Very nice book about the famous Hans Brinker who didn't put his finger in the dike at Spaarnwoude,This famopus story is not true, as anyone who reads the very fine story bij Mary mapes Dodge will see. Doesn't matter: we keep on believin' he saved Holland! ( )

In this story, a father comes home with a silver watch but receives a head injury while working that prevents him from telling the story behind the watch.

when i read this last in or about 1953, i was struck with the kids and the race for the silver skates. i remembered nothing about the other 200 plus pages chock full of Dutch customs and culture and history. Oh well. It was better the second time around. There isn't any problem with the language. Somehow Mary Mapes Dodge writes in almost the same way another European woman wrote 130 years later. Her name is J. K. Rowlings. This is not a dated story and I recommend it to anyone's children . . . wait. back up the truck. I recommend it to anyone, period. ( )

The sort of kids' book that an adult can read with genuine enjoyment. A good yarn.
As in most children's books from the moralistic 19th cnetury the hero and heroine are perhaps a little too good to be true or to be totally likeable. But Dodge has a fine ear nor the nicities of social discourse, on lines of class and gender - doubtless she would not put it that way herself butit is true. And she certainly succeeds in making Holland sound a magical place.

To review this book properly, you need to seperate two very different components. The first one is the story, and the second one is the historical information.

The story is about Hans Brinker and his family. Hans' father is ill and needs a doctor, money is tight, and then there's a mysterious watch. This story is very good, very entertaining, even for adults. But, right in the middle of this story, a group of boys, not including Hans Brinker, decide to take a skating trip of several days. This part of the story doesn't really fit into the story-line, and detracts from the over-all very good story of Hans Brinker.

The historical part, is also very good. Most of it is told during that skating trip. The descriptions of the cities are especially well done. From all of the cities, I know most about Leyden, and the fun part of this book, for me, was that the description of Leyden from the late 1800's is still valid today. Many of the historical buildings and sites that are discribed still stand today, and I pass them very often. But, this has to be said, most names are more German than Dutch.

All in all, this is a very entertaining book. The story is good, as is the historical information. It's really a good look into the life of the Dutch people of that time. I highly recommend the book, read it for enjoyment and for the historical information. ( )