call it courage

MINI REVIEW

Title: Call it Courage

Author: Armstrong Sperry

Date Finished: April 10, 2011

Personal Book Count: 12 out of 75

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Genre/ Subject: fiction/ Newbery winner

Why did I pick this book?: it is my goal to one day have read all the Newbery winners

Summary and Review: A young boy is terrified of the sea after an incident that happened when he was a child. He knows he will never have any standing in the tribe if he doesn’t face his fear, and so sails off to do so.

I enjoyed this one. I always think it is hard to pull off a story where there is only one character, but Sperry does this very well. There is lots of outer (as well as inner) conflict to keep the story going. There was a consistent ‘what happens next?’ feel to it that kept it going. As a younger person I would have wondered if he was going to make it, and that would have kept me reading on. As an adult, you know how it has to end, so you lose a bit of that element. Oddly, I kept trying to relate it to Steinbeck’s The Pearl in my mind. All in all, a quick enjoyable read. But one I am glad I read as an adult, not sure if I would have understood the ‘layers’ when I was younger.

Agree? Disagree? Recommendations? Any insights, suggestions, or comments on the book or format, or blog at all are most welcome. If you have read this and/ or review it yourself, please let me know. Can you think of any books like this? Give me a recommendation! =D