The Good Master Puffin Newbery Library :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

My Favorite Childhood Read

2008-04-21
This was my favorite book from my childhood-- it is a classic children's novel full of great Hungarian folktales and tall tales. It is very autobiographical for the author. Kate Seredy should be an author every child reads at least sometime. I still love this book and bought it to give to my child's teacher.

One of the greatest books ever written.

2007-09-21
I adore this book. It makes me wish I lived on the plains of Hungary on a ranch like this family. The Good Master is the story of two twelve year old cousins growing up and learning what it is to be a good, respectful and hardworking person. Jansci, the son of the "Good Master", is excited for his cousin Kate to come from Budapest to live with them. That is until she gets there. She is not used to living in the country and gets into many different "adventures". The time setting is about 1900 because the next book The Singing Tree is about WWI. The Good Master is just a wonderful book that everyone will love.

So you love horses?

2006-11-10
This is a wonderful book forupper elementary or Jr. High girls who just love horses...which is a big section of this age group. The extra bonus is that it gives them a broader picture of girls/horses than the usual stories of girls and their horses in America....this is a great story of a culture and time much removed from their own sphere of experience.

Childhood Classic

2006-10-08
This book and it's sequel, The Singing Tree, are the reasons that I am such an avid book reader. My mother read this book to me as a child, and when I have children, I will read this to them as well.
This story is a wonderful tale about life in a different time and a different place, and the best things in life.

A timeless classic

2005-07-23
My sixth grade teacher read it to me in 1961. I became a teacher and have read it to hundreds of students as well as my own two children. It should be on a required reading list. It is a simple but delightful tale that centers on family, love and hard work.

A beautiful story of love and understanding

2004-03-19
This story, set in Hungary just before World War I, is a delightful story of a young motherless girl who learns the meaning of love and family with her uncle and his family out in the country. It can be enjoyed on many levels - family story, historical novel, ethnic traditions from Hungary, etc. Be sure to follow it up with the sequel "The Singing Tree" which tells of the family's life during World War I. Enthusiastically recommended!

One of the Highlights of My Reading Life

2004-01-17
It seems I have always loved the Good Master. In fact, I first encountered it in the 5th grade. Set in pre-world War I Central Europe on a Hungarian ranch, its cast of characters, the sheperds, the old Jewish grocers, the Good Master, Janci, still inhabit my imagination. The main character, Kate, with her guts, compassion and funny bone became, along with Jo March, a personal hero and role model.

This book takes a young reader completely away, visually and verbally, to another place in several other times, and sets his or her senses dancing. Unfortunately Seredy's art has fallen beneath editorial radar This book should be in the personal libary of all upper elementary students who love to read and adults who remember a child's delight in discovering a great read.

A beautiful, enriching book (and not just for kids). 2003-12-23
I first read this book when I was ten-years-old. My elementary school library had a copy of it, but I could never find another library with it after I left that school. I am now in college, and "The Good Master" recently resurfaced while I was browsing a used book store. I just finished it, and I still love it as much now as I did as a child.
Young Jancsi, living in a farm in Hungary with his parents, is a boy trying to find his place in the world of men when Kate, his spoiled cousin from Budapest, comes to live with the family. Though initially enemies, Kate and Jancsi soon become good friends, and their fun adventures will captivate any kid. Kate grows from a sickly city girl to a strong little farmer, and she teaches Jansci to notice and appreciate aspects of his hardworking rural life that he had always taken for granted. Though the book only covers about a year, both of them have changed greatly by its end, and Jancsi has become the man he longed to be. The wise, understanding presence of Jancsi's father Marton (the `Good Master' of the title) can be felt even in the scenes where he is not present. The book paints a colorful, detailed portrait of life in the Hungarian countryside, a culture that few Americans know anything about. Though it's aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, I would definitely recommend "The Good Master" to adults, too.

Prairie Tamed! 2002-09-05
Returning to her roots (THE WHITE STAG,1938 Newbery Winner) Kate Seredy shares a nostalgic portrait of the Hungarian
plains in this Newbery Honor book. The relatively peaceful lifestyle of Jancsi and his farming parents is shattered by the arrival of Kate, a whirlwind from Budapest. City clashes with country as the cousins verbally battle it out; this tomboy in skirts creates turmoil both indoors and and out, in private and in public.

But as the seasons melt into each other until Christmas, this "frail" but impossible child is gradually tamed by love, respect and the majestic landscape itself--not to mention plenty of hard work! No one in the Nagy family can bear to part with her, but what about her distant father who misses her terribly? Honoring her heritage, Seredy also incorporates four Hungarian folktalkes into her heartwarming story--sharing with American readers the real meaning of the Christmas spirit.
Excellent black/white illustraions contribute to the charm of this gentle delight.

This is a great book 2002-05-28
I am an only child and yearned for adventure just like Kate. Kate is not like most girls she is short and small, Skiny with long legs and, wheres boys clothes!! In a letter that Jancsi got it says that she had the measenls and was a very timade girl, boy did that letter lie!! When Jancsi and his father pick Kate up at the train staition she calls Jancsi a girl and on the way home she steals the wagon and almost gets run over!!! But soon she settles down and is one of the best cousins ever!! Jancsi teachs her to ride and soon she gets her own horse. I think that this book will be great for any on who has ever yearned for adventure.