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Call it Courage

Genre: Fiction

Title: Call it Courage

Author/Illustrator: Armstong Sperry

Awards: Newbery Medal

Age Range: 9-12 Years Old


Summary: Mafatu is a young boy who lives on the island of Hikueru. Mafatu's father is the chief of the island, which highly values courage. However, Mafatu was not courageous like the other boys on the island because he was deathly afraid of the sea. Rather than going sailing and hunting for fish, Mafatu would stay on the island making spears and nets for the men to use. The young boys made fun of Mafatu by calling him a coward, which hurt his feelings and causes him to venture out onto the sea. Unfortunately, Mafatu got caught in a terrible storm which causes his sail to be torn and him to lose his paddle. He had to way to steer the boat, so Mafatu was just being carried by the waves of the ocean. Eventually, he spotted land, which was a deserted island or so hoped for he did not want to encounter the eaters-of-men. All the time he spent on the island, he was trying to survive and build another boat that could take him home. Many days he spent on that island facing his fears by fighting octopuses, sharks, but most importantly the ocean. Once his boat was finished, Mafatu was ready to set sail for home, but it was the night before that he heard the eaters-of-men approach the island. At that moment, he climbed up the plateau to see what was going on, then ran down to his boat and set sail. The eaters-of-men saw him and chased after Mafatu, but he managed to escape. Mafatu sailed the sea for a few days and started to lose hope of ever finding home. Until one unexpected day, he came across a familiar lagoon that he realized that he was home! At the beach, a crowd came to see the boat that was sailing ashore, and when Mafatu stepped onto the beach they were all shocked. Mafatu did not look as he did before, for now, he now had courage and his father welcomed him with open arms. 


Evaluation: I really enjoyed this book! I would rank it as my second favorite book that I have read this semester. The plot and theme of the story were all amazing. I would definitely want to use this book in my classroom if I were to teach upper elementary. The book would be best for students in the fourth through 6th grade. I would use this book as one to be read for English Language Arts. I would have us read parts as a class and assign some pages for homework. There would be questions to be answered and discussed after each reading, which would be done either in small groups or as a class. There are two purposes I could use the book. The first would be using the book to teach plot analysis and the second would be to teach character analysis. I think this book would be able to help students easily learn those things as well as identify them in the story because it is so well written. 

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