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The Courage of Sarah Noble
The Courage of Sarah Noble
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Ebook62 pages34 minutes

The Courage of Sarah Noble

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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In this Newbery Honor book classic, young Sarah learns how to be brave even when the world is strange and new.

In 1707, young Sarah Noble and her father traveled through the wilderness to build a new home for their family. “Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble,” her mother had said, but Sarah found that it was not always easy to feel brave inside. The dark woods were full of animals and Indians, too, and Sarah was only eight!

The true story of Sarah’s journey is inspiring. And as she cares for her father and befriends her Indian neighbors, she learns that to be afraid and to be brave is the greatest courage of all.

The New York Times Book Review described this book as one “to be long remembered for its beautifully written simplicity and dignity.”
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 15, 2012
ISBN9781442465893
Author

Alice Dalgliesh

Alice Dagliesh wrote many books for young readers, including The Thanksgiving Story, The Fourth of July Story, the Bears on Hemlock Mountain, and The Little Wooden Farmer, all available from Aladdin.

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Rating: 3.839887665168539 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I adore stories of the frontier especially through the eyes of a child! This was descriptive and atmospheric!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The storytelling was a bit abrupt compared to the highly researched and annotated historical fictions that I usually enjoy reading. This would not be one I would have my children read without discussion of the condescending attitudes of the white settlers. It would be a good piece to use as a comparison to another book about that tone period.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In my opinion this is a good book. The writing throughout this book is very engaging and organized which helps the reader to stay focused and interested. It is often very boring to read a historical fiction book because it is infact history. The author does a great job in her writing of keeping the story interesting for the readers while still getting the important information across to them. I also really liked the illustrations. Besides engaging and organized writing, it is also important to have good visualizations for the reader in order to help them follow along with the story. There are some dry parts about history that are hard to spice up. Illustrations help make those dry parts come alive to the readers. The main idea of this book is to tell about the 18th century and the relationships between settlers and Native Americans.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this short novella for children, we meet Sarah Noble, a girl living in the early eighteenth century. She is preparing to move to Connecticut, in a time when people still built their own houses and developed their own land, food, and everything they need to survive. Sarah and her father are moving ahead of the rest of the family, including the new baby, to prepare everything for them. As such, Sarah has to take on a lot of responsibility and show courage in the face of all the challenges that moving brings. She's particularly frightened by rumors of the native tribes living in the area. However, once she actually meets some members of the Schaghticoke tribe, she realizes that they are people, just like her. They even help her and her father establish themselves in their new home.It's a sweet story about survival, courage, and overcoming prejudices. It was published in 1954, and when I first started reading, I was worried that this awarded children's book would reflect upsetting biases common to its generation, particularly in its depiction of Native Americans. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The book has a positive message encouraging understanding. There are certainly issues surrounding the context of this book, such as the settlement of land that probably originally belonged to the Schaghticoke tribe. Yet within the reality of that past, it's an uplifting story about surviving, and about two cultures working together and learning from each other, and that's a nice message for kids to take away with them.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is probably my 4th time reading this book. It doesn't warrant that many readings but I read it as a kid, read it aloud to my kids and just re-read it now since I haven't reviewed it here yet. A Newbery Honor Award Winner, ...Sarah Noble is a well-written frontier story set in Connecticut. It's a nice story based on a true family, that very little detail exists about and has become more legendary than historical fact. Father and daughter travel across state to settle on new land and this easy to read beginning chapter book details their frontier experiences and the friendly relations with the nearby "Indian" village. A story of Christian people, not like a children's book would be written today at all, with the main theme of having courage even when you are scared. Nothing happens in the story though. It's been ages since my last read of this and for some reason I thought a danger was coming but, nope, no scares, just day-to-day wilderness, frontier life; family separates, reunites, the end. Modern day children would probably find this boring if read by themselves. Audio or someone with a good storyteller's voice (my children enjoyed mine:-) could read aloud to bring more life to it for them. Too good not to mention are Weisgard's illustrations; typical of the time they are monochromatic done in sepia and black and suit the time period and atmosphere well.