Books with author Mary Mapes Dodge

Originally published in 1865, this classic has been adopted into the canon of children's literature. In the tale, young protagonist Hans Brinker wants more than anything to win a local speed-skating race -- and to get his hands on the beautiful silver skates awarded to the winner. Faced with a series of tragedies and tribulations, Hans makes sacrifices for the benefit of those around him and inspires others to virtue in the process. A must-read for fans of Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Anderson stories, and O. Henry's short fiction. It is a pleasure to publish this new, high quality, and affordable edition of this timeless story.

"Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates" is a novel by the American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands, and is a colourful fictional portrait of early nineteenth-century Dutch life, as well as a tale of youthful honor. The title of the book 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 speed skating to Americans.The book is also notable for popularising the story of the little Dutch boy who plugs a dike with his finger. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

In this classic winter tale, set against a backdrop of frozen canals in a land of windmills and wooden shoes, the year’s most thrilling event is about to take place — the race to win the coveted Silver Skates.For youngsters of the Dutch village, the time is especially exciting. But Hans and Gretel Brinker, with their hand-carved wooden blades, can hardly expect to compete against their well-trained young friends who own costly steel skates. Raff Brinker, their father, is seriously ill, and the desperately poor family is struggling to survive. To win the race, the siblings will need a miracle — and a helping hand.First published in 1865, Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates was greeted with instant popular acclaim. The heartwarming tale continues to delight countless readers today with its messages of virtue rewarded and the importance of maintaining courage in the pursuit of one’s dreams.

- With over 100 illustrations.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 nineteenth-century Dutch life, as well as a tale of youthful honor.The title of the book refers to the beautiful silver skates to be awarded to 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.A small fictional story within the novel has become well known in its own right in American popular culture. The story, read aloud in a schoolroom in England, is about a Dutch boy who saves his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike. The boy stays there all night, in spite of the cold, until the adults of the village find him and make the necessary repairs.

A Dutch brother and sister work toward two goals--finding the doctor who can restore their father's memory and winning the competition for the silver skates. For more than a century Mary Mapes Dodge's delightful children's story has been read and reread, holding its place as a genuine American classic. "A charming domestic story, which is address, indeed, to young people, but which may be read with pleasure and profit by their elders....Mrs. Dodge's humor is delightful." -Atlantic Monthly "Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge...was in a very true and intimate sense a friend of many thousands of children. More than the grown person, the child is instinctively aware of real sympathy and friendliness; and it was because these were at the heart of everything that Mrs. Dodge wrote, and of all her work as an editor, that she was so beloved by her young readers. In all she did thoroughness was a notable element, and it was for this reason that, from her very first attempt, Mrs. Dodge had complete success. Thus, her most famous tale,' 'Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates,' was not only a charming story of child life, but a perfect and exact picture of Holland and its people. It is said that in writing 'Hans Brinker' Mrs. Dodge had every chapter read critically by two Dutch friends, and that before beginning the work she made an exhaustive study in libraries and literature of everything that could help her to make the picture correct. This book has been translated into many languages, and has been especially popular in Holland itself. It maintains its place with the child readers of today, despite the lapse of years." -New Outlook "Abounding in descriptions of life rarely touched by novelists, and animated by an excellent spirit." -Boston Evening Transcript "The authoress has shown in her former works for the young a very rare ability to meet their wants, but she has produced nothing better than this charming tale, alive with incident and action, adorned rather than freighted with useful facts, and moral without moralization." -The Nation "The characters are pictured with almost photographic distinctness and power." -New York Christian Inquirer "One of the best works of the kind the young folks were ever permitted to lay hands upon." -New York Evening Express "A very charming story." -New York Evening Post "A pleasant story, wrought out in all its details with the minuteness of a Dutch painting, of life in Holland in the olden time." -Harper's Monthly "There have been few pleasanter books than Mrs. Dodge's." -Philadelphia Evening Gazette "Deserves a place on the library shelves and in the hearts of the children of the present day." -New York Evening Post

From glistening ice roads to frozen canals, in a wonderland where even the richest nobles thrill to the gliding joys of winter, everyone is awaiting the fabulous race to win the magnificent Silver Skates --Except Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel. For the Brinkers are desperately poor, friendless; with a father felled by a crippling head wound, Mother and the children must battle simply to survive. And while Hans and Gretel are strong, fast, disciplined, and loyal...on hand-crafted wooden skates, they can't complete against trained rich kids with fine steel blades...But sometimes...sometimes...good people are given a chance. Sometimes strangers do care. And sometimes a family's love and loyalty can struggle against even the cruelest twists of fate...Sometimes...

First published in 1865, Mary Mapes Dodge’s “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates” is an endearing children’s story about a hard-working, honorable Dutch boy and the challenges he faces as a result of his family’s poverty. Hans dreams of entering a big ice-skating race with his sister Gretel so that he may win the beautiful silver skates he desires. Yet, he is also very concerned for his father, who has been injured from a fall off of a dike and in need of surgery. When Hans learns of an expensive doctor who may be able to treat his father, he offers his money, saved for the race skates he would need to win the competition, to the doctor for the surgery. This heartwarming tale with its surprising ending was an instant commercial success and has remained in print ever since its publication. Dodge’s story, full of authentic detail of Dutch life in the early nineteenth century, has provided readers with a charming tale of youthful honor that has stood the test of time.