Books with author MARY MAPES DODGE

The prize for winning the canal race is a pair of silver skates, but how can Hans or his sister, Gretel, hope to win skating with their handmade wooden skates? Since falling from a dike and hitting his head Hans' father has been unable to work, forcing Hans, Gretel, and their mother to find ways to pay the bills. With barely enough to go around there isn't much left over for fancy skates, but when Hans saves up enough for his own pair and a chance to race he decides that there is something even more important.Continuously in print since it was published in 1865 this edition of Hans Brinker features 65 illustrations and the complete unabridged text of this lovely story.

Mary Mapes Dodge (1831-1905) was an American children's writer and editor best known for her novel Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (1865). She took up writing and editing in 1859 having been left a widow with two young children, initially working with her father on two magazines. Following the success of a collection of stories a novel was solicited, resulting in Hans Brinker which was an instant bestseller. Later in life she was an associate editor of Hearth and Home, edited by Harriet Beecher Stowe, then became an editor in her own right with St Nicholas Magazine, one of the most successful children's magazines of the second half of the 19th century. This novel was first published in 1883.

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (full title: Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland) is a novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands and is a colorful fictional portrait of early 19th-century Dutch life, as well as a tale of youthful honor.The book's title refers to the beautiful silver skates to be awarded to the winner of the ice-skating race Hans Brinker hopes to enter. The novel introduced the sport of Dutch speed skating to Americans, and in U.S. media Hans Brinker is still considered the prototypical speed skater.The book is also notable for popularizing the story of the little Dutch boy who plugs a dike with his finger.

On a bright December morning long ago, two thinly clad children were kneeling upon the bank of a frozen canal in Holland. The sun had not yet appeared, but the gray sky was parted near the horizon, and its edges shone crimson with the coming day. Most of the good Hollanders were enjoying a placid morning nap. Even Mynheer von Stoppelnoze, that worthy old Dutchman, was still slumbering “in beautiful repose”. Now and then some peasant woman, poising a well-filled basket upon her head, came skimming over the glassy surface of the canal; or a lusty boy, skating to his day’s work in the town, cast a good-natured grimace toward the shivering pair as he flew along. Meanwhile, with many a vigorous puff and pull, the brother and sister, for such they were, seemed to be fastening something to their feet—not skates, certainly, but clumsy pieces of wood narrowed and smoothed at their lower edge, and pierced with holes, through which were threaded strings of rawhide. These queer-looking affairs had been made by the boy Hans. His mother was a poor peasant woman, too poor even to think of such a thing as buying skates for her little ones. Rough as these were, they had afforded the children many a happy hour upon the ice. And now, as with cold, red fingers our young Hollanders tugged at the strings—their solemn faces bending closely over their knees—no vision of impossible iron runners came to dull the satisfaction glowing within. In a moment the boy arose and, with a pompous swing of the arms and a careless “Come on, Gretel,” glided easily across the canal. “Ah, Hans,” called his sister plaintively, “this foot is not well yet. The strings hurt me on last market day, and now I cannot bear them tied in the same place.” “Tie them higher up, then,” answered Hans, as without looking at her he performed a wonderful cat’s cradle step on the ice. “How can I? The string is too short.” Giving vent to a good-natured Dutch whistle, the English of which was that girls were troublesome creatures, he steered toward her. “You are foolish to wear such shoes, Gretel, when you have a stout leather pair. Your klompen would be better than these.” “Why, Hans! Do you forget? The father threw my beautiful new shoes in the fire. Before I knew what he had done, they were all curled up in the midst o the burning peat. I can skate with these, but not with my wooden ones. Be careful now—” Hans had taken a string from his pocket. Humming a tune as he knelt beside her, he proceeded to fasten Gretel’s skate with all the force of his strong young arm. “Oh! oh!” she cried in real pain. With an impatient jerk Hans unwound the string. He would have cast it on the ground in true big-brother style, had he not just then spied a tear trickling down his sister’s cheek. “I’ll fix it—never fear,” he said with sudden tenderness, “but we must be quick. The mother will need us soon.” Then he glanced inquiringly about him, first at the ground, next at some bare willow branches above his head, and finally at the sky, now gorgeous with streaks of blue, crimson, and gold. Finding nothing in any of these localities to meet his need, his eye suddenly brightened as, with the air of a fellow who knew what he was about, he took off his cap and, removing the tattered lining, adjusted it in a smooth pad over the top of Gretel’s worn-out shoe. “Now,” he cried triumphantly, at the same time arranging the strings as briskly as his benumbed fingers would allow, “can you bear some pulling?” Gretel drew up her lips as if to say, “Hurt away,” but made no further response.

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