe it was a blurb on Goodreads or in the NY Times Book Review? I had never heard of it prior as it was not a children's book I grew up with. (It was published the same year I was born.) [UPDATE 4-23-19 I just saw, thanks to Goodreads postings, that Sherry Beth Preston wrote the review that drew me to this book. Thank you Sherry!]
I began reading this about a week ago and then put it down, unintentionally burying it under other books that caught my interest. Having rescued it from under the pile, I was determined to finally finish the story, despite the somewhat stilted flow of the writing. Perhaps stilted isn't quite accurate, but the words do not flow as smoothly as I would have preferred.
Nonetheless, the story kept me going and the descriptions had me temporarily enmeshed in a very small village on the North Sea. I could sense the determination of the children to see storks return to their village of Shora in the Netherlands. And along the way, the challenge their teacher gives them serves to not only enliven the children, but sparks changes that positively impact the lives of the grownups as well.
I began reading this about a week ago and then put it down, unintentionally burying it under other books that caught my interest. Having rescued it from under the pile, I was determined to finally finish the story, despite the somewhat stilted flow of the writing. Perhaps stilted isn't quite accurate, but the words do not flow as smoothly as I would have preferred.
Nonetheless, the story kept me going and the descriptions had me temporarily enmeshed in a very small village on the North Sea. I could sense the determination of the children to see storks return to their village of Shora in the Netherlands. And along the way, the challenge their teacher gives them serves to not only enliven the children, but sparks changes that positively impact the lives of the grownups as well.
I remember reading and loving this Newbery award-winner from Holland about children in a tiny fishing village on the Dutch coastline and it's still great. Their teacher encourages them to figure out why there are no lucky storks living on the roofs of their village (unlike the surrounding towns) and work together to remedy the situation. They wind up befriending adults, most notably the formerly surly and isolated double amputee Janus, who performs feats of strength with his powerful arms. The whole town pitches in and everyone gets to know each other in a different way, but yet it's not cloying, it's inspiring. And it's so satisfying when they finally achieve their goal.
What I was surprised by was how much of a period piece the book was though it was only written in 1956. For example, no one ever wears anything but wooden shoes and they have little traditional Dutch caps and the like. Unfortunately the gender roles are also a bit dated. Although Lina, the only girl in the group of kids, is clearly the heroine of the book, she is always being left out of the boys' more boisterous games and is supposed to be the only one who cries. This rubbed me the wrong way though it is obviously true to period. But this is a mere quibble.
As an educator, I loved the fact that the children were engaged in an authentic learning task, and how much they learned from it.
Read or re-read The Wheel on the School. You won't be disappointed.
What I was surprised by was how much of a period piece the book was though it was only written in 1956. For example, no one ever wears anything but wooden shoes and they have little traditional Dutch caps and the like. Unfortunately the gender roles are also a bit dated. Although Lina, the only girl in the group of kids, is clearly the heroine of the book, she is always being left out of the boys' more boisterous games and is supposed to be the only one who cries. This rubbed me the wrong way though it is obviously true to period. But this is a mere quibble.
As an educator, I loved the fact that the children were engaged in an authentic learning task, and how much they learned from it.
Read or re-read The Wheel on the School. You won't be disappointed.
Some great parts, some really boring parts. You can tell it was written in the 50s, as the gender roles are pretty firmly in place. The few times the one girl in the group does anything adventurous, a big deal is made of the fact that she's breaking out of the mold.
There are no storks in the Dutch fishing village of Shora, though they nest in all the neighbouring towns. Why? The town’s six school children ponder the problem and decide they need to put an old wheel on the roof of the school for the birds to build a nest on. Their project is not going to be easy, for the migration has already begun and difficulties beset them at every turn – a wheel proves hard to find, neighbours are unhelpful, an ancient wheel falls to pieces, one child falls off the dike, someone else is stranded in the tide, and finally a tremendous storm hits the coast. Will they get a wheel onto the school roof? Can they do it in time? Will the storks survive the storm, and will they come to Sora?
So begins the book, and this is a terrific way to start because while it appears to be the children’s story it quickly turns into the story of a whole town, as everyone is drawn into the stork project. But the whole thing begins with one child’s question, and one simple request from their teacher:
And so it begins. Each of the six schoolchildren tackles the task in their own way, and each has a special role to play. Slow and clumsy Eelka reveals great strength and intelligence in rescuing a classmate. Auka’s generosity to the Tinsmith’s family results in a new friendship and valuable help. One twin wins over the grumpiest man in town, and the other risks his life to rescue storks. And timid Lina, the only girl, fearful of strange roads and barking dogs, is the one who sets the whole plan in motion, and who finds a wheel in the most impossible place you can imagine.
