Call It Courage

What a wonderful piece of children's literature!

I read this book in third grade (part of the recommended age group) and LOVED it. I read it again just a few days ago for my Children's Literature class in college. I did my book review on it. I forgot what a wonderful book this is. The description is wonderful and can make a person's imagination run wild! My nephew is seven, and I think I'm going to read it to him next time I watch him. He would love it too!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful Book

Armstrong Sperry did a wonderful on this 1941 Newberry Medal book, 'Call It Courage.' I believe this book is wonderful for kids of all ages. I love how the boy has a fear and realizes he has to conquer it on his own. A story like this will help any kid going through something see that it takes time, but someday they will be able to move on.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Boring

This book is so tedious and slow.I fell asleep reading it.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A well written story worth reading more than once.

Call It Courage is about a young boy who is expected to be brave because his father is a chief. But Mafatu is afraid of the sea and remembers, quite vividly, how it took his mother a long time ago. The story tells how Mafatu challenged and overcame his fears. It was not easy. But reading this story is easy and well worth reading again.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Very Good Book

It's a good book. 'Mafatu the boy who's afraid' hates being called that, so he and his friends Kivi, his albatross, and Uri, his dog leave. He keeps hearing Moana, the sea god who killed his mother say 'some day I will claim you'. As they find land they find an ugly idol. He then realizes that was where the 'Black Eaters Of Men' make sacrifices. Later he finds the skeleton of a whale and makes weapons. Then he stabbed a hammerhead and saves Uri. In the canoe he drops his knife and dives 40 feet to get it and meets a giant octopus and kills it. Then he kills a wild boar. Later he sees the 'Black Eaters Of Men'. They chase him in his canoe. He thinks Maui betrayed him. He escapes the 'Black Eaters Of Men'.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not Sure About This Book

This book was a little hard to understand but gets a little better as you read on. The story is centered on the idea of courage which is greatly relected in the plot of the story.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Critics

I think that this book for some people can be horrific, but for younger kids can be enjoyable. I read this book when I was 14 for a english class and disliked it terribly.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

This book is very good and very well written. It describes the life on the islands well, and it also describes the bonding of the boy and his animals during his quest to find courage. The only problem with reading it is that you can get tongue-tied sometimes with the pronounciation of the islands and language. Other than that, it is easy and enjoyable to read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hard for young kids to follow

My 9 year old son was assigned this book for a book report and struggled with it alot. He is a straight A student and recieved a C- on this report. The wording is very difficult for a 9 year old child.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read the book at school.The heros are Mafutu the cowedley boy,

I read the book at school.The heros are Mafutu the cowedley boy,Uri the brave dog and Kivi the loylal albatross.It was soooooooooooooo good.Read CALL IT COURAGE.

Good book

Good book.

Good book

Save
My
Soal

Good book but save me from my harsh punishments

This is real!!!!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended!

This chapter book illustrates a boy who has great fear but overcomes his trepidation while on a journey across the sea. "Call It Courage" by Armstrong Sperry takes readers on a voyage with the main character, Mafatu and his two friends, a dog named Uri, and an albatross named Kivi. Chapter one of this story lays the reasoning behind Mafatu's fear, the sea, which is ironic because he lives on an island. But because of a nautical tragedy Mafatu fears the sea greatly. The island's native tribe label Mafatu as a coward and his father, the Chief of the tribe, does not speak to Mafatu out of shame of this fear. At the end of chapter one, we see that Mafatu feels the need to prove he is not a coward and takes off in a canoe into the open ocean. Chapter two then leads us into the trying times that Mafatu has while battling the open ocean waters and its unforgiving squalls and hurricanes. Finally Mafatu and his dog, Uri, find themselves shipwrecked off the coast of an unknown island, which closes chapter two. "The Island" is the title of chapter three and describes a few more adventures that Mafatu experiences. Mafatu scouts the island for people and shelter and finds nothing, he then begins to understand that he is alone and can only depend on himself for survival. Mafatu scavenges food, builds shelter, treats his wounds, crafts a new canoe, makes a knife from shell and dares to touch a sacred God's statue. The next chapter, chapter four, again shows the obstacles that Mafatu has to overcome while living on this unfamiliar island. Mafatu puts his life in danger in-order to save the life of his dog and friend against a powerful hammerhead shark. He then defeats the perils of the deep lagoon which is inhabited by a massive octopus. The final chapter of the book brings Mafatu home, but not before making a great escape from the people who eat men.

Call It Courage

This story is about a boy named Mafatu and his fear of the ocean. Mafatu gets lost at sea with his dog. They nearly drown. Both of them get washed up on another island. When he is looking for bananas all of them are gone. He finds a statue looking for bananas. What happens next? Read to find out.


I give Call it Courage four out of five stars. My favorite Character is Mafatu. I like hime because he does cool things. Ithink its a good book i just don't think it's great.

Imaginative Read!

I'm giving the book 3 stars because my daughter and I are only half-way through the book. I homeschool my daughter and this book is required reading for a Language Arts lesson. I've read all the reviews here and I find one constant theme among them: poor spelling and poor imagination. To visualize Armstrong Sperry's world in "Call It Courage", you must use your mind's eye...your imagination. Is it that our youth today has no imagination? I would question whether technology (that I love) has stolen minds? Put down the Xbox controller, the game console controller, the handheld games, the cellphone, and computer. Sit in a comfy chair with good light and pick up a book--and read. My daugher is 8 years old and in the 5th grade. She has no issue with the wording in the book and I think it is beautifully written. I will finish the review once we've completed the book.

"I can do it! I know I can".

Call It Courage!
"No I can do this! I can"! Mafatu said as he was trying to prove to one of the kids who lived in the same village.
"If you can then why don't you ever do it"? The other villager asked Mafatu.

Call It Courage is a semi-good book. This is a good book to read if you need help getting over your fear. The kid in the book his name is Mafatu. He is really scared of the sea. He tries to travel to find new land. He does, but he comes to find out that the island that he finds is Island of the Dead Man. He does go with this other kid and then they tend to lose eachother at sea.

This book is good. My opioion on the book, I can honstley say I would never read the book again. To me it was kind of boring. I sort of really didn't get the point of the book. I think they should put more details in.


Jordan Eakins
BattleCreek,MI

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Call it Courage

Call it Courage is about a boy who almost drowns in the sea as a little boy and now is very scared of it. So finally when the other boys' jeers get to him he goes out in the sea alone with his dog Uri. When he gets to the island he finds out that it is the eaters-of-men's island! He has heard of the eaters-of-men and finds out that they only do their sacrifices there. Later he finds a whale skeleton and thinks it could be useful. Then he makes a trap to catch fish only to find out that a shark brakes into it and eats the fish! So he makes a knife out of whale bone to kill the shark. But to find out what happens you will have to read this book. I give this book one star because it wasn't very good. It was very predictable so it wasn't suspenseful. It was kind of like he would do somthing and you could predict what would happen next. So I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

This book is dumb and it sucks. I have to read this book for a school project This book was very boring and no one cares about his mom dieing

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

HORRIBLE!!!!!

This book is sooooo slow and boring. Anyone who has read it & hated it should understand what I mean. I almost fell asleep reading it. And I had to read it as a trade book for school! You are surely lucky if you never have to read it! I should know, I am a avid reader and a strong critic.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

wheres the story?

i thing this book should have focused more on the positve side of polynesia. i think this is a book from a white persons point of view. theres nothing wrong with a white point of view, it just dosent work when your trying to do different cultures then your own.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.