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I'm seriously rethinking my goal of reading all Newbery medal and honor books. Some of the early ones are very silly and not worth the time spent in reading them.This was a Newbery honor book from 1955 regarding a young nine year old girl who travels in the wilderness with her father to stake claim to land cleared by American Indians. Sarah befriends the Indians and stays with them when her father returns home to fetch the rest of the family to live in the house newly built with the help of the Indians.Perhaps at the time it was written it was refreshing to see American Indians portrayed positively. I was born in 1952 and as a child remember playing cowboys and indians with plastic figures. The Indians were always the bad guys.Many Western tv shows were a hit in the 1950's and the heros were the white men who traveled west, killing the Indians.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great story about life in the early pioneer days. My children loved listening to it. Good for young readers. The book was very easy to follow along and I feel that I learned many things about the early pioneer days. I would definatly recomend this book to teachers and parents when they are teaching there students about the Pilgrims and the Indians. I would also read this book to my students because I think it is imporatant for them to learn about the early pioneer days.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dalgliesh, AliceThe Courage of Sarah NobleIllustrated by Leonard Weingard. 1954. 52pp. $4.49 pbk. Scribner. 0684188309. Grades 1-4.Eight year old pioneer Sarah and her father travel into the woods to build a house for their family. Sarah is not used to living outdoors, but her mother has told her to have courage, and Sarah continually reminds herself of her mother's words. Native Americans (called "Indians" in the book) also live in the woods, and Sarah slowly befriends their children, even though she does not speak their language. Her father builds his house, but then he must return to the place where Sarah's mother and baby sibling are living. The trip is too far for Sarah, so her father takes her to stay with the Native American family of her friends. Throughout her adventure, Sarah always remembers to have courage. Though dated, this book holds up reasonably well; the unpleasant settler family that Sarah and her father meet on their journey is the closest thing this story has to a villain. Prejudice against Native Americans is not ignored--both the settler family and Sarah's mother express it--but the settler family is depicted as mean-spirited, and Sarah corrects her mother's ill-informed statements. It is recommended that parents review this book before giving it to their children.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Summary: This book is about a girl named Sarah Noble from the Massachusetts Colony. She lives with her father, mother, and brothers and sisters. Sarah must go with her father to the new land he has purchased, but they must travel by foot through a forest. Indians are said to be around the forest and savages. Sarah must find her courage to get through their voyage. When they reach the land her father purchased, she must stay alone at their campsite while her father leaves to work on the house. While her father leaves for work Sarah makes friends with some Indian children. When the house is done Sarah's father must return to pick up the rest of his family, he leaves Sarah to stay with his friend Tall John. Sarah must find her courage again to stay with Tall John and his family. When her family returns Sarah is excited to see them. Sarah's mother was worried that the Indians did not treat her well and that Indians were savages. Sarah tells her mother they were friendly and that they were not savages.Personal Reflection:I personally like this book. Sarah shows us no matter how young we are we can overcome any obstacle put infront of us. It would be nice to see more kids like her. We can learn to not judge people untill you get to know them.Classroom Extension:1. Great story when studying history that involves Americans and Indians.2. Have the kids draw a picture of how they think the Indians would look based on Sarah's description.3. Bring in materials and have them build a house like Sarah's father did.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This story documents Sarah Noble's journey through the wilderness with her parents in 1707 to build a new home. An inspiring narrative of bravery, friendship, and conquering fear.