Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
49th out of 90 books
—
1,580 voters
Call It Courage
Maftu was afraid of the sea. 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. 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. When he coul...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
April 30th 1990
by Aladdin
(first published 1940)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
A delightful adventure, and a most deserving winner of the Newbery Award. Ten-year-old Mafatu, a boy from a Polynesian Island tribe, doesn’t seem to measure up to the standards set for being a “man” in his tribe. Most troublesome at all is his fear of the water. How can he grow up to be a powerful, confident, courageous chief if he is afraid to paddle out to sea and go fishing with the other boys? A wonderful tale of overcoming challenges and reaching through barriers to achieve your goals. Ever...more
Jun 26, 2009
Shanna Gonzalez
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-08-12
Mafatu, the ten-year-old son of a Polynesian chieftan, has always feared the sea because in his toddlerhood he and his mother were swept away by a storm in which his mother lost her life. As he approaches the edge of manhood, his fear prevents him from winning a place in his community. Realizing their indifference to him, he sets out to sea alone in his canoe, taking only his dog and a few tools. That night he is caught in a storm, in which he loses his paddle and all his tools, and he washes up...more
– I give this book to all my nephews, my friend’s kids, and of course to my son as soon as I think they are ready for it. It was the book that created my love of reading.
It is a Polynesian fable told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy trying to overcome his fears and win the respect of his family and tribe. Mafatu, due to the loss of his mother, is afraid of the sea. He sits on the shore making and mending fishing nets while the other boys go out fishing to feed their families. Determi...more
It is a Polynesian fable told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy trying to overcome his fears and win the respect of his family and tribe. Mafatu, due to the loss of his mother, is afraid of the sea. He sits on the shore making and mending fishing nets while the other boys go out fishing to feed their families. Determi...more
I read this while reading middle-grade Newberry honor books for my student, and while this may have been good in the 1940s when it was published, the book definitely shows its age to modern readers. The entire book falls prey its the noble-savage action-adventure boys' serial tone, and Mafatu's struggle to gain courage does little to redeem it, as the struggle is quite easily overcome. There are also some parts where it became more difficult for me to suspend my disbelief (view spoiler)...more
2 likes · like · see review
I haven't read Call It Courage, a juvenile Newbery Medal winner, in many a moon. A friend had returned it to the library and she left a note about how much she had enjoyed reading it as a child. So to refresh my memory - I reread it myself. This particular copy included the preserved original, beautiful blue and white illustrations.
Mafatu, 15 year old son of a Polynesian island chief, has had great loss in his life. His mother died when he was only three. Both had been at sea in their small cano...more
Mafatu, 15 year old son of a Polynesian island chief, has had great loss in his life. His mother died when he was only three. Both had been at sea in their small cano...more
I had read this title a few years ago & refreshed it in my mind with the book on CD. It is an effective fable, set in a mythical Polynesia with the 10-year-old Mafatu at its center. The elevated language and the brief simplicity of this moral tale makes for an inspiring, old-fashioned good read for a variety of readers. Any reader might enjoy the excitement of this coming-of-age adventure wherein the young protagonist, frightened of the sea since it took his mother years ago, braves the elem...more
"Call It Courage" was written several decades ago and to me is very primal because of the simplistic narrative it employs. I have read complaints from readers that it was simpleminded and that nothing happened between the beginning and the end. Obviously, I am generalizing what others have said.
As feebleminded as it may sound, the language is appropriate because it is near to the true voice of the character of Mafatu. However, I'm sure he wouldn't be speaking English, but that's beside the point...more
As feebleminded as it may sound, the language is appropriate because it is near to the true voice of the character of Mafatu. However, I'm sure he wouldn't be speaking English, but that's beside the point...more
Dec 08, 2011
Connor
added it
The genre of the book is fiction.
Setting is the element because he doesn't stay at the same island, he goes to a foreign island and takes a spear, kills a boar,goes underwater to kill a shark and bring it back to his home island. All to prove he has courage.
i was not interested in this book because it was slow i never understood it,he had to go to many different places in order to murder creatures that could kill the boy, Mafatu to bring back to the island dead to prove to people that he is not...more
Setting is the element because he doesn't stay at the same island, he goes to a foreign island and takes a spear, kills a boar,goes underwater to kill a shark and bring it back to his home island. All to prove he has courage.
i was not interested in this book because it was slow i never understood it,he had to go to many different places in order to murder creatures that could kill the boy, Mafatu to bring back to the island dead to prove to people that he is not...more
This Newbery winner tells of the trials of Mafatu, a fifteen-year-old Polynesian boy, the son of a chief. Due to a tragedy that took his mother when he was a baby, Mafatu has a great distrust of the sea, so one day he takes a small boat and, accompanied by his dog, forces himself to face his fears. After a storm, he washes up on an island of cannibals. While building a shelter and another boat, he also faces predators and then the return of the cannibals.
