Customer Reviews

The Good Master (Puffin Newbery Library)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book, and others by this author, enriched my childhood enormously. As an only child who yearned for adventure, I identified with Kate - as a rather quiet child, I admired and envied both her high spirits and her kind heart. I longed to visit the vast plains of Hungary, so beautifully described and illustrated by Kate Seredy, and to wade in that dangerous river, wear all those petticoats and high red boots, ride a beautiful milky-white horse, and eat delicious sausages, just like Kate did! And Jancsi - who ever had a cousin as wonderful as he? Jancsi's parents' tolerant wisdom, humor and love warmed me as a young reader. In retrospect, I can now clearly see that Kate was not the only child transformed by "the good master"...I also was changed. For life: I became a children's librarian and thus was able to recommend this and so many other good books to literally thousands of children and their families over the years. This is a marvelous book in every way. Highly recommended.

This story, set in Hungary just before World War I, is a delightful story of a young motherless girl who learns the meaning of love and family with her uncle and his family out in the country. It can be enjoyed on many levels - family story, historical novel, ethnic traditions from Hungary, etc. Be sure to follow it up with the sequel "The Singing Tree" which tells of the family's life during World War I. Enthusiastically recommended!

It seems I have always loved the Good Master. In fact, I first encountered it in the 5th grade. Set in pre-world War I Central Europe on a Hungarian ranch, its cast of characters, the sheperds, the old Jewish grocers, the Good Master, Janci, still inhabit my imagination. The main character, Kate, with her guts, compassion and funny bone became, along with Jo March, a personal hero and role model.

This book takes a young reader completely away, visually and verbally, to another place in several other times, and sets his or her senses dancing. Unfortunately Seredy's art has fallen beneath editorial radar This book should be in the personal libary of all upper elementary students who love to read and adults who remember a child's delight in discovering a great read.

I first read this book when I was ten-years-old. My elementary school library had a copy of it, but I could never find another library with it after I left that school. I am now in college, and "The Good Master" recently resurfaced while I was browsing a used book store. I just finished it, and I still love it as much now as I did as a child.
Young Jancsi, living in a farm in Hungary with his parents, is a boy trying to find his place in the world of men when Kate, his spoiled cousin from Budapest, comes to live with the family. Though initially enemies, Kate and Jancsi soon become good friends, and their fun adventures will captivate any kid. Kate grows from a sickly city girl to a strong little farmer, and she teaches Jansci to notice and appreciate aspects of his hardworking rural life that he had always taken for granted. Though the book only covers about a year, both of them have changed greatly by its end, and Jancsi has become the man he longed to be. The wise, understanding presence of Jancsi's father Marton (the `Good Master' of the title) can be felt even in the scenes where he is not present. The book paints a colorful, detailed portrait of life in the Hungarian countryside, a culture that few Americans know anything about. Though it's aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, I would definitely recommend "The Good Master" to adults, too.

"The Good Master" is a wonderful book for children (adults, too!) Set in Hungary, it is the story of Jancsi and his cousin Kate, who comes from the city to live with Jancsi's family in the country. Jancsi has been looking forward to having a playmate, but Kate is not exactly what he expected. She is spoiled, wild, and their description of her as a "screaming monkey" is not far off the mark. After a rocky start, Jancsi and Kate learn to get along, and from there they become fast friends. They have plenty of adventures. For example, you will enjoy their trips to the fair and the circus; traditional Hungarian Easter and Christmas celebrations; a horse roundup; Kate's experience with some gypsies; and plenty more. Through the book Kate goes from spoiled and totally bratty to much more caring and kind- though she never loses her high spirits! This is an appealing book because it is so simple and wholesome. Also, since children love stories, "The Good Master" is filled with old stories and tales that the adults in the book tell to Jancsi and Kate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has grade-school-age children... get it for them! They'll love it!

I want to echo the comments made by the other reviewers about this outstanding children's book. I was introduced to this wonderful book by my 4th grade teacher who read it to my class in 1980. One would think that a book written in the 1930's and set on the Hungarian plains in the years just before WWI would not appeal to "modern" children. Yet the entire class loved it. I loved it so much that I later read it several times on my own. This book helped instill in me a deep love of reading which I still have over nineteen years later.

A well-deserved winner of the Newbery Honor Award, "The Good Master" is a forgotten classic. Kate Seredy's work is nowhere near as popular with children as are the works of Blume, Cleary, Dahl, and Wilder. It's a shame because "The Good Master" was as good a book as I ever read as a child and I was also a huge fan of the books of all those other authors. Jansci and Cousin Kate from Budapest deserve to be considered along with Peter and Fudge, Henry, Ramona, and Ribsy, Charlie and Willy Wonka, and the Ingalls family as among the greatest characters in children's fiction.

My sixth grade teacher read it to me in 1961. I became a teacher and have read it to hundreds of students as well as my own two children. It should be on a required reading list. It is a simple but delightful tale that centers on family, love and hard work.

I am an only child and yearned for adventure just like Kate. Kate is not like most girls she is short and small, Skiny with long legs and, wheres boys clothes!! In a letter that Jancsi got it says that she had the measenls and was a very timade girl, boy did that letter lie!! When Jancsi and his father pick Kate up at the train staition she calls Jancsi a girl and on the way home she steals the wagon and almost gets run over!!! But soon she settles down and is one of the best cousins ever!! Jancsi teachs her to ride and soon she gets her own horse. I think that this book will be great for any on who has ever yearned for adventure.

I loved this book as a child. I love this book as an adult. It is a delightful Eastern European classic about a spirited little girl and the whirlwind effect she has on her uncle's family. She is brave, active, agile and daring. I still crack up laughing over Kate's climbing on the rafters, scarfing "two feet of sausages." She is a delightful, irrespressible character who helps her cousin Janci emerge from his shell. Urban and sophisticated, she is a cultural enlightenment to her farm relatives. Kate is a keeper. I love this book!

This book is one of my favorite books in the entire world! I love it. It is about a boy named Jansci and his cousin Kate from Budapest. Kate seems bad at first-taking over their wagon and running away with it, splitting her skirts, climbing the rafters for sausage, and racing her boy cousin. But she changes under the hand of Jancsi's father, who is called The Good Master. Then something else good happens...