Customer Reviews

The Singing Tree (Newbery Library, Puffin)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For me, this book is a "Gone With The Wind" with young adults in mind, but great for all ages. Like the "Little House ..." books, it describes the rural life of a family and village before industrialization changed everything. The quality of life these people had, despite the workload, is something to be admired.

The book is a wonderful sequal to "The Good Master," another wonderful tale. While the first book is more of a typical chidren's book, this one is much more of an epic as the family deals with the ravages of war. The themes of tolerance and family values are well expressed without ever getting preachy.

Kate and Jancsi are fantastic characters for children to identify with, and the adults make fine examples for them to look up to. The illustrations are wonderful. This book will make you laugh, cry and everything in between. It's one of the books I re-read every now and again, and it's stood the test of 30+ years worth of reading. I treasure it.

I bought this & The Good Master for my daughter many years ago. These books have always had a special place in my heart because of their "readability". The stories are about growing up and being loved and all that after much disruption in a young life. There is a message of hope and love that is good and kind and there is also a clear and warm picture of what life could have been like in pre-World War 1 Hungary. The illustrations are as outstanding as the story. I love reading it to children, gives me an excuse for re-reading it myself. The second book is more serious as the children grow up and war intrudes but life is like that, isn't it.

While this sequel to _The Good Master_ provides a welcome return visit with the original characters and setting, it is considerably more serious in tone, as it deals with the impact of World War I on a peace-loving family and small community.

The farm of the "good master" has become a refuge for a widely- varied assortment of people ranging from small German orphans to Russian military POWs - and the "good master" himself is missing in action. The young adolescent Kate, her slightly older cousin Jancsi, and their friend Lily must grow up in a hurry. But the strength of their earlier upbringing,leavened with consistant parental examples of kindness, common sense and good humor, is sufficient to see them through this time of trial.

This book makes very strong statements about the brotherhood of mankind and the cruel impact of war on the young and innocent - and those statements cannot be repeated often enough. The poignant episode which lends this book its title crystalizes the author's message of peace, tolerance, freedom, and community - a message reminiscent of Anne Frank's oft-quoted, "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart". Those who read _The Singing Tree_ will agree. Highly recommended for independent readers 11 and up, and for reading and discussing in families and classrooms.

I love Kate Seredy. My father built the home I grew up in . It was constructed in part from lumber salvaged from Ms. Seredy's barn. We have a full collection of her stories some autographed. My mother read them to me and now I am reading them to my children. The language is simple, yet the word pictures are splendid. Her illustrations are wonderful, sensitive, and clearly convey the feeling of the text. Well worth the read for anyone who has children or has been a child.

This is one of the most powerful books on human cost of war ever written. As a child, I loved this sequel to Seredy's _The Good Master_ because I loved the characters and found the story exciting. As an adult, I cannot even think about the book without finding tears in my eyes. The little details are what does it I think: the child who goes to sleep saying goodnight to his soldier father, unaware that his father is permantly asleep under a blanket of snow; the singing tree of the title, the retelling of the spontaneous cease-fire on Christmas when the troops on both sides of the line sang Silent Night, the moment when Janci realizes the pain his mother is hiding, the corporal who sadly observes that in war it's a man's duty to kill and a crime to comfort his wife .... Read it!

This book, along with its prequel, The Good Master, is based on Seredy's childhood in Hungary. The Singing Tree opens with a traditional Hungarian wedding ceremony. Riding home from the wagon, Kate overhears the news that Francis Ferdinand has been shot. Hungary is soon plunged into the war. Kate's father and uncle become soldiers, along with the new groom and three of the village shopkeeper's sons. The Nagy farm is soon full of "refugees:" the new bride, six Russian prisoners to do field work, six German children escaping ravaged Berlin, Kate's grandparents, and a daughter of a judge who starts off as spoiled as Kate once was and is quickly reformed by firm Nagy love.

The Singing Tree contains a message of peace and hope, but it does deal, however gently, with racism and prejudice and the death and injury and madness that war causes. Children who have read The Good Master should probably wait a year before reading The Singing Tree.

This book was read to me as a child and I read it to my four boys too. They adore this book, and also the first in the series, The Good Master. If you are looking for a book for ALL ages of children, and that tells a great story with great values without hitting you on the head with them, this book is a great one! Don't miss it!

Great book about how a family was able to endure the trials of WWI and open their home to "the enemy". Great example of love and acceptance towards others without being affected by circumstances. Highly recommend this book to anyone looking for uplifting reading for their children!

I absolutely love Kate Seredy. It was such a treat to check in with the adult Kate and Janci. They complemented one another perfectly. Kate, the delightfully irrepressible moppet who brought many smiles to many faces in "The Good Master" does not fail to deliver in this book as well. Janci has grown into a thoughtful gentleman and the Hungarian backdrop is a very effective way of describing Eastern European culture. This is an excellent book and I certainly hope you will read it. It's great.

The pair of books by Kate Seredy have always been my favorite childhood books. As my oldest grand-daughter is turning 8, I remembered these books suddenly for the magical story in the first book, "The Good Master" and the sequel, "The Singing Tree". As I am an artist, the quality of the author's illustrations add much to the stories. I have to believe that reading these two books and savoring the illustrations contributed greatly to my love of reading and of art. While the rural life in Europe long ago may seem hard to imagine for a young child in today's world, the beautiful, exciting and compelling stories in the books will make a faraway place and time come alive. Some children enjoy fantasy novels and this one is more like historical fiction of the best rank, although they may view it as fantasy. These books are told through the experience of "real children", no different than young children these days in their wonder, little dramas, struggle to grow and their feelings. I would recommend this book and the first one particularly for any girl aged 8 or older to read by herself. I'd recommend it as a great read-aloud book you share for any girls 5 or older. It is a joy to re-read myself, about 50 years after I first discovered them.