Call It Courage

by Armstrong Sperry and Sperry

Book Overview

A boy tries to overcome his fear of the sea in this treasured classic and winner of the Newbery Medal.

Maftu was afraid of the sea. It had taken his mother when he was a baby, and it seemed to him that the sea gods sought vengeance at having been cheated of Mafatu. So, though he was the son of the Great Chief of Hikueru, a race of Polynesians who worshipped courage, and he was named Stout Heart, he feared and avoided tha sea, till everyone branded him a coward. When he could no longer bear their taunts and jibes, he determined to conquer that fear or be conquered-- so he went off in his canoe, alone except for his little dog and pet albatross. A storm gave him his first challenge. Then days on a desert island found him resourceful beyond his own expectation. This is the story of how his courage grew and how he finally returned home. This is a legend. It happened many years ago, but even today the people of Hikueru sing this story and tell it over their evening fires.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689713916
• ISBN13: 9780689713910
• Release Date: April 1990
• Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Great book with a satisfying ending!

I loved this book from start to finish. It makes you want to ship wreck on an island and prove yourself a survivor! I feel like it should be read in schools!

Adventure!

The story of Mafatu's adventure on the isle of the eaters of men is unforgettable. Some 30 years ago I first encountered this book in my elementary school library and it remains vivid in my memory. It is the story of a young boy, Mafatu, who lives on an island yet fears the sea that killed his mother years ago. Mafatu decides to face his greatest and deepest fear--the sea--and sets off on an adventure, ending up not only conquering his fear of the sea but successfully confronting such life-threatening challenges as a hammerhead shark, a sharp-tusked wild boar and, finally, angry man-eating islanders. It is the kind of story where just when you think things can't get worse, they do. But Mafatu finds out that he is able to overcome every challenge and returns to his home island in triumph. Mafatu's story should be required reading for children preparing to face a world every bit as dangerous as the open ocean and filled with hazards no less serious than sharks and cannibals.

One grownup who liked it...

I read this one when I was a kid, probably around fourth or fifth grade, and I loved it. This is really an incredible story, predating Castaway and Life of Pi by sixty-some years, and still remaining a solid story for today's readers. Mafatu is a boy of about twelve living on the Polynesian island of Hikueru, who has lost his mother to the sea and is deathly afraid of it. One day, to conquer his fear, he sets out himself and winds up a castaway on a volcanic island. The thing that fascinated me as a child reading this was Mafatu's ingenuity -- the construction of the outrigger canoe, the making of his clothing and food, teaching himself to hunt and build and survive. While I wouldn't have wanted to be so far from home, in some ways I wanted to be him, experiencing that world half a planet away. TV shows like Survivor have nothing on this. The ambiguous ending (I prefer to think it's a happy one, but that is by no means clear) is a satisfying, if bittersweet, wrapup to one of the greatest, most intense, most incredible adventure stories that any child could ever enjoy. This is highly recommended, both to children who want something a little different to read and to adults who want to remember what it was like when that treefort in the backyard was a gateway to an entirely different world.

Call it Quality Reading

Robert Heinlein once wrote that "Courage is not the absence of fear--it is the conquest of fear. The man who is truly fearless is not courageous. He is also a fool." Young Mafatu, a Polynesian islander, fears the ocean. This is something akin to a cowboy fearing cattle. His fear causes him a great deal of discomfiture and makes him an object of scorn and ridicule. Sperry tells the story of how Mafatu (which means "Stout Heart") faced and conquered his fear. I read the story some 40 years ago as a young child. Although I wasn't really searching for anything other than the subject matter for a book report, I came away from "Call it Courage" with something far more important than a long-forgotten grade.Simply, elegantly, Sperry explores the nature of courage and helps the young reader to come to a better understanding of that most misunderstood quality.

An exciting story,that will keep you reading forever!!!!!

this is one of the most WONDERFUL books I've ever read.its about a boy who had lost his mom one day on the sea. Now this boy is scared that Mona the sea god will surly claim him too. His name means stout heart but most people call him a coward. he is mad because of all this. he has to prove them wrong about all this;so he goes out in a canoe and trys to sail to another island. He gets there safely and does not know if this is the island of the man eaters or the good island.READ THIS BOOK,ITS FANTASTIC!!!!