The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes
Contents:
Nov 21, Blake Spraggins rated it really liked it.
Absolutely inappropriate for children. Feb 20, Jennifer rated it it was ok Shelves: Back later for review. I've read all of the Medal and Honor books for the Newbery Award and this is the book that I think should have won that year because of its use as a teaching tool I wasn't overly impressed with any of the books for Of course, that means this book will appeal more to parents and teachers than the children, ha. On the surface, this book appears to be a pirate adventure story for children but, plunge deeper, and the horrors of the African slave-trade make themselves known.
Hardback Editions
This book wa I've read all of the Medal and Honor books for the Newbery Award and this is the book that I think should have won that year because of its use as a teaching tool I wasn't overly impressed with any of the books for This book was written at a time when pirate tales were popular among young boys.
Those romanticized stories revolve around stolen gold without going into too much detail about where that gold came from or how it was claimed. This book takes those pirate tales one step further, showing children how those treasure hordes were often linked to the trade in human flesh. Is this book PC? Absolutely not, but the language preserves a time when these attitudes were socially-acceptable while also illustrating the human slave trade.
This book can be used as a stepping stone for teaching children about the history of racism.
The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes
I recommend using this book in conjunction with nonfiction historical accounts of the slavery-bans on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to help show kids how the world used to be and to help them understand why some people have given so much to change it from the British Slavery Abolition Act of to the American Civil War to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and on into the present day. I wish the story had more action, particularly for the main character Joe Woods.
He stands around, watching, for most of the book. Hawes also lapsed into telling instead of showing, which can frustrate any reader at any age. Those depictions could have been interesting and helped with the romanticism of the age. The language is sometimes archaic; the dictionary capabilities of eReaders can help with the vocabulary. And the book is free; free copies can be found at both Amazon and Project Gutenberg. Apr 12, Linds rated it liked it. This book has a lot of intrigue and a sense of adventure.
However… this issue here is the hovering sense of racism.
Africans attack and kill and provide a s This book has a lot of intrigue and a sense of adventure. The attacks were written well adventure! There were indeed internal villains in the group, and that was much more satisfying. Overall, I enjoyed it.
Apr 23, Monica Fastenau rated it liked it Shelves: Read more on my blog: On one hand, the story is great. Joe, the main character, is a young man who finds himself swept up in an adventure with some unsavory characters and a couple of good friends on his side. They go through battles, shipwrecks, illness, and many other trials, all in search of treasure that may or may not materialize. On the other hand… This book is pretty old, and, I have to say—i Read more on my blog: Although the main character and his friends abhor slavery and are horrified that the aforementioned unsavory characters are slavers, there are plenty of patronizing views of black people, especially the Africans they fight against when they land on the coast of Africa.
Feb 12, Mckinley rated it did not like it Shelves: Young men may long for adventure. And they may experience more than they bargain for. This book classically describes such a case. There are many books for young adults that do this well. Unfortunately, I think this book is not one for current reading. It is dated and contains attitudes about racism that we no longer tolerate. It's one thing to show those attitudes in their historical perspective and quite another to mindlessly include them as a matter of course.
Aside - there are basically no f Young men may long for adventure. Aside - there are basically no females in the story. I read because it was a Newbery honor book. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the effort to track this one down.
Aug 13, Thomas Bell rated it liked it Shelves: Not as good as The Dark Frigate by the same author. I kept feeling like there was supposed to be suspense and excitement - like it was meant to be there but never came. Yes, there were battles and guns and stuff, but it wasn't really exciting. My favorite character was actually the African witch doctor who kept calling out at them. The 'Love Story' was also quite lame and not developed enough for the kind of ending the book had.
Still, it was an interesting read, so a good 3 stars it is. Jan 20, Donna rated it really liked it Shelves: Very good adventure story. I enjoyed it a lot more than Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or any of the other classic adventure stories even though the language is a of the old style of literature and somewhat cumbersome.
It seemed that the action, conflicts, dangers, and hardships were non stop. May 18, Christina Potter Bieloh rated it really liked it. This Newberry Honor book is great adventure from beginning to end. Unfortunately adventure from beginning to end is not my favorite type of book to read, but I liked the characters and the story.
It's a great book to read at least I think so to get a feel for what it might have been like to travel to Africa and encounter Africans during the time of the slave trade. This was a Newbery Honor Book the very first year, in It was slow to start and the narrator was painfully slow to figure things out, but I'm glad I finished.
The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes
I preferred the author's other Newbery winner, The Dark Frigate, which won a few years later. Sep 12, Mark rated it liked it. Well written even if vocabulary and attitude toward race are not p. Good adventure and good criticism of the slave trade, written at the turn of the th century. Feb 28, Susan rated it it was ok Shelves: I picked up the Great Quest because it was a Newbery Honor book from It took a long time to get into it, and the plot was a little thin, but once the adventure got started it did keep me reading to the end.
May 13, Jason Brinkerhoff rated it did not like it Shelves: I got close enough to finishing this to know I didn't need to actually finish it. I could not get past the racism. At some point I tried to convince myself it was anthropologically interesting, a window into a different time. Oct 17, Diane rated it liked it Recommends it for: While in Africa, they rescue from danger a white missionary's daughter, who is accompanied by a native African slave or servant his status is unclear belonging to the Fantee nation.
Both of these accompany them back to Massachusetts via South America. The Great Quest , received a special runner-up citation from the Newbery committee in , the first year the Newbery was awarded. Hendrik van Loon's book The Story of Mankind won the award with votes out of the cast.
The Great Quest came in second with twenty-two votes. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Newbery Companion 2nd ed.
The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books. The John Newbery Medal. Retrieved 21 July Retrieved from " https: