0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
It has marvelous possibilities...., 2008-09-01
I had my kids read this when we studied the fall of Rome. For fun, we also watched the Disney movie "Mulan" in which the Huns are wonderfully big and dark and evil. Simultaneously, we were reading "real" history texts linking the building of the Great Wall of China, with movement of the Huns west, with the Huns pressuring the Teutonic tribes outside the Roman empire into the Roman empire... We were making interesting historical speculations. I like what another reviewer said about comparing it with The Trumpeter of Krakow. I do history chronologically and I would put Trumpeter a bit later in my medieval studies, but it's a superb comparison of POVs to make again and again for middle schoolers.
There is a theory that the Huns developed the stirrup which was necessary for knights to be able to fight in heavy armor on horseback--here come the middle ages.
I won't use this book with older kids because there is just more important literature out there to read, but I am glad I used it once.
12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
The White Stag, 2005-01-20
This is a story that a tribe called the Huns and Magyars. They have to leave the location they are at now because they are running out of food. They are going to the promised land so they can have food and game to hunt. They would find the white stag and they would chase him but then he would just dissapear into thin air. That is the story of The White Stag.
49 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
Tonight the part of Moses will be played by Attila the Hun, 2004-01-30
You know what's wrong with most Newbery Award winning books? They're just so darn pro-peace. Didn't used to be that way. Why take the fascinating novel, "The White Stag" as an example. An amazing story that decides that Attila the Hun has gotten a bad rap. In this book, he's still a psychopath, but he's a psychopath with a mission. If you find yourself unfamiliar with this literary work, allow me summarize the major points found within.To find their promised land, the Huns go on a years long rampage of pillaging and murder in the hopes of finding their own place to live. It's like the Old Testament but without any of the good moral lessons. For its 1937 publication, the book is remarkably pro-genocide. As it briefly explains, the Huns find themselves in a kill or be killed mentality. People who see them coming fight them instinctively so that the poor Huns are forced to become blood-thirsty. They search day in and out for their own place to live, guided by their vengeful god Hadur. In this light, Attila is the Moses that finally leads his people to a land flowing with milk and honey. Whatta swell guy.
You may have picked up on the fact that I'm being sarcastic. But how can I help it? Just note the fate of pacifism. When Bendeguz, father of Attila, decides that maybe the Huns should settle down in a rather nice land they've come to own and not go about slaughtering the innocent, he is berated soundly by the blind seer Damos. Those who fight others without provocation are holy. And those who would rather not go around killing, "will be punished for their weakness... Long after the Huns have found the promised land, they will be still homeless wanderers in the wilderness". Um... okay.
There are things to like in this book, of course. The prose itself is evocative and lovely. If judged on the placement of words alone, this book deserves the Newbery. And Kate Seredy's illustrations are impressive, there is no question. They're a series of beautiful 30s illustrations, akin to the kinds of graphics you'd normally find in a Socialist rag. If you can possibly locate a copy of this book with the original illustrations, you will not regret it. It's just the moral of the story I have difficulties with. It's supposed to be: Have faith in yourself and your beliefs and in the end all will turn out well. Instead it comes off as: Kill lots of people because you're certain your god is the best, and all will turn out well. Lots of other people will disagree with me. But regardless if you're a hawk or a dove at heart, this book comes off as little more than a beautiful immoral tale.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
From a child's perspective (spoilers...), 2003-12-13
The beautiful story arc pits the Magor tribe against the followers of a man we come to know Atilla the Hun. This book had me on the edge of my seat as a child, and has a great ending!
Late, late in this book, Seredy uses the word "Hun," at which point (as a child of 9), I figured out that Hunor and Magor were the founders of *actual* tribes, including Atilla's Huns. Up 'til then, I'd assumed it was pure fiction created by Seredy. Her subtle approach has always impressed me about this book.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
A Proud Legend of the Hungarian People, 2003-05-04
This book is a classic in my family, who are of mixed Hungarian and Scotch-Irish descent. While it is far from accurate history, it is a beautiful legend of the origins of that curious non-Slavic race called the Magyars. Seredy's grasp of myth is readily apparent; her prose is simple enough for an eight- or nine-year-old to understand but she never talks down to the reader, since she uses the universal, spare language of the epic poet. This book was richly deserving of the Newbery Medal and remains a must-read for young adults (and old adults) today.