Story summary
Samenvatting van De bakstenen maan en andere verhalen
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A brick moon two hundred feet wide slides into the sky by accident, and its friends on Earth start to search.
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De bakstenen maan en andere verhalen in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 5 h 40 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 45 min slow
- Lengte
- 81.000 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1899by Edward Everett Hale
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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De bakstenen maan en andere verhalen in short
Hale takes a big idea, such as a moon, a cottage in the city, a leap over a valley, or a trip to Mexico, and sets it among people you could know. What you keep is a set of pictures and a feeling. You keep the thirteen chambers of the brick moon, the sliding board in Rob Crusoe's fence, and Nora's trunk on a milk wagon.
What De bakstenen maan en andere verhalen is about
What would you do if you wanted to hang a second moon over the Atlantic so that sailors could always find their longitude? In The Brick Moon, a group of college friends plan an orbiting aid to longitude.
Edward Everett Hale, an American minister and editor, wrote the tale in 1870 and 1871. It opens this collection of short fiction about ordinary people in odd situations.
Voor wie is het?. Readers who enjoy inventive American storytelling, Christmas and Thanksgiving tales, friendly humor, and gentle satire will love this collection.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
Friends dream up a moon to fix longitude
The Brick Moon begins with a puzzle that sailors faced for centuries. Latitude is easy, because the North Star stands as high above the horizon as you are far from the equator. Longitude is harder, since nothing in the sky tells you how far east or west of Greenwich you stand. Captain Frederic Ingham tells the story as patiently as a schoolmaster.
As students, Ingham and his friends imagine a tower at Greenwich so tall it could be seen from far away. Nobody can build it, so a friend called Q. proposes launching a giant moon built from bricks into orbit.
Then comes the bill. Twelve million bricks would cost sixty thousand dollars, and these students cannot even pay their college debts. The scheme hangs in the air for seventeen years.
A great plan begins as a conversation and survives on loyalty.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
Money, war, and a river build the moon
Seventeen years later, George Orcutt walks into Ingham's study with a fortune.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
A carpenter builds a secret home in the city
Crusoe in New York is told by Robinson Crusoe, a young carpenter born in 1842.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
A missing paper threatens a family's Christmas
Bread on the Waters opens in a busy Washington house in the days before Christmas.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
Two railwaymen plan to jump a ravine
The Lost Palace is a tall tale told in the coffee room of a poor hotel in Melbourne.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
A lost girl crosses a city on kindness
99 Linwood Street starts on a gray winter pier, where a young Irish girl named Nora waits for a brother who does not come.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
Eight friends balance their troubles and leave
Ideals introduces four married couples, the Carters, the Inghams, the Haliburtons, and the Hackmatacks.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
A penny and a polling booth shape two holidays
One Cent is a short comedy set out like a play.
- 9Begin gratis met lezen
Stranded travelers pass Christmas telling tall tales
The Survivor's Story begins in a snowdrift between Westfield and Springfield on Christmas Eve.
- 10Begin gratis met lezen
One voice and one theme tie the tales together
Hale tells nearly every story in a voice that is warm, teasing, and quick to digress.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Frederic Ingham A minister and teller of The Brick Moon and other tales, he helps plan a moon to fix longitude and watches over it.
- George Orcutt A railroad engineer who makes a fortune and then devotes it to building the brick moon with his friends.
- Rob Crusoe A New York carpenter who builds a secret cottage on a vacant lot to give his mother a home of her own.
- Frida A young Swedish immigrant who escapes a trap and finds shelter with Rob and his mother.
- Matty Molyneux The eldest daughter of a Washington official, who searches for lost receipts while keeping Christmas bright for her younger siblings.
- Nora McLaughlin A young Irish arrival in Boston who has only an address and needs to find her brother John.
- Joslyn An American railway engineer who tells the tale of a daring leap across a ravine and its consequences.
- Frederick Dane A night editor who turns an empty polling booth into a home and invites others to share a Thanksgiving.
How it ends (spoiler)
In The Brick Moon, the lost moon is found in orbit and its thirty-seven people are alive, living on its surface and signaling to Earth. Rob Crusoe marries Frida and leaves his hidden home. Molyneux's vouchers are found by Bruce Kuypers, a boy he once helped. Nora is reunited with her brother. Mr. Starr's penny brings unexpected rewards. Hosanna's Christmas tree ends in a boiler explosion. In Ideals, the friends stay in Mexico.
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Vragen over De bakstenen maan en andere verhalen
What is The Brick Moon about?
It tells how friends plan and build a huge brick satellite to help sailors find their longitude. Captain Frederic Ingham tells the story, from a college dream to funding, a Maine building site, and a launch that goes wrong.
What other stories are in The Brick Moon and Other Stories?
The collection includes Crusoe in New York, Bread on the Waters, The Lost Palace, 99 Linwood Street, Ideals, One Cent, Thanksgiving at the Polls, and The Survivor's Story. Several are Christmas or Thanksgiving tales.
Is The Brick Moon a true story, and when was it written?
It is fiction. Hale wrote it in Schenectady in 1870 and published it in the Atlantic Monthly in 1870 and 1871. Its idea of a human-built satellite anticipates later space travel, while the storytelling remains playful.
Is Crusoe in New York based on Robinson Crusoe?
Yes, it retells Defoe's island story in a New York setting. A carpenter named Robinson Crusoe makes a hidden home on a vacant lot, finds a footprint, and meets a Friday-like companion. Hale openly borrows some passages from Defoe.
Is the book easy to follow?
Yes, in its way. The tales are short and lively, with friendly narrators, clear plots, and plenty of humor. You can read them one by one, and most are built around a single scene or idea.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Hale, Edward Everett. The Brick Moon, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories.
Hale, E. E. (2026). The brick moon, and other stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories (Original work published 1899)
Hale, Edward Everett. The Brick Moon, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories.
@book{hale2026brick,
author = {Hale, Edward Everett},
title = {The Brick Moon, and Other Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories},
note = {First published 1899}
}
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