Customer Reviews

The Courage of Sarah Noble

5 star:		(184)
4 star:		(89)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

A heartwarming (and true) story about 8-year old Sarah Noble who travels with her father from Massachusetts to New Milford, Connecticut where he is to build the first home in that area for their family. When the house is finished, John Noble must leave his daughter with an Indian family while he goes back to Mass. to get his wife and other children.

The storyline flows beautifully, and the writing is rich but won't overload the emerging chapter-reader. If your child is making the transition into chapter books and loves historical fiction, then this is a great book for you.

Even older readers will enjoy the simplicity and adventure of this beautiful story. Although my daughter has read many chapter books, this is still one of her favorites!

Enjoy.

This was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl. It's about an eight year old girl in 1707 who goes into the wilderness with her father to help build a new home for her family. Before she leaves, some children frighten her with stories about Indians who will capture her and eat her or chop off her head. As she travels with her father, Sarah Noble must conquer all her fears. Finally, in her new home, Sarah meets Indian children who frighten her at first, but turn out to be nice kids who become her friends.

I bought this book for my 6-year-old daughter recently, fearing it wouldn't hold up after all these decades. After all, I grew up with cowboy movie images of "savage" Indians, and felt Sarah's fear. But my daughter, like most children today, hasn't grown up with that racist garbage. She wouldn't understand why anyone would be afraid of Native Americans. That's a good thing, of course, but I suspected changed attitudes would take away a lot of the book's suspense.

But the book holds up better than I expected. My daughter recognized immediately that the children who teased Sarah at the beginning were just being mean and didn't know anything about Indians. That the Indian children turn out to be just like her didn't come as a surprise. But Sarah's journey to a new place, being in the woods with scary animal sounds, all living temporarily in a cave all seemed like real dangers to her. And so, even though some of the "message" of the book has become a little dated, the plot holds up well. My daughter and I both enjoyed the book.

My name is Sarah Frances Noble and I am realted to the Sarah Noble in this book. I think this book gives young readers a view of what life was like a long time ago. Our way of life has totally changed and I feel that it is important that children learn about their ancestors past. This book is perfect for a first or second grader learning about a childs life back then

Sarah F. Noble

I decided to compare listening -- to reading -- a book. I very much enjoyed the smooth, expressive voice of narrator, Barbara Caruso.

Around 1700, little 8 yr. old Sarah left her mother and siblings to accompany her father to the wilderness of Connecticut to build their new home. Only a child, her job was to cook. When she was scared, she remembered her mother's parting words, "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble".

Of all the things Sarah was afraid of, the Indians scared her the most. She and her father spent one night of their travels in a home in which the boys teased and worried her needlessly about the Indians. When Sarah and her father arrived at their property, Indian children quickly became her friends and put Sarah at ease.

The two adult Indians who befriended the family, Tall John and his wife Mary ended up taking care of Sarah when her father returned for the rest of the family.

This little book carefully explains Mary's need to dress Sarah like the other Indian children, complete with soft moccasins. Sarah refused to give up her moccasins much to the disdain of her newly arriving mother.

This cassette is about one hour long, just right for listening by children 5-8, perhaps divided into 2 or 3 segments. It also lends itself to discussion about Colonial life in America, as well as the diversity of cultures.

Friendship, trust, loyalty and respect are high priorities of this author, Alice Dalgliesh. I would certainly recommend this little book for its' content as well as historical value since it is based on a true story.

This book is about Sarah and her father who travel to New Milford, CT in 1707. Sarah hears of the local Native Americans living nearby. But the only Native Americans she meets are Tall John, his wife - "a squaw" - and his kids. I find this weird because it seems that they are the only native families there, when I know that native families lived in villages with others. It is bad to call your wife a squaw because it is like they don't have a name. But nowadays people know that it is offensive to call people that.

I think this book is very interesting, even though there was a lot of stereotypical thinking about the Native Americans. For example, "The indians came creeping in like brown field mice, their brown bodies reflecting the light." The book makes native people sound like shiny mice. But back then (1954) many people were not sensitive to the Native American's feelings.

If you read this book, you should not believe the way that the book describes Native Americans. I think that Alice Dagliesh did teach me that when you get to know someone, your perspective changes about them.

A third grader at the Gordon School

This is an interesting book that children -- if at all interested in historical fiction -- can relate to. It is a semi-true, somewhat embellished, story of an eight-year-old girl, Sarah Noble, who travels with her father from Massachusetts to Connecticut to build a home in the wilderness. She must face fears of animals, Indians, and loneliness, as she responds to the need of her father to have someone along on the journey to cook for him. I have sat with three young learning disabled children as they individually read through this book and became demonstrably better readers. At times a difficult book, the vocabulary repeats itself without feeling redundant. A reader has many opportunities to be successful. The phonics constructions also repeat. I wonder if this was the author's intention as she wrote this excellent transition reader. A good story. A nice discussion of emotions. A good history read. A well-written book.

I liked this book because of how Sarah Noble prayed for God to protect her father.
I would recommend this book to a friend because the story is very exciting.

My third grade reading class read The Courage of Sarah Noble. Most of my students really enjoyed it. Some of their comments were: "I think other third graders should read this book", "It was a good story, and we found out things about Indians that we didn't know","I think third graders should read this book, because it is interesting", "It is a fun book, and has words you can learn from", "I would recommend this novel because it was exciting and fun", "I think you should read this book because it's not too hard and it's not too easy, it's a good book",

One student commented that the book was too short and he really didn't care for it. Another student said, "It wasn't the best book, but it was very good", "I think the book was too easy to read. It is not the best book I ever read".

The consensus, though, was that it is a good book to read, enjoy and learn from.

When I finished reading Stuart Little, I was finding another book to read. There were no books until we came upon The Courage of Sarah Noble. And to me, it was very interesting. Sarah's one of my favorite characters in that book. I like the two Indians and everybody. I think the best part about that book is Sarah keeping up her courage. It's a very helpful book if you can't keep up your courage.

The Courage of Sarah Noble is about a girl and her father who gos west to find land to build a house. Before they left home her mom sad keep up your courage Sarah Noble. After a couple days they meat a man who's name is Tall John,and a Indian tribe. In a couple days they all made friends.At last the house is finished and Sarah's dad can go back home and get her family

.

The story the courage of Sarah Noble is good because nobody gets hurt.Also I think the Courage of Sarah noble is good because they meat a lot of nice people like Tall John and some Indians. I dont like this story because it is all about a girl and not a boy and a girl