The Silver Donkey [Paperback]

Sonya Hartnett (Author), Don Powers (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

"This tender fable of peace will linger with both younger and older readers." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)

One morning in France during World War I, two young sisters stumble upon an astonishing find in the woods: a soldier who has walked away from battle longing to see his ailing younger brother. As the girls care for the soldier, he repays them by telling four tales about a humble donkey — from the legend of Bethlehem to a myth of India, from a story of rescue in war to a tale of family close to the soldier’s heart.

A Book Sense Children’s Pick

A Junior Library Guild Selection

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred review

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–A lieutenant walks away from a battle in France during World War I. Tired of the fighting and unable to see, he wants to return home to England. Two French sisters living near the English Channel find him and provide him with food and other supplies. The girls quickly realize that caring for the soldier is more than they can handle and involve their brother and his friend. As the days pass and the boys work on a plan to help the man across the channel, the soldier shows the children a small good-luck charm in the shape of a donkey. During the course of the book, he tells them four tales about the creature, the first one being a version of the Christmas Story. Gradually, readers learn that the soldier is not blind, but that he has closed his eyes to the violence around him. This is a charming book in many ways. In spite of its setting, it's a gentle story that introspective readers will find satisfying.–Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The language and evocative pencil pictures shine in this quiet tale of World War I with other stories nestled inside it. Marcelle and her little sister, Coco, find a soldier in the woods near their home. He cannot see; he is very hungry, and he wants to go home across the Channel. The girls spirit food out of the house for him: bread, jam, hard-boiled eggs. Each day he spins them a story evolving from the tiny silver donkey he holds in his hand. There's the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem when she was great with child; the donkey that prevented a monsoon; and the donkey that transported injured soldiers from the front. Then there's the explanation of the silver donkey itself, found by the soldier's small brother. The girls enlist their older brother, Pascal, to help the soldier, whose vision slowly clears as the fog of war recedes. There's some didacticism here, but it's softened by the story's extreme gentleness and the sweetness of its ending. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (September 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763636819
• ISBN-13: 978-0763636814
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 0.7 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,221,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very sweet tale, but sad as well., October 27, 2006

By 

Anne-Marie Gilliland (Near D.C., USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Silver Donkey (Hardcover)

A very well written tale, I was first attracted to this book by is very classic looking cover. It has its own little built in ribbon bookmark, so it already is a very attractive book. The story, two little french girls find a blind english soilder who has had to leave the war. He is blind and trying to get home. At first he is just a fun secret for the little girls to have to themselves, though they are always trying to help him (their father's second best razor, alot of food from the pantry, etc)

He has one posession that, Coco, the younger of the two finds especially appealing, a very small silver donkey. Each day as the girls help him he tells them a story that involves a donkey essentially as the hero, each of them has a sort of bitter sweet twist to them (there are four total).

Its a very well written story, Hartnett's prose has a lyricalness to it and the illustrations on the inside are very fitting, they appear to be rendered in charcoal, so they are black and white, very sketchy looking. One is amazing, it is of the two sisters and their brother walking along the edge of a dock, all of them balancing with their arms out. The image is perfectly in time with the text.

This would be a good holiday gift to a child (no younger than 3rd grade I'd say, probably 5th)--as it does have some war time issues in it (WW2) I can see this as a Hallmark Holiday movie if they were so inclined, it has that sort of mood to it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Golden Tale, November 8, 2006

By 

Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Donkey (Hardcover)

Two sisters from a French seaside town find a drifting soldier during World War I. Marcelle and Coco are fascinated with the blind Englishman and his good luck charm, a little silver donkey. Lieutenant Shepard has wonderful stories to tell about heroic donkeys, and the girls hang on every tale. Soon, their brother finds out, and he gets a friend to help plan the soldier's way home across the Channel.

Knowing that the adults can never learn of the soldier's presence, the children take care of "their" soldier until he can leave. In return, they learn about courage and loyalty--lessons that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Sonya Hartnett has woven a charming story in the tradition of classic children's literature. Using gentle language, she relates the soldier's experience in ways that will leave no doubt that war is horrible, without scarring her young readers. The children are portrayed with a very real sense of wonderment, curiosity, and innocent sense of right and wrong.

Reading THE SILVER DONKEY evokes a feeling reminiscent of THE SECRET GARDEN and other such children's stories from the early 1900s. As time passes, Hartnett is sure to be as recognized as Burnett.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
11/08/2006

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful fable to read with your child., March 10, 2008

By 

She (Chicagoland, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Donkey (Paperback)

A few of us inaugurated a book club for 3rd grade girls with this story and it was a great start for us.

This story is beautifully written and has many layers, it was great for the adults and interesting enough for the girls, despite the backdrop of a war and subject matter that is difficult for young people to relate to: should you stay and fight in a war that has depleted you and made you question why you are there and hurt your psyche badly or go home to your family?


There were a lot of unanswered questions at the end of our discussion. Who did the donkey represent? Did Lieutenant get home? Was John real or made up? What significance was the beetle in the end?

Even though we didn't have clear answers, the girls were satisfied with the questions and were inspired to keep reading. All in all, a very good story to read with and explain to a child under 12. 13 and older can probably understand the subject matter and get more depth from it without a parent's input.