![]() ![]() What is the last book you read which focused on facing your fears?.Are there books with problematic content you still recommend to people? If so, what are they? If not, why don’t you?.Have you read Call It Courage? What do you think of it?.This book’s pages contain not a lesson in history, but a lesson in moral courage– A lesson so many of us still need today. ![]() If you can remember to let that go, you’ll be magically transported along with Mufatu on a seemingly impossible adventure and rise to victory. Most of the terrible stereotypes called out in this book are ones our society has now abandoned. It could be the wildness of nature, the cruelty of your peers, the disappointment of your family, or any other thing. In the end, Call It Courage is about facing your fears no matter the form they take. Despite the predictability of these events, I still found myself enraptured with Mufatu’s plight.Will he survive? Will he be able to return and show the Great Chief Hikueru the courage he has found? These adventures follow the structure of a traditional survival story. In a fashion similar to The Odyssey, Mufatu’s hair-raising adventures quickly pile one on top of the other. The message of this story is simple: Find your own courage no matter what adversity you may find.Your fears look different compared to those around you, but courage is always the same. I really appreciate hearing the proper pronunciation. I won’t lie, if I was reading this all the Polynesian words would have been nonsense to me. And I am so thankful I did! As the story begins Sperry identifies that this is a tale told around the fires to this day on the Polynesian- and it feels just like it! The bold and mythic storytelling tone, along with the Listening Library’s sound effects and music, made me feel like I was hearing this story told around the fire.Listening to Lou Diamond Phillip’s depiction is powerful, but also enlightening. He steals a canoe, takes his dog and his bird, and sets out in the ocean to face his fears and come back victorious.Īs part of my quest to read all the Newbery Winners, I listened to the audiobook for Call It Courage. No longer will he stand by and let the ocean scare him. Once he reaches the age in which boys go off to the ocean to partake in the ritual where boys become men, Mufatu hears the boys making fun of him. And Stout Heart cannot get in a boat, fish, or do anything which is expected of the men on this Polynesian island. After getting caught in a hurricane with his mother and being the only survivor, this isn’t all that surprising. Maftu, the son of the Great Chief Hikueru, is afraid of the sea. I personally believe that the cultural context in which this was written is essential to appreciate the text. Afterall, the expectations and standards in the world were quite different in 1940. Yes, it does fall into a bit of a predictable storytelling mode where our protagonist magically conquers everything.īut this is still a great book.And a wonderful book when the era in which it was written is considered. Yes, it portrays sexism, bullying, and submitting to peer pressure in a positive light. I’m just going to get this out of the way - Yes, this 1940 Newbery Award winner certainly has some representation issues.Yes, Call It Courage does play on all the noble-savage action-adventure boy serial tropes, such as those in the Tarzan serials. ![]() It happened many years ago, but even today the people of Hikueru sing this story and tell it over their evening fires. This is the story of how his courage grew and how he finally returned home. Then days on a desert island found him resourceful beyond his own expectation. When he could no longer bear their taunts and jibes, he determined to conquer that fear or be conquered- so he went off in his canoe, alone except for his little dog and pet albatross. So, though he was the son of the Great Chief of Hikueru, a race of Polynesians who worshipped courage, and he was named Stout Heart, he feared and avoided tha sea, till everyone branded him a coward. It had taken his mother when he was a baby, and it seemed to him that the sea gods sought vengeance at having been cheated of Mafatu. A boy tries to overcome his fear of the sea in this treasured classic and winner of the Newbery Medal. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |