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A review by carrie562
Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
2.0
Desiring to introduce my kids to a variety of literary styles and language, I have pressed on despite the uninspiring beginning, and in fact we all became quite interested once the story of Hans and Gretel and their unfortunate family got underway -- why, it looked like it was shaping up to be a right jolly mystery, with missing gold, enigmatic admonitions, and a tragic "accident" (or was it?) -- my my! Pages turned! From the frozen canal, the children hear their mother scream and rush home! What's happened? Mais non! -- our cruel author twists the knife, for here she abandons the Brinker family story completely.
For 200 pages.
That's right: there's no mention whatsoever of the Brinker family for the middle 2/3 of the book. Instead, we go on a meticulously documented journey around Amsterdam and Haarlem with a group of local boys and a visiting cousin from England (who just happens to know more about Holland than the natives do).
At the close of each and every chapter, my daughter asks, but what about that scream? Where are Gretel and Hans? What happened to their mother?
UPDATE: Finished the book. When the Brinker story resumes, it fulfills all the promise of the opening chapters -- excitement! Intrigue! Drama! Plot twists! My advice is to go in prepared to hunker down for a lengthy but occasionally entertaining tour of Amsterdam. (I'd say just skip chapters 10-31, except that there are two important plot points that come up during the boys' tour of Amsterdam.)
Two stars: it was okay. The good parts were very entertaining; the plot structure was unnecessarily tortuous; the language was delightful and evocative, but the syntax convoluted and difficult for a 21st century young reader.
For 200 pages.
That's right: there's no mention whatsoever of the Brinker family for the middle 2/3 of the book. Instead, we go on a meticulously documented journey around Amsterdam and Haarlem with a group of local boys and a visiting cousin from England (who just happens to know more about Holland than the natives do).
At the close of each and every chapter, my daughter asks, but what about that scream? Where are Gretel and Hans? What happened to their mother?
UPDATE: Finished the book. When the Brinker story resumes, it fulfills all the promise of the opening chapters -- excitement! Intrigue! Drama! Plot twists! My advice is to go in prepared to hunker down for a lengthy but occasionally entertaining tour of Amsterdam. (I'd say just skip chapters 10-31, except that there are two important plot points that come up during the boys' tour of Amsterdam.)
Two stars: it was okay. The good parts were very entertaining; the plot structure was unnecessarily tortuous; the language was delightful and evocative, but the syntax convoluted and difficult for a 21st century young reader.