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readallthenewberys2017-09-05 08:57 am
justice_turtle) wrote in readallthenewberys2017-09-05 08:57 am
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Newbery Honor: A Day On Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic (Hilda van Stockum)
As far as I'm aware, this is another author-illustrator's picture book, shoehorned into the Newberys because the Caldecott wasn't yet a thing. (The Caldecott will start up in 1938 and take most of these off our hands.) At least it's available online, so you can follow along and form your own opinions about the pictures. ;-)
* Huh. Apparently it's long enough or fancy enough to have a Foreword, by Edna St Vincent Millay.
* Oh my god, the copyright notice says in part that the book "may not be used for dramatic, motion- or talking-picture purposes" without authorization etc etc. I'm just so charmed by the reminder that motion pictures and talking pictures were still sort of two different things here.
* Ooh, it's got six chapters, so actually fairly long for a book with full-page color pictures in.
* The foreword is aggressively cutesy-poo. "It is most unlikely that the small reader, or for that matter the reader who is very large indeed, will be indifferent as to whether or not the burgomaster changes his mind about (but I mustn't tell you what); whether or not the boys get safely down from (but I mustn't tell you where); whether or not Simon ever wins the friendship of (no, I mustn't say of whom)." I am trying not to let this prejudice me against the book itself, but dear god. Was Edna St Vincent Millay always like this?
* Dude, no, she wrote Renascence, which is not cutesy-poo at all. I am perplexed. O_O
* Anyway. Let's get on to the actual book.
* Nine-year-old twins Evert (a boy) and Afke (a girl) live in the village of Elst in Friesland, which may or may not be different from Elst in Gelderland. Anyway, it's winter, and one day "Father Frost" comes (with much poetical description) and freezes everything.
* The children don't sound nine years old, but I've sort of given up on that.
* The children go to school and talk about how it will be when everything is properly frozen over. Evert wishes the whole Zuyder Zee and even the North Sea would freeze, so that they could skate up to the North Pole, or maybe ride there in a sledge tied to a white bear's tail -- there's a cute little pen-and-ink sketch of this.
* At school, the teacher announces that if their parents agree and if the cold continues, he will take them all on an all-day skating picnic on Friday.
* There is a new boy at school, named Simon, who has no friends there yet and is kind of lonely.
* On Thursday night, Evert and Afke go and have their skates sharpened at the smithy, and their mother packs them a lunch of currant buns and gingerbread.
* Jan, the burgomaster's son, is at the smithy, but he explains that he won't get to come on the outing because his grades are so poor. Evert, feeling sorry for him, goes and talks to the burgomaster himself and gets permission for Jan to come along after all.
* The next day, they all set out early. There are various small misadventures with children falling down on the way. Eventually they stop for hot chocolate and cookies, then again to watch an artist paint a picture. They chat with the artist a little before moving on.
* They turn off the canal onto a frozen stream, and after a while Evert, skating on ahead and not watching his feet, falls into a fishing-hole!
* Simon helps Evert not drown, then everybody helps get him out of the hole, and they take him to a nearby farmhouse to dry off and warm up. Afke is very thankful to Simon for saving Evert.
* The farmer's wife offers to cook everybody lunch, and the teacher agrees on condition that the children help out. The girls will set the table and wash the dishes, the boys will shovel the snow out of the yard.
* Evert borrows clothes from the farmer's son, since his own clothes will take a while to dry; the farmer's wife arranges that her husband will bring Evert's clothes back later.
* The children tell the farm family about their adventures while they eat lunch. There's a full-page color picture of one of the children waving a fork too vigorously and throwing a piece of pancake which hits the farmer in the nose.
* Then they set off again. Evert suggests to his friends Jan and Okke that they should have a secret club and pretend to be explorers, so as to grow up to be real explorers later on. They decide to call their club "The Three Columbians", after Christopher Columbus.
* The class comes to a big lake, where they all take hands and skate along together. They meet a friend of the teacher's, who offers to treat the whole class to poffertjes, fried sugar dumplings.
* Simon has never had any friends and isn't quite sure how to socialize, but Afke notices he seems lonely and goes over to talk to him.
* After they finish their snack, the class heads on toward the town of Snaek, whence they'll take a shortcut home. Evert and his friends, skating out in front as guides because the ice is bad, pretend they're leading an Arctic expedition, that the houses on the canal banks are igloos and that the barges frozen in place are whales.
* Apparently Snaek or Sneek is an important place. There's a full-page picture of its famous Waterpoort or canal gate.
* The class take off their skates (which strap on over boots) and go around seeing the sights. They get in a snowball fight with the children of a school they pass at recess. Then they go to visit the church before they have to go home.
* Evert and his friends sneak off to "explore" and climb partway up the church tower; Simon follows them. They have a bit of a scuffle where they pretend to have captured Simon. By the time they go down again, they're locked into the tower and the class has left to go look for them outside in the square.
* The class looks all over town for the missing boys and even reports them to the police, but can't find them. Eventually they have to head for home, but just as they're leaving town, Simon has the bright idea to ring the church bells to get their attention, and the boys are rescued.
* So Evert invites Simon to join the explorers' club, and everybody is happy.
* It gets very dark before the class reaches home, and everyone is tired. Teacher worries about the unsafeness of having the kids skate at night, but helpfully, a big horse-drawn sledge comes along and offers them all a lift; the kids who don't fit inside the sledge hang on to the back, and they all get home safe.