This slim story is, unfortunately, rather...more
This slim story is, unfortunately, rather...more
Jul 25, 2011
Jeannie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-we-own,
children-s-literature
My 13 year-old son brought this book to me two days ago and said that it is one of his all time favorites. So I put it next to the computer to read when I finish "Toward the Gleam." He mentioned it again yesterday, so last night I took it with me to read at bedtime. He saw that I had it on my bedtime stack and picked it up and began telling me again how much he enjoyed this book. You could see the story play across his face as he held it almost reverently. So I put my novel away, and took the ti...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The best thing about this book (or at least tied for the best thing), in my view, is the breathtakingly expressive imagery that Armstrong Sperry SO creatively paints with throughout the story. It is like a literary fireworks show from beginning to end, as Armstrong Sperry takes the reader through the narrative and includes an awesome display of vocabulary and glittering superlative, to boot. His extraordinary use of language does for me the same thing that Holling C. Holling's illustrations acc...more
This is my review of call it courage. I thought that the genre action. The reason why is that mafatu had to kill a lot of things. He had to kill an octopus, boar, shark, he even almost drowned when he was years old! That's why I think the genre is action. My summary of this book would be, "A boy in that's in a native american tribe has almost drowned when he was five years old but his mother did not make it but he's back to prove that he's strong and that he's got courage. I would say that the c...more
I remember absolutely LOVING this book as a kid - the adventure and the suspense of Mafatu's plight. The book did not hold up to my memories of it. I found Sperry's descriptions rather flat and unengaging this time round, and found it difficult to keep up with the rapid changes in Mafatu's courage.
Another thing that bothered me about the book was that the two main conflicts were at the beginning and the end (the storm, and the arrival of the eaters-of-men). Both can be argued as conflicts as re...more
Another thing that bothered me about the book was that the two main conflicts were at the beginning and the end (the storm, and the arrival of the eaters-of-men). Both can be argued as conflicts as re...more
Main Characters: Mafatu, Uri, and Kivi
Setting: Pacific Islands
POV: narrator
Summary:
Mafatu, the main character, is a young Polynesian boy who suffered the death of his mother very early in his life. Mafatu fears the sea due to his mothers death but throughout the book, Mafatu tries to overcome the tragedy and conquer his fear. He takes fate into his hands and decides to go out into the sea in search of courage and bravery that will ultimately help him become a warrior and in order to gain the res...more
Setting: Pacific Islands
POV: narrator
Summary:
Mafatu, the main character, is a young Polynesian boy who suffered the death of his mother very early in his life. Mafatu fears the sea due to his mothers death but throughout the book, Mafatu tries to overcome the tragedy and conquer his fear. He takes fate into his hands and decides to go out into the sea in search of courage and bravery that will ultimately help him become a warrior and in order to gain the res...more
I loved Call It Courage because these are the kind of books that I like. It did not have a lot of drama and it had good amounts of intense action (if you could call it that). I also have read other books that one of the main characters has to somehow survive. This book kept me involved and did not ever leave me bored. If you do not like stories that take a long time to build up and get to the big suspense then this book is not for you.
