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Feb 20, 2009

Stacy268 rated it:

This is the charming tale of a small town in Holland where a seed planted by a school teacher brings the entire town together.

Lina, the only girl in school, writes an essay about storks and gets her class thinking. "Do you know about storks?", Lina asks. The teacher encourages the children to wonder about why the storks do not build their nests in the small fishing town of Shora while one town over in Nes, the storks arrive every year.

Little by little the chil More...

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Feb 26, 2011

emily rated it:

It all starts when Lina brings an essay she has written about storks to school. She carefully reads it aloud, wondering to her fellow students about the lack of storks in their seaside Holland town. Discussion spurred by her essay by students and teacher alike causes Teacher to cancel school for the rest of the day – so his students can wonder about the stork problem. Lina gets to wandering and wondering, thinking like the storks to figure out how to lure them to Shora’s rooftops.

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Sep 18, 2009

Ariel rated it:

I remember reading and loving this Newbery award-winner from Holland about children in a tiny fishing village on the Dutch coastline and it's still great. Their teacher encourages them to figure out why there are no lucky storks living on the roofs of their village (unlike the surrounding towns) and work together to remedy the situation. They wind up befriending adults, most notably the formerly surly and isolated double amputee Janus, who performs feats of strength with his powerful arms. The w More...

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Sep 29, 2010

Jill rated it:

1955 Newbery winner.

I enjoyed this book for its message of teaching kids to think outside the box; in this case the school. The teacher encourages the kids to problem solve and in the process they become more interested in learning, more active in their community and develop better relationships with the local residents. Their small-town adventures remind me a lot of Anne of Green Gables.

All in all it's a pretty good story: Easy, uncomplicated sentence structure, a good More...

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Nov 09, 2009

Carmine rated it:

Very charming story about six children in Holland determined to bring storks back to their village on the North Sea. I didn't think that a book about kids trying to find a wheel to put on their school would be so gripping, but this was hard to put down. There are some moments of real peril for the these children who live up against the edge of a dike next to the sea. We're talking edge of the seat action involving row boats, incoming tides, church steeples and falling out of hay mows. I have a h More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Christina rated it:

This is a darling story about a group of children living in a tiny Holland village trying to encourage storks to settle in their town. The story is very simple, but had a few deep moments (like watching Janus's transformation).

I probably would have given it just 3 stars except for one thing. Near the beginning, the children divide up and go on a 'quest'. We hear about the same afternoon from each of their points of view. I enjoyed how those 5 stories were interconnected and came More...

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Jun 15, 2010

Ashley rated it:

DeJong, Meindert. The Wheel on the School. New York: HarperTrophy, 1972. Print.
Genre: Children’s Fiction/Animal Tale
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong is a Newberry Medal award winner about a community working together for a common goal. This story is about determination and never giving up. The book focuses on a small fishing village on the northern sea that storks no longer come to. Therefore the children of the village set out to bring them back. This story is filled with More...

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Jun 02, 2011

Lauren rated it:

I adore this book. It’s like coming up for a breath of fresh air after being stuck underwater. I think that each and every one of us could use a break of this kind. In this busy, busy world we live in we never take a second to smell the roses. We’re too busy worrying about our cars, our relatively slow internet, getting into college, broken iPods, going on dates, the latest fashion in clothes, being accepted… And here is a group of school kids who are worried about whether or not storks come to More...

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Jul 24, 2009

Debbie (Readerbuzz) rated it:

This is truly an odd story. A village in Holland is sad because no storks come to nest in their town. The children and their teacher decide to change things by making a project of it; they will find an old wagon wheel and put it on top of the school for storks to nest in.

Pretty soon, the whole town is involved in the project. Everyone is out looking for wagon wheels. Everyone is figuring out how to put the wheel on the school. Everyone is helping put the wagon wheel on the roof of th More...

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Jun 16, 2011

Anna rated it:

I love kids books where the dialogue is realistic, and the characters of the grown-ups are also realistic. It's not contrived, it's not "goody goody" adults, it's REAL people. This story of the little schoolchildren in the Dutch town of Shora is so endearing. They put forth so much effort to get a wheel on the school so the storks can come. There are such lessons to be learned here: people aren't always what they seem (Old legless Janus isn't really a mean man), and the value of hard w More...

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Aug 11, 2009

Emily rated it:

I was thoroughly charmed by this 1955 Newbery winner. The fishing village of Shora in Holland has only 6 children in their school. One of them writes a report one day on storks, and how the storks no longer stay in Shora. It becomes a school project to get the storks to nest in Shora. First, a wheel must be found, to be placed on the roof of the school so the storks can build their nests without sliding off the roof. Little by little, everyone in town becomes involved in getting the storks More...

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Jul 06, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Approximate date of first read: 1984

Impressions: A project can bring a community together. Old people have wisdom. Stork nests are something you want on your house, to the point you should risk your life to provide a nesting place. These are the lessons of The Wheel on the School. More false endings than Lord of the Rings, but overall, a nice nostalgia trip.

How it warped me: I feel like I read a few books about magical, darling Dutch people in my childhood. At least one i More...

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Nov 19, 2011

Monica rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 28, 2008

Esther rated it:

The Wheel on the School is a cute book about 6 classmates who try to do something impossible; bring storks to their town. My niece and her family read this book together. During the same time her doll's hat was lost. (I have to claim some responsibility since it was my daughter that lost the hat). She worried about the hat for this was not just any doll this was her absolute favorite doll. While reading this book, she found her answer. The teacher assigns all the students to find a wheel, " More...