In the end everyone in town plays a part, from 93-year-old Douwa right down to the 3-year-olds who spot storks in trouble from the bell tower. Even bitter old Janus in his wheelchair, who has spent years terrifying children away from his cherry tree, comes to life after he is enlisted to their cause, and he more than anyone becomes their greatest ally and cheerleader. The inter-connectedness of everyone in the village becomes clear whenever trouble arises. And it may sound corny, but the events of the story change everyone involved.
I fear it all sounds a little saccharine as I tell it, but it really doesn’t read that way. DeJong shows great restraint, keeping the tone simple and understated, yet he tells the story with such warmth and understanding that you cannot help but be moved. He has a perfect grasp of the inner workings of the children’s minds, and can also hint at the corners of grownup hearts as well.
Some of the biggest moments for the characters are interior ones, beautifully played. One of my favourites is after Eelka pulls Jella from the water, saving him from drowning.
This book is a little on the long side, so the biggest challenge for readers will be sticking with it, but the children’s little adventures begin right away, and the action keeps humming along with moments of great drama and suspense. (I read this to my 7-year-old and she was hanging on every word - loved it!) The illustrations by Maurice Sendak perfectly match the author’s style and will help children visualize just what is going on, ie. the size of the wooden wheel, what a tin man’s cart looks like, etc.
Reading this book was like uncovering a hidden gem. A beautiful book about small towns, human nature, and storks.
(read more reviews of Newbery medal winning books at http://rarestkindofbest.com/lists-3/john-newbery-medal-winners/ )
To start with there was Shora. Shora was a
fishing village in Holland. It lay on the shore
of the North Sea in Friesland, tight against
the dike. Maybe that was why it was called Shora.
It had some houses and a church and a tower. In
five of those houses lived the six school children
of Shora, so that is important. There were a few
more houses, but in those houses lived no children
– just old people. They were, well, just old
people, so they weren’t too important. There were
more children, too, but young children, toddlers,
not school children – so that is not so important
either.
So begins the book, and this is a terrific way to start because while it appears to be the children’s story it quickly turns into the story of a whole town, as everyone is drawn into the stork project. But the whole thing begins with one child’s question, and one simple request from their teacher:
“From now until tomorrow morning when you
come to school again, will you do that? Will you
wonder why and wonder why? Will you wonder why
storks don’t come to Shora to build their nests
on the roofs, the way they do in all the villages
around? For sometimes when we wonder, we can
make things begin to happen.
If you’ll do that – then school is out right
now!”
And so it begins. Each of the six schoolchildren tackles the task in their own way, and each has a special role to play. Slow and clumsy Eelka reveals great strength and intelligence in rescuing a classmate. Auka’s generosity to the Tinsmith’s family results in a new friendship and valuable help. One twin wins over the grumpiest man in town, and the other risks his life to rescue storks. And timid Lina, the only girl, fearful of strange roads and barking dogs, is the one who sets the whole plan in motion, and who finds a wheel in the most impossible place you can imagine.
In the end everyone in town plays a part, from 93-year-old Douwa right down to the 3-year-olds who spot storks in trouble from the bell tower. Even bitter old Janus in his wheelchair, who has spent years terrifying children away from his cherry tree, comes to life after he is enlisted to their cause, and he more than anyone becomes their greatest ally and cheerleader. The inter-connectedness of everyone in the village becomes clear whenever trouble arises. And it may sound corny, but the events of the story change everyone involved.
I fear it all sounds a little saccharine as I tell it, but it really doesn’t read that way. DeJong shows great restraint, keeping the tone simple and understated, yet he tells the story with such warmth and understanding that you cannot help but be moved. He has a perfect grasp of the inner workings of the children’s minds, and can also hint at the corners of grownup hearts as well.
Some of the biggest moments for the characters are interior ones, beautifully played. One of my favourites is after Eelka pulls Jella from the water, saving him from drowning.
Eelka suddenly lay down. It felt
wonderful to lie there, knowing he had done
it – done what he had intended to do and
done it just as he had planned. He had been
strong; the rope hadn’t broken. It was a
wonderful proud feeling.
This book is a little on the long side, so the biggest challenge for readers will be sticking with it, but the children’s little adventures begin right away, and the action keeps humming along with moments of great drama and suspense. (I read this to my 7-year-old and she was hanging on every word - loved it!) The illustrations by Maurice Sendak perfectly match the author’s style and will help children visualize just what is going on, ie. the size of the wooden wheel, what a tin man’s cart looks like, etc.
Reading this book was like uncovering a hidden gem. A beautiful book about small towns, human nature, and storks.
