9 h 29 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
On Holland’s frozen canals, a boy with wooden skates longs to win—but his family needs more than a prize.
Hans Brinker and his younger sister Gretel love the ice, though proper skates cost more than they can afford. In their bare cottage, Dame Brinker works to feed the family and care for their ailing father, Raff. As a skating race draws near, Hans faces choices about ambition, honesty and what he will protect.
Mary Mapes Dodge sets their story among dikes, windmills and frozen waterways. Generous Peter van Holp leads a lively circle of schoolchildren, while thoughtful Hilda van Gleck notices the Brinkers’ hardship. Skating journeys, rivalries and old tales open up a country shaped by water, where pride takes many forms and kindness matters.
What you’ll discover
- A family that perseveres Meet Hans, Gretel and their mother as they keep working, hoping and caring for one another.
- The pull of the prize Feel Hans’s longing to win as the race tests what matters most to him.
- A winter shaped by water Follow frozen canals through a landscape of dikes, windmills and long journeys on skates.
- Pride meets quiet kindness Discover children whose rivalries and generous acts reveal different ideas of fairness and worth.
- A guide through Holland Enjoy a warm narrator who pauses to explain customs, places and words along the way.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A flat land held back by dikes
- A poor family with a silent father
- Wooden skates and a prize on the ice
- The schoolchildren and their rivalries
- Kind eyes and a stern doctor
- Skating trips, tales and a hero of Haarlem
- Honesty, pride and the pull of the prize
- What the story is really about
- How Dodge tells it
Who’s who
- Hans BrinkerA strong, steady boy of about fifteen who works hard for his family and longs to win the race on the ice.
- Gretel BrinkerHans's younger sister, cheerful and loyal, who keeps the cottage bright and shares her brother's hopes.
- Dame BrinkerThe children's mother, who works tirelessly to feed the family and cares for her ailing husband.
- Raff BrinkerThe father, a former dike worker whose mind was clouded by an accident long ago and who needs constant care.
- Peter van HolpA fair and generous leader among the schoolboys who cares more about doing right than about winning.
- Carl SchummelA proud, boastful boy who wants to be first at everything and has much to learn about fairness.
- Hilda van GleckA thoughtful, kind girl from a comfortable home who notices the Brinkers and quietly tries to help.
- Dr. BoekmanA gruff and solitary Amsterdam physician, feared by the children but skilled and perhaps kinder than he seems.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 29 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Hans Brinker, o I pattini d’argento
by Mary Mapes Dodge · 1865
On frozen Dutch canals, Hans dreams of winning silver skates while his family seeks help for his ailing father.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
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.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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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.
The author
Mary Mapes Dodge
1831–1905 · American children's writer
Mary Mapes Dodge was an American writer and magazine editor. She was born in New York City in 1831 and died in Tannersville, New York, in 1905. She wrote books for children, including Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates, published in 1865. She edited St. Nicholas magazine from 1873 until her death.
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