This book was about a boy that was afraid of the sea. In the...more
This book was about a boy that was afraid of the sea. In the...more
Aug 12, 2012
Judy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Judy by:
YLTO Monthly Reads
This children's classic does a wonderful job of portraying Polynesian island culture. I was disappointed in the illustrations since they are only blue and white and not the beautiful flamboyant colors of island life. The book itself took a little effort on my part to finish because it seemed unrealistic to me that a young boy who was almost an outcast of society because of his fear of water could all of sudden do an about-face, travel to another island, weather a storm and take care of himself....more
2 likes · like · see review
This is the story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Mafatu, an islander, who is afraid of the sea. When he was very young he and his mother were caught out in a hurricane on the sea which took his mother's life and spared his. Ever since he is afraid of the sea and shames his father and is called a coward even by his best friend. So Mafatu goes out to prove himself one night just at the hurricane season is about to begin and goes to sea with his dog, Uri, and followed by an Albatross that he has b...more
I read this with my class. I loved it. It is about a boy whose mother dies when he is little and people insult him and call him a coward because he is afraid of the sea, which killed his mother. He can't stand hearing that anymore, so he leaves Hikueru and seeks out to prove his courage by himself. I think they can call that courage
This book is about a young boy named Mafatu that is the tribe joke. Living on an island means you know everybody. Although he is the Tribal Chief's son and his name means "Brave one", he is deathly afraid of the ocean because it took his mother's life long ago. If you are fearful in this tribe, that is he worst thing you could be. He is made fun of frequently. As he builds up enough frustration to leave the island, he almost dies attempting to survive in just a small sail-canoe. He continues his...more
A few weeks back Elliot brought Call It Courage (1941) by Armstrong Sperry home from school to read. From Wikipedia:
"Call It Courage is a coming of age story set in the Pacific Islands. It chronicles the journey of Mafatu, the son of the chief of Hikueru Island. Mafatu is afraid of the sea due to witnessing his mother drown as a young child, which makes him a shame to his father, and a coward among his tribe. One night Mafatu takes a dugout canoe and sets sail into the ocean without knowing wher...more
"Call It Courage is a coming of age story set in the Pacific Islands. It chronicles the journey of Mafatu, the son of the chief of Hikueru Island. Mafatu is afraid of the sea due to witnessing his mother drown as a young child, which makes him a shame to his father, and a coward among his tribe. One night Mafatu takes a dugout canoe and sets sail into the ocean without knowing wher...more
i was glad when this book was over ... sad. it had some good and interesting parts, but then there was a lot of dragging going on. then - suddenly something would happen. the book just wasn't laid out very well. i don't think any of my students will read this book, let alone enjoy it. i could be wrong though.
Call it recklessness. All of a sudden, during storm season, the boy finally decides he's had enough of being cowardly, and makes off with someone's boat and a half dozen drinking nuts and his fishing spear. Naturally he doesn't even tie anything down and loses all in a storm. Fortunately he lands on a fertile island and has enough talent to make a living there, but he still doesn't take care of the new knife he's made.
Well, if you can get past all that nonsense, and accept the mysticism, and don...more
Well, if you can get past all that nonsense, and accept the mysticism, and don...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is another story that I read and was shocked that I had not read before now. I read the book because some of my 5th grade students selected it as their Literature Circle choice. I think some looked at its low lexile level and assumed it would be an easy read. It was not. The vocabulary was challenging, but as a teacher, I felt the vocabulary was one of the components that made it such a captivating story. Mafatu's change from the beginning to the end was heartwarming. I found myself wishing...more
Meh. This is pretty much everything I dislike about what I thought of as "boy" books when I was a kid. It's like something that'd be published in BOY'S LIFE (the Boy Scout magazine). Definitely not better than THE LONG WINTER, which won an Honor that year.
A Newbery winner, this slim historical children's fiction was written in 1940. And while the story holds up, it is a bit racist by today's standards (featuring a young Polynesian islander on the look out for those black, savage man-eaters!). More novella than novel, this simple coming-of-age story does offer a young reader plenty to imagine. It's a contemplative read for the student who loves to dive into the setting of a story of survival (a la Robinson Crusoe). That being said, I feel it lacks...more
This is my favorite survival book, it's in the same vein as Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, but shorter and packed with interesting details of early Polynesian culture. Sperry is a real master of the simile, it's a great and quick read.
I was glad when this book was over sad , but true. it had some good and interesting parts, but then there was a lot of dragging going on. Then suddenly something would happen. the book just wasn't laid out very well.
This would make a great read for summer vacation or visiting the beach :). The beautiful illustrations sprinkled throughout the book helped me visualize the many adventures Mafatu experienced on his journey away from home. Sperry's descriptive language weaved a web of illusion and drew me into the struggles of a young boy who was convinced he must be a coward because he feared the sea. It's hard to overcome our fears, but not impossible. Mafatu's story is a prime example of the many rewards we,...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| book | 3 | 10 | Dec 26, 2012 10:40am |
Author and illustrator, he won the Newbery Award in 1941 for Call It Courage.
More about Armstrong Sperry...
Oct 13, 2012 08:32pm