The Singing Tree

Author/Guide: Kate Seredy

Why a Booktrail?

Timeless: Life on the Hungarian plains

ISBN: 978-0140345438
Genre: Childrens

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What you need to know before your trail

Life on the Hungarian plains is changing quickly for Jancsi and his cousin Kate. Father has given Jancsi permission to be in charge of his own herd, and Kate has begun to think about going to dances. Jancsi hardly even recognizes Kate when she appears at Peter and Mari’s wedding wearing nearly as many petticoats as the older girls wear. And Jancsi himself, astride his prized horse, doesn’t seem to Kate to be quite so boyish anymore. Then, when Hungary must send troops to fight in the Great War and Jancsi’s father is called to battle, the two cousins must grow up all the sooner in order to take care of the farm and all the relatives, Russian soldiers, and German war orphans who take refuge there.

Travel Guide

Hungary

Travel through the history of Hungary with The BookTrail

Set on the Hungarian Steppes in 1990s ,this is a story about two cousins and their adventures in the Hungarian countryside. Kate’s and Jansci’s fathers goes off to war and they set about taking care of the family farm as well as their grandparents,a few neighbours, six Russian POWs, and a group of German children who are refugees.

“Father never spoke of the war and soon they all learned not to ask about it, because then his face would darken as if he were in pain. Once in a while he told small, poignant stories, but there were no cannon belching death or wounded screaming for mercy in the memories he shared with his family. He spoke of the small bird with the broken wing one of the men had picked up, and how the little bird had become tame during the weeks its wing was healing; how they had let it go on a September morning and how it sang to them before it soared away. About lone dogs guarding ruins of homes, and of cats waiting for a door to open that had no walls around it.”