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Jun 24, 2011

Joann rated it:

The beauty of these older Newberry winners is their innocent simplicity. The story was simple- children in a small town trying to entice storks to nest on the roof of their school. It really didn't stray much from that. It was, I felt, a refreshing break from the adolescent drama so common to the more recent Newberry winners. I really enjoyed the characters particularly the elderly poeple that the children came to know and love. This was a beautiful, unassuming story that I enjoyed very muc More...

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Nov 27, 2011

Daniel rated it:

I remember reading this in elementary school as part of a class project. I took it home and read the entire thing in one evening as I was too impatient to wait for our next class period and the slow, group reading was really, really hard for me to tolerate. I read it again that summer and have a couple of times since. I've forgotten about it until it showed up on my "list" and must go to my library and find it. I find it a wonder how some books can affect this sort of impact on your li

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Nov 08, 2010

Jan rated it:

Sweet book about a community in the Netherlands that works together, under the intense encouragement of it's six school children, to bring storks to Shora. The characters, both children and adults, are well drawn and easy to relate to. The project cannot be completed by the children alone, and the adults give their help--first grudgingly, then enthusiastically, and it seems that everyone gains in the process. This book stands out for not having any real villains.

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Jul 26, 2011

Bonnie rated it:

My not-so-evil twin Trish recommended this Newbery Medal winner, which honestly, I'd never heard of, much less read. I really liked it a lot and would add my recommendation. It's the story of a small group of Dutch schoolchildren who work together and with the people of their small fishing village to try to entice storks back to the village to bring them good luck. Very charming and I loved seeing how the children interacted with the adults.

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Sep 23, 2011

Isabelle rated it:

I thought this was the worst book i ever read. I understand why people would like it, the books plot was unique and its setting was well thought out but i did not like the way in which it was written. It wasn't written in a way that i though attracted the readers attention. The author went into to many details when it was unnecessary. The amount of details made it hard to get through. I didn't like this book but i am sure others could enjoy it.

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Aug 29, 2010

Brooke rated it:

This book has a special place in my heart, as it was one of the very first "big" books I ever read on my own, at age 8.
On re-reading it recently, I still love the characters, the story, the setting (Holland), and, of course, the storks.
And Lina has to be one of my favorite book heroines, even now, after meeting Jo March, Anne Shirley, Lucy Pevensie, Lucy Snowe, and even Elizabeth Bennet!
A simply lovely book, with a unique plot!

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Mar 05, 2010

Chrissie rated it:

Gundula and Katri got me thinking of children's books that I read in Swedish. I adored this. I read it in Swedish while I was leaning the language. Actually it is a Dutch author. The book was a envelope sized yellow hardcover with an oval picture on the front. The cover got destroyed, but I still have the book pages. I THOUGHT I would read it to the kids when they got older, but I don't think I ever did. I loved that book.

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Feb 20, 2009

Joy rated it:

This book basically about 6 kids in a school in Norway that become eager to make a way for storks to settle in their town of Shora. They go through many "shananigans", up and down, to find a way for this to happen. The premise of the book doesn't sound interesting, but it ends up being a very interesting read. And it spreads a message of the value of thinking outside the box and determination.

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Nov 10, 2010

Justina rated it:

Very cute little book about an idea that a little school age child has. She comes to school and wonders why there are no storks in her town and her teacher tells them to go home and wonder about it. The teacher tells them that when you wonder about things that things start to happen. This book is about what happened in the little Holland town as the whole town starts to wonder.

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Apr 12, 2010

Cheryl rated it:

I thought that this book had an amazing theme...going after the "impossible" things of life and making them possible! I feel that The Wheel on the School is such an important book for young people to read, incorporating the philosophy into their lives! Another important theme is that of prejudices and making decisions about people and their capabilities before you really know them. The children of Shora bring together the entire village as they dare to dream the impossible and set o More...

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Oct 18, 2008

Cheryl rated it:

While I typically recommend most Learning Language Art Through Literature books, I hesitate to give this one my wholehearted endorsement. In most cases, my children devour the LLATL books and love every minute of it. This book was met with an attitude of drudgery and took much longer to finish than it should have and with less comprehension.

It does have a delightful message and a wholesomeness that merits attention in the present state of childrens' literature.

A class dis More...

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Oct 20, 2009

Janis rated it:

In this 1955 charmer, six schoolchildren set out to bring nesting storks back to their Dutch fishing village -- eventually the whole village participates in the effort. The story definitely needs some tightening up, but in spite of occasional dragging, it's a lovely tale with wonderful characters, a great message and sweet illustrations by Maurice Sendak.

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Jul 15, 2009

Jason rated it:

I liked this book so much that I reread it when I was in grade school and middle school. The only other books I reread during this time period were Charlotte's Web and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Anyway, Wheel on the School should still be read as it has a good message about animals and the environment. This book is definitely "green." Ha.

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Jul 17, 2010

Maria rated it:

A children’s book, probably a little old for Ron just because it’s pretty long. Delightful story of a small fishing village in Holland. The six children in the school decide to try to bring storks back to their village. Their adventure brings the whole village together. It was sweet and exciting at once. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Oct 15, 2011

Tracey rated it:

I read this to my son when he was in 1st grade. It was kind of slow reading for me, but a really enjoyable story about how the kids in a tiny school pulled together to do what it took, through many obstacles and adversity, to help bring the storks back to their village. Found it through a konos curriculum recommended reading list.

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Jun 17, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Great story. I really love the simplicity of it and how the children all work together to accomplish their goal of having a stork's nest on the roof of the school. It's great how the adults get excited and help out too. This book is about a time and place that I don't normally read much about, and I liked learning something new.

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