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Rating: 
Summary: a wonderful book
Review: Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates is one of the best books I've ever read. It is one of the only books that has ever made me cry. This book uses some Dutch words. Next to the word there is sometimes a small 1 telling you at the bottom of the page is a definition. For example in one sentence it says: Lets go get some 1. Tiffen. At the bottom of the page it says something like: 1 Tiffen - lunch. Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel have been living with their mother who has spent the last ten years caring for their father who got what you could kind of call amnesia while out on the dykes. He has no memory and has sometimes done awful things without realizing it. Suddenly the Brinker's luck begins to change and they have happiness as well as some pain.
Rating: 
Summary: The Movie is Better!
Review: Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates was a good book, but a lot of it is too much like a reference book, which is not something I care to read on my free time. If you want to find out a little about this book, watch Brink! on Disney - a 1990s movie roughly based on the book. You will most likely enjoy the movie much more because it is general fun...and I promise...no reference books involved.
Rating:
Summary: An American Masterpiece!
Review: I first read this book as a boy in the fourth grade more than forty years ago. I loved it then and I love it more even now. Skating on canals is always great fun! Frankly, it was a new book that got me thinking about this old classic. "Santa & Pete: A Novel of Christmas Present and Past" came out last year and it is a wonderful retelling of the Saint Nicholas story, which is also an important part of "Hans Brinker." And so Santa and Pete got me thinking about Hans and those silver skates. I don't want anyone to touch Mary Dodge's work but can't we find some way to get "new" writers to revive these great old stories.
Rating:
Summary: Canals as Connections
Review: I thought it was a wounderful story for the whole family to read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Classic
Review: I was given this book when I was very young and it sat on my shelf for years before I became interested enough to read it. I wish I had picked it up sooner! But then perhaps I needed to mature more before I could appreciate it. I was utterly fascinated (I read this in my teens) and even the historical "textbook" portions captivated me. I love to learn history from fiction, and this did an excellent job - Dutch history and culture came alive. I have re-read it several times since, and no Disney move can do justice to the book. (Well, I don't believe any movie can really do justice to a book.) The characters are real and we easily empathize with them, the adventure is exciting and the climax of the race does not disappoint. It should be in every child's library.
Rating:
Summary: Smakelijk eten
Review: Is this the greatest book ever? Maybe, maybe not. Shakespeare had some good ones. Either way, this merits the five stars I've given it. Delve into one of the greatest stories ever told, and learn all about Holland. By the time you're done, you'll want to go ice skating. So strap on your wooden skates and squeek across the ice of Ole Holland. Who gets the silver skates? Who is the greatest hero? Is hidden fortune just under the peat moss? Dat hangt er van af . . .
Rating: 
Summary: Not As Good As Ya May Think
Review: This story is one of the silliest and most unusual stories I have ever read. While countless other reviewers compare this book to the masterpiece 'Swiss Family Robinson', I think it stinks. It has a silly ice-centric story. Hans Brinker and his pompous little girlfriend are obsessed by the beginning ice skating so much, they are cery hungry for silver ice skates. (at the time of this book's release most skates were made of wood). But this book is horrible. It left a taste reminiscent of Brussels Sprouts in my mouth. Stay away.
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