Module 4: Call it Courage

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Summary:
There is a place called Hikueru where the main character Mafatu, a Polynesian, lives.  At the age of three, tragedy occurred on the ocean that made his mother lose her life.  At that moment, Mafatu was very afraid of the water and could not complete the tasks of a fisher and in the village everyone made fun of him.  Even his father was embarrassed by him because he could not do the usual tasks like the others.  Only Uri, a yellow dog and an albatross named Kivi were his only friends.  One day he decides to leave the village and go to an island nearby to prove to the people that know him that he is not a coward.  His journey going away was very rough due to a very heavy storm that left him with no food or water and thought he was not going to make it out alive.  When he lands on an island, he tries to search for any living being, food and water to get his strength back.  He found the place strange at first because he could not find anyone around.  Throughout his stay, he was able to make a knife out of a whale's bones, killed a wild pig, killed a shark to rescue his dog Uri, killed an octopus in order to get the knife he made underwater, and made his own boat by hand in order to go back to his village.  It is when he realized that he was capable of doing things without fear.  On his last night at the island, he hears drumming noises and finds that he landed on the eaters of men land!  When they see him, they chase after him with clubs that they have made while Mafatu and Uri run for their lives and were able to reach the boat.  They were able to escape the chaos but was very difficult because there was no wind for the boat to move.  By the time they reached the village, Mafatu was exhausted and unrecognizable by the people that knew him, even his own father.  The ending is when the people know that it is him and notice the necklace he made out of the pigs teeth that he killed.  His father comments his pride towards him.

Reviews:

Gr. 4-7. In this Newbery Medal winner set on a South Pacific island, 12-year-old Mafatu, son of the Great Chief of Hikueru, is labeled a coward because he is afraid of the sea. Determined to save face with his people and conquer his fear, Mafatu takes off in his canoe to prove that he is a worthy member of his tribe.

Scales, P.  (2005, January). Call it courage.  [Review of the book Call it Courage, by A. Sperry]. Book Links, 14(3), 38.  Retrieved from www.booklistonline.com/booklinks.

Impressions:
The story also demonstrates courage by the character.  He needed to find himself to prove to everyone what he is capable of doing.  I considered it very hard to have gone through what he did since he was not really a skillful person as he should have been.  Uri also played the loyal companion part very well.

Suggestions:

Although this book is older and would need some type of promotion for young readers to read, a book display can be done in the library during the week when Newbery Medals for the year are announced.  Students need to see what books are out there besides the 2000 and up winners.  That way they can see why these books were also picked as winners during that time.

Bibliography:
Sperry, A. (1971).   Call it courage.  New York, NY: Collier Books.