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The courage of Sarah Noble is about a man and his daughter in colonial America. They are traveling from Massachusettes to Connecticut to build a house where he has bought land. Although Sarah has siblings and a mother, but since the youngest is just a small baby, it isn't safe for them all to travel. When Sarah learned her father was gong alone, she volunteered to go along so she could cook for him. She never realized how scary this experience would be. Every time the fear began, she told herself to be brave. Once reaching their destination, her fear of the Indians began, even though her father told her they were friendly. It wasn't unitl she was surrounded by Indian children that she realized they were equally interested in each other. Over time, they all began to play together. Big John, the father of two of the children, helped them build their home and became a family friend. Sarah was nervous when her father told her that he would be going to get the rest of the family and she would be staying with the Indians.They took her in like one of her own, and she was able to experience life as they had. When her family returned, although she was excited to see them, she was almost sad to leave her Indian family. After that, her new job became teaching her mother that the Indians were good people, just as she had learned herself.The beginning of this book tells you this story is, in fact, a true story, even though the details may not be exact. I thought that added a level of interest to the book. I also like the fact that the Indians were portrayed as good, loving people. In so many books that are based in this time period, they are only seen as savages. I think this would be a good book to use for multicultural purposes. You could discuss the feelings felt by both races and how they overcame them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgleish is a story based on fact. Dalgleish says that while she has imagined much of the detail, the story is true and records indicate that as an adult Sarah taught at the first school in her town and maintained an relationship with one of the Indians. Sarah and her father traveled to Conneticut where her father was going to build a new house for the family. Sarah went along as a traveling companion and to cook for her father. Her mother and seven siblings stayed behind, Sarah was the only girl who would go with her dad. She and her father slept on the ground, under trees at night and traveled during the day. When they came to a settlement, they relied on the kindness of strangers to take them in for the evening. The perception of Indians by others feeds into Sarah’s fears, but she works through those fears by remembering her mother’s words, “Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble.” Sarah’s father is a constant source of strength on this journey, reminding her she is safe and no animal or Indian is going to harm her. The Indians were not regarding kindly by others in the book, being called “savages”, except for John Noble. His kindness toward them allowed Sarah the courage to be kind to the Indian children on their first encounter. She displayed bravery, too, when her father left her with Tall John and his family to bring the rest of the family to their new home. She and her father display great acceptance of the Native Americans, which was not indicative of the times. Much can be said about the attitudes whites had towards the Native Americans and students can draw similarities between people/races/beliefs/etc. today.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This true story of Sarah Noble's journey is amazing. The bravery and courage required of an eight year old child to travel through the wilderness and then live with strangers is very rare. My daughter read this after me, start to finish, and admitted she would not be willing to do what Sarah did.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sarah and her father travel together to build a new home for their family in early 18th century America. The house is built and it is time for Sarah’s father to collect the rest of the family and bring them to their new home. Sarah must remain near the new home, with a Native American family. It is a good experience for Sarah as she comes to care for the family almost as much as her own, as she sees the commonalities of the Native American family with her own. There is a general feeling of condescension, but that has to be placed in the context of the time in which this book was written. In addition, the experience of discovering the ways the families are alike makes the book worthy of reading despite the book’s flaws. Newbery Honor.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A tale of loneliness, oercoming your fears and trusting others.

Book preview

The Courage of Sarah Noble - Alice Dalgliesh

CHAPTER ONE

Night in the Forest

ARAH lay on a quilt under a tree. The darkness was all around her, but through the branches she could see one bright star. It was comfortable to look at.

The spring night was cold, and Sarah drew her warm cloak close. That was comfortable, too. She thought of how her mother had put it around her the day she and her father started out on this long, hard journey.

Keep up your courage, her mother had said, fastening the cloak under Sarah’s chin. Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble!

And, indeed, Sarah needed to keep up her courage, for she and her father were going all the way into the wilderness of Connecticut to build a house.

This was the first night they had spent in the forest — the other nights they had come to a settlement. Thomas, the brown horse, was tied nearby. He was asleep on his feet. Against a tree Sarah’s father sat, his musket across his knees. Sometimes he nodded, but Sarah knew that if she called to him he would wake. Suddenly she had a great need to hear his voice, even though she could not see his

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