The Enchanted Schoolhouse

by Ruth Sawyer, Hugh Troy (Illustrator)

A new fantasy by Ruth Sawyer has an Irish matrix as it reveals how small, timid Brian Boru took a small part of American by storm. Reading in Donegal of what a grand and impressive country the U.S.A. is, scholarly Brian is apprehensive when he goes to live with an uncle in Lobster Cove, Maine. But just as he is most desperately wondering how to stand up for Ireland in a new land, the loan of a fairy who lives in a teapot, comes to his aid. In Lobster Cove, the schoolhouse is in bad shape and the taxpayers are in a bad humor. But Brian and his fairy do a pied piper act, with trimmings, to make the grownups realize that a better school should be built. Readable. - Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 1956

About the author

Ruth Sawyer was an American storyteller and a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. She may be best known as the author of Roller Skates, which won the 1937 Newbery Medal.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda odd story, but a fun read-aloud (especially trying to read in an Irish accent).

[Cheryl]

Reading because I have always loved Roller Skates and Sawyer's other works are hard to find. So far I'm loving the Irish 'lilt' or 'cadence' in the writing... and not just in the dialogue either.
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Not sure how to rate. Young me might have loved and reread it, and studied the illustrations... or even adult me might have. I think I'm probably just not in the right mood for it, somehow. You can find out for yourself by reading the scanned, free-to-borrow copy on openlibrary.org.

"The older and more human folks grow, the more they blather." So says the fairyman, and so I agree.

[Jeannette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather charming but far fetched story of an Irish lad who captures a fairyman in Ireland to take with him to impress people in America. The boy finds everything in America to be wondrous and amazing except for his schoolhouse which is old and needing much repair. So the story of the Pied Piper inspires him and his fairyman to come up with a plan to convince the town to build a new schoolhouse.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is most definitely from the period right after World War II, and it exhibits many of the characteristics of literature for young readers that was published around that time.
The narrative is energetic and amusing, and the reader will sympathize with the likable Irish protagonist Brian Boru Gallagher as he embarks on his journey to America, for the first time, along with the magic Irish Fairyman that he had captured to show the Americans that their country is not the only place in which amazing things can be found.
Readers from today probably should not expect this story to be something that would likely be published now. Instead, I would submit that the best way to read it is to understand the audience for which it was written (children who not long before had been subjected to the realities of a huge war that killed very many family members), and to laugh and have fun with the story. It is a fun book, and contains much that can be appreciated.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original and sweet fairy tale set in 1950s Ireland and America by Sawyer with lovely art by Troy. Troy's artwork reminds me of and is every bit as good as his contemporaries ~ Garth Williams (1912-1996) & Robert McCloskey (1914-2003).

Ruth Sawyer Durand (Author. USA, 1880-1970)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Sawyer

Hugh Charles Troy, Jr. (Illustrator. USA 1906 - 1964)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Troy

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was a kid.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C. children's fiction, fantasy, legends, Ireland, America, fairies, mom's stash, discard