(read more reviews of Newbery medal winning books at http://rarestkindofbest.com/lists-3/john-newbery-medal-winners/ )
It all starts when Lina brings an essay she has written about storks to school. She carefully reads it aloud, wondering to her fellow students about the lack of storks in their seaside Holland town. Discussion spurred by her essay by students and teacher alike causes Teacher to cancel school for the rest of the day – so his students can wonder about the stork problem. Lina gets to wandering and wondering, thinking like the storks to figure out how to lure them to Shora’s rooftops.
In school the next day, the children decide that there are two reasons the storks have gone from Shora. Firstly, their roofs are all too pointy – no stork will nest on a pointy rooftop! Secondly, all the trees have gone, and there is no shelter for the storks to seek. Realizing that planting trees will take years and years, the students set off on a mission – search all of Shora for a wagon wheel to place on top of their school. The ensuing chapters follow each student as he or she discovers a wheel for the school, some enlisting help from other townspeople. The chapters of searching culminate and join together again with Lina’s discovery of a wagon wheel submerged under a wrecked rowboat in the ocean.
The Wheel on the School, a potential read-aloud for young children, paints a portrait of life in Holland, of determined children, and of the majestic stork itself.
The book, in my opinion, probably only stands up today as a read-aloud. I don’t think any kids would be interested in the story otherwise – the episodic chapters where each child is searching for a wheel on their own strike me as perfect for a young child’s bedtime story – but not a solo pleasure read. Hewin would be pleased that nothing truly devastating happens in the novel, except for the brief disappearance of two young children (who, readers will know from the previous chapter, are exploring the bell tower).
In school the next day, the children decide that there are two reasons the storks have gone from Shora. Firstly, their roofs are all too pointy – no stork will nest on a pointy rooftop! Secondly, all the trees have gone, and there is no shelter for the storks to seek. Realizing that planting trees will take years and years, the students set off on a mission – search all of Shora for a wagon wheel to place on top of their school. The ensuing chapters follow each student as he or she discovers a wheel for the school, some enlisting help from other townspeople. The chapters of searching culminate and join together again with Lina’s discovery of a wagon wheel submerged under a wrecked rowboat in the ocean.
The Wheel on the School, a potential read-aloud for young children, paints a portrait of life in Holland, of determined children, and of the majestic stork itself.
The book, in my opinion, probably only stands up today as a read-aloud. I don’t think any kids would be interested in the story otherwise – the episodic chapters where each child is searching for a wheel on their own strike me as perfect for a young child’s bedtime story – but not a solo pleasure read. Hewin would be pleased that nothing truly devastating happens in the novel, except for the brief disappearance of two young children (who, readers will know from the previous chapter, are exploring the bell tower).
This is the charming tale of a small town in Holland where a seed planted by a school teacher brings the entire town together.
Lina, the only girl in school, writes an essay about storks and gets her class thinking. "Do you know about storks?", Lina asks. The teacher encourages the children to wonder about why the storks do not build their nests in the small fishing town of Shora while one town over in Nes, the storks arrive every year.
Little by little the children come to the conclusions that the storks are not in Shora due to the lack of trees, and the fact that there are no wagon wheels on the sharp roofs of their houses and schools. Teacher tells the students to try to find a wheel for the top of the school house. He tells them to look both where wheels could possibly be, and where it would be impossible to find wheels.
Lina, Jella, Dirk, Pier, Auka, and Eelka are soon coming together with Grandmother Sibble III, Old Douwa and even mean old legless Janus in the quest to bring the storks back to Shora.
This is a sweet, community minded story that is perfection for reading aloud. Sure there are bits and spurts of gender stereotyping, but readers today can easily place these in context of time and place and not let them interfere in the story.
Lina, the only girl in school, writes an essay about storks and gets her class thinking. "Do you know about storks?", Lina asks. The teacher encourages the children to wonder about why the storks do not build their nests in the small fishing town of Shora while one town over in Nes, the storks arrive every year.
Little by little the children come to the conclusions that the storks are not in Shora due to the lack of trees, and the fact that there are no wagon wheels on the sharp roofs of their houses and schools. Teacher tells the students to try to find a wheel for the top of the school house. He tells them to look both where wheels could possibly be, and where it would be impossible to find wheels.
Lina, Jella, Dirk, Pier, Auka, and Eelka are soon coming together with Grandmother Sibble III, Old Douwa and even mean old legless Janus in the quest to bring the storks back to Shora.
This is a sweet, community minded story that is perfection for reading aloud. Sure there are bits and spurts of gender stereotyping, but readers today can easily place these in context of time and place and not let them interfere in the story.