Resumen
Resumen de Hans Brinker o Los patines de plata
Para quién es
For readers who love warm family stories, skating races and a strong sense of place, and for parents or teachers seeking a story to share aloud. Dutch canals, winter ice, kindness and courage give this tale its appeal.
De qué trata este libro
Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates is a novel about a poor Dutch family and a frozen winter. Mary Mapes Dodge, an American writer and editor, published it in 1865. She wrote it for young readers, and she wanted to show them how people lived in Holland: the dikes, the canals, the windmills and the long skating season. Dodge had never been to the Netherlands when she wrote it, so she built the book from careful reading and from the accounts of others.
At its center is Hans, a strong and steady boy, and his sister Gretel. They live in a cottage on the flat land with their mother and a father who has not been himself for years. Around their story the book places a race on the ice, a group of lively schoolchildren, a stern doctor and a hidden family secret. It also stops now and then to teach you a fact or tell an old tale.
What you get from it is a clear picture of a country shaped by water, and a story about work, honesty and loyalty. You will meet a cast of children who each have a different kind of pride. So let us begin with the place itself, because in this book the land and the cold are almost characters.
En este resumen
- 1A flat land held back by dikesFree
- 2A poor family with a silent father
- 3Wooden skates and a prize on the ice
- 4The schoolchildren and their rivalries
- 5Kind eyes and a stern doctor
- 6Skating trips, tales and a hero of Haarlem
- 7Honesty, pride and the pull of the prize
- 8What the story is really about
- 9How Dodge tells it
Idea clave 1 de 9
A flat land held back by dikes
The book opens in Holland in winter, and it begins with the land. Much of the country lies below the level of the sea, and the Dutch keep the water out with great walls of earth called dikes. Dodge explains this early, and she makes it feel like a daily matter of life and death. A small leak in a dike can grow into a flood, so every family lives with a quiet respect for the water.
In winter the water changes its meaning. The canals freeze, and the roads of the country become ribbons of ice. People of every age fasten blades to their shoes and glide to market, to school and to visit friends. The book shows this as a time of joy as well as work, and it gives you the sense of a whole nation on skates.
The village of Broek and the surrounding country form the first stage. Dodge fills the scene with details you can picture: the neat houses, the clean doorsteps, the carts and the sledges, the farm animals and the windmills turning against a gray sky. She often steps out of the story to tell you how something works or why the Dutch do it that way. A listener may feel like a visitor being shown around by a patient guide.
This opening matters because the whole plot grows from the setting. The cold makes the race possible. The dikes give the family its history. Even the poverty of the Brinkers is shaped by the work the land demands.
By the end of these early chapters you know where you are, and you know that ice will decide a great deal. The book now brings you to a small cottage, where the story begins in earnest.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Hans Brinker
- Hans is a hardworking boy of fifteen who helps his mother and shares his sister Gretel's love of skating.
- Gretel Brinker
- Gretel is Hans's cheerful younger sister, who helps their mother and skates with her brother on wooden blades.
- Dame Brinker
- Dame Brinker is Hans and Gretel's hardworking mother, supporting her children while caring for their ailing father.
- Raff Brinker
- Raff is Dame Brinker's husband and the children's father, a former dike worker needing care after an accident.
- Peter van Holp
- Peter is a generous schoolboy and trusted leader among the children who skate together on the frozen waterways.
- Carl Schummel
- Carl is a boastful schoolboy among Peter's companions, eager to prove himself better than the other children.
- Hilda van Gleck
- Hilda is a kind girl from a comfortable home who notices Gretel's difficulties and takes an interest in the Brinkers.
- Dr. Boekman
- Dr. Boekman is a stern Amsterdam physician whose skill offers hope to families caring for the sick.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 85,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 40 min
- Listening time9 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Hans Brinker o Los patines de plata
What is Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates about?
It follows Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel, a poor Dutch family's children, in a frozen winter. Their hopes center on a skating race and on helping their father, who has been ill for years.
Is Hans Brinker a true story?
No, it is a novel. Mary Mapes Dodge wrote it in 1865 from reading and from the accounts of others, since she had not visited the Netherlands. It does include real Dutch customs and places.
Did Hans Brinker really put his finger in the dike?
No. That legend is a separate tale told inside the novel, and the hero of that tale is a different boy. Many people mix it up with Hans Brinker because of the book's Dutch setting.
Who are the main characters in Hans Brinker?
The main figures are Hans and Gretel Brinker, their mother and father, and the schoolchildren Peter van Holp, Carl Schummel and Hilda van Gleck. The gruff Dr. Boekman also plays an important part.
Is Hans Brinker hard to read today?
The narrator explains Dutch customs and history. The language is plain and clear.