* The twins tell their parents about all their adventures, and Evert decides Afke can be the explorers' cook. There's nothing remotely feminist about this book's treatment of gender.
* Then everybody goes to bed, the end.
* Huh. Apparently it's long enough or fancy enough to have a Foreword, by Edna St Vincent Millay.
* Oh my god, the copyright notice says in part that the book "may not be used for dramatic, motion- or talking-picture purposes" without authorization etc etc. I'm just so charmed by the reminder that motion pictures and talking pictures were still sort of two different things here.
* Ooh, it's got six chapters, so actually fairly long for a book with full-page color pictures in.
* The foreword is aggressively cutesy-poo. "It is most unlikely that the small reader, or for that matter the reader who is very large indeed, will be indifferent as to whether or not the burgomaster changes his mind about (but I mustn't tell you what); whether or not the boys get safely down from (but I mustn't tell you where); whether or not Simon ever wins the friendship of (no, I mustn't say of whom)." I am trying not to let this prejudice me against the book itself, but dear god. Was Edna St Vincent Millay always like this?
* Dude, no, she wrote Renascence, which is not cutesy-poo at all. I am perplexed. O_O
* Anyway. Let's get on to the actual book.
* Nine-year-old twins Evert (a boy) and Afke (a girl) live in the village of Elst in Friesland, which may or may not be different from Elst in Gelderland. Anyway, it's winter, and one day "Father Frost" comes (with much poetical description) and freezes everything.
* The children don't sound nine years old, but I've sort of given up on that.
* The children go to school and talk about how it will be when everything is properly frozen over. Evert wishes the whole Zuyder Zee and even the North Sea would freeze, so that they could skate up to the North Pole, or maybe ride there in a sledge tied to a white bear's tail -- there's a cute little pen-and-ink sketch of this.
* At school, the teacher announces that if their parents agree and if the cold continues, he will take them all on an all-day skating picnic on Friday.
* There is a new boy at school, named Simon, who has no friends there yet and is kind of lonely.
* On Thursday night, Evert and Afke go and have their skates sharpened at the smithy, and their mother packs them a lunch of currant buns and gingerbread.
* Jan, the burgomaster's son, is at the smithy, but he explains that he won't get to come on the outing because his grades are so poor. Evert, feeling sorry for him, goes and talks to the burgomaster himself and gets permission for Jan to come along after all.
* The next day, they all set out early. There are various small misadventures with children falling down on the way. Eventually they stop for hot chocolate and cookies, then again to watch an artist paint a picture. They chat with the artist a little before moving on.
* They turn off the canal onto a frozen stream, and after a while Evert, skating on ahead and not watching his feet, falls into a fishing-hole!
* Simon helps Evert not drown, then everybody helps get him out of the hole, and they take him to a nearby farmhouse to dry off and warm up. Afke is very thankful to Simon for saving Evert.
* The farmer's wife offers to cook everybody lunch, and the teacher agrees on condition that the children help out. The girls will set the table and wash the dishes, the boys will shovel the snow out of the yard.
* Evert borrows clothes from the farmer's son, since his own clothes will take a while to dry; the farmer's wife arranges that her husband will bring Evert's clothes back later.
* The children tell the farm family about their adventures while they eat lunch. There's a full-page color picture of one of the children waving a fork too vigorously and throwing a piece of pancake which hits the farmer in the nose.
* Then they set off again. Evert suggests to his friends Jan and Okke that they should have a secret club and pretend to be explorers, so as to grow up to be real explorers later on. They decide to call their club "The Three Columbians", after Christopher Columbus.
* The class comes to a big lake, where they all take hands and skate along together. They meet a friend of the teacher's, who offers to treat the whole class to poffertjes, fried sugar dumplings.
* Simon has never had any friends and isn't quite sure how to socialize, but Afke notices he seems lonely and goes over to talk to him.
* After they finish their snack, the class heads on toward the town of Snaek, whence they'll take a shortcut home. Evert and his friends, skating out in front as guides because the ice is bad, pretend they're leading an Arctic expedition, that the houses on the canal banks are igloos and that the barges frozen in place are whales.
* Apparently Snaek or Sneek is an important place. There's a full-page picture of its famous Waterpoort or canal gate.
* The class take off their skates (which strap on over boots) and go around seeing the sights. They get in a snowball fight with the children of a school they pass at recess. Then they go to visit the church before they have to go home.
* Evert and his friends sneak off to "explore" and climb partway up the church tower; Simon follows them. They have a bit of a scuffle where they pretend to have captured Simon. By the time they go down again, they're locked into the tower and the class has left to go look for them outside in the square.
* The class looks all over town for the missing boys and even reports them to the police, but can't find them. Eventually they have to head for home, but just as they're leaving town, Simon has the bright idea to ring the church bells to get their attention, and the boys are rescued.
* So Evert invites Simon to join the explorers' club, and everybody is happy.
* It gets very dark before the class reaches home, and everyone is tired. Teacher worries about the unsafeness of having the kids skate at night, but helpfully, a big horse-drawn sledge comes along and offers them all a lift; the kids who don't fit inside the sledge hang on to the back, and they all get home safe.
* The twins tell their parents about all their adventures, and Evert decides Afke can be the explorers' cook. There's nothing remotely feminist about this book's treatment of gender.
* Then everybody goes to bed, the end.