I read this in elementary school (I'm over 30 now) and it was a sweet story about Jane - a girl of about 11 or 12 who lives in an orphanage. During the summer, she is invited to spend time with a farm family and an older woman who lives alone. Both end up wanting to adopt Jane and she struggles with which offer to accept. Her observations of each situation are very mature for her age. This is a really enjoyable book and I wish I still had my copy!

Adopted Jane is a great book. i first read it when i was in the fourth grade, and it is still a favorite eight years later. any little girl will love this book - it is easy to read, with lots of old-fashioned charm and a great story. i give it my highest recommendation.

Like some of the other fans of Kate Seredy here, I read this book in class when i was in Grade 4...sometime around 1981 or so..
I immediately fell in love with the touching story of a young boy living in a shanty town...watching how the town slowly rebuilds itself and pulls itself up by it's bootstraps...
the story of course centres around the young child, and how his life is forever changed by an old man that plants a tree for him..
but the wider story of a group of outcasts banding together to make a better life for themselves, and the way you see how one small event can change the lives of so many ...
well, to say it's inspirational is a huge understatement...

and thanks to the power of Amazon.com, i now have a great copy of it, at long last, and after years of searching...

a few small clicks, and i found it here ....

if for nothing else, i love amazon for returning this book to my life after 20+ years...

cheers

A Tree for Peter is a delightful book, both in terms of story and illustrations, and it's a pity that the publisher has not chosen to reissue it.

A response to the review by Lisa N. Collins is in order here: she says that she "loved it so much that I told the librarian I lost it just so I could buy and keep it. Believe me, it was a worthwhile investment."

WHAT A CONTEMPTIBLE PERSON!!! The library cannot replace the book, and so Ms. Collins is depriving all of the other library patrons of the book that she -- bizarrely -- recommends that they read. Exactly how does she expect anyone to do that if people like her are taking them from libraries?

I was first introduced to this book 25 years ago in a childrens lit class and fell in love with the illustrations as well as the tender story of the relatioship between a young boy and a wise old man. Have searched since then to locate it. It's one of those timeless pieces.

A wonderful book for children between reading age and adolescence. The city cousin-country cousin story has been done many times, but Kate Seredy introduces the reader to life on a Hungarian farm while engaging the reader with both Jancsi (country boy) and Kate (city girl). Still a book I pick up and re-read, and I'm pushing thirty.

"The Good Master" is a wonderful book for children (adults, too!) Set in Hungary, it is the story of Jancsi and his cousin Kate, who comes from the city to live with Jancsi's family in the country. Jancsi has been looking forward to having a playmate, but Kate is not exactly what he expected. She is spoiled, wild, and their description of her as a "screaming monkey" is not far off the mark. After a rocky start, Jancsi and Kate learn to get along, and from there they become fast friends. They have plenty of adventures. For example, you will enjoy their trips to the fair and the circus; traditional Hungarian Easter and Christmas celebrations; a horse roundup; Kate's experience with some gypsies; and plenty more. Through the book Kate goes from spoiled and totally bratty to much more caring and kind- though she never loses her high spirits! This is an appealing book because it is so simple and wholesome. Also, since children love stories, "The Good Master" is filled with old stories and tales that the adults in the book tell to Jancsi and Kate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has grade-school-age children... get it for them! They'll love it!

I want to echo the comments made by the other reviewers about this outstanding children's book. I was introduced to this wonderful book by my 4th grade teacher who read it to my class in 1980. One would think that a book written in the 1930's and set on the Hungarian plains in the years just before WWI would not appeal to "modern" children. Yet the entire class loved it. I loved it so much that I later read it several times on my own. This book helped instill in me a deep love of reading which I still have over nineteen years later.

A well-deserved winner of the Newbery Honor Award, "The Good Master" is a forgotten classic. Kate Seredy's work is nowhere near as popular with children as are the works of Blume, Cleary, Dahl, and Wilder. It's a shame because "The Good Master" was as good a book as I ever read as a child and I was also a huge fan of the books of all those other authors. Jansci and Cousin Kate from Budapest deserve to be considered along with Peter and Fudge, Henry, Ramona, and Ribsy, Charlie and Willy Wonka, and the Ingalls family as among the greatest characters in children's fiction.

hello, my name is nina. i liked this book because it is educational yet adventurous. it was unpredictable, i never knew what would happen next. the reason i rated it a three was because some parts were not well explained and every now and then i would get lost and have to re-read some sections. otherwise this was a magnificent, adventurous tale and i would recommend it for older children and young adults.

For me, this book is a "Gone With The Wind" with young adults in mind, but great for all ages. Like the "Little House ..." books, it describes the rural life of a family and village before industrialization changed everything. The quality of life these people had, despite the workload, is something to be admired.

The book is a wonderful sequal to "The Good Master," another wonderful tale. While the first book is more of a typical chidren's book, this one is much more of an epic as the family deals with the ravages of war. The themes of tolerance and family values are well expressed without ever getting preachy.

Kate and Jancsi are fantastic characters for children to identify with, and the adults make fine examples for them to look up to. The illustrations are wonderful. This book will make you laugh, cry and everything in between. It's one of the books I re-read every now and again, and it's stood the test of 30+ years worth of reading. I treasure it.

I bought this & The Good Master for my daughter many years ago. These books have always had a special place in my heart because of their "readability". The stories are about growing up and being loved and all that after much disruption in a young life. There is a message of hope and love that is good and kind and there is also a clear and warm picture of what life could have been like in pre-World War 1 Hungary. The illustrations are as outstanding as the story. I love reading it to children, gives me an excuse for re-reading it myself. The second book is more serious as the children grow up and war intrudes but life is like that, isn't it.

I like to pair this book with The Trumpeter of Krakow. First we read how "The Tartars came through the world like a horde of wild beasts. They left not one thing alive nor one green blade of wheat standing. Brave they were as lions, courageous they were as great dogs, but they had hearts of stone and knew not mercy, nor pity, nor tenderness, nor God." (From Trumpeter of Krakow)

Then in White Stag we read, "For years there was no rest for them, there could be no rest. Like a sharp wedge they had driven themselves into Europe and now they were surrounded by enemies; they had to go on or perish."

By comparing these two books, a child learns that there are two sides to every story--a good lesson in life.

I first read the White Stag in fifth grade. I really liked this story because I found it to be very moody and beautiful. If I remember correctly, the story involves the early migrations of Eurasian people into the Eastern European steppes. I particularly liked this book because it is a fascinating blend of fact and legend, and deals with a somewhat obscure area of European history. A "Mists of Avalon" for younger readers.

Attila . . . who is this man? Attila the Hun . . . who is this conquerer? You may read every history book on this historic man, but you may not learn as much as when you read The White Stag. Ask yourself this: when does fiction end and history begin? There are few authors who can express themselves perfectly in both writing and drawing as Kate Seredy, the author of The White Stag. When she combines her talents into this book, the results are wonderous. The poetic words flow into rich pictures which capture the imagination and brings it into new heights. Even though The White Stag is a short book, it is an equal to any ancient history book with hundreds of pages. After you read this book, the memory of it lingers and enthralls you. Adults and childern alike can read this novel and find the satisfaction of an excellent book. Stories which mix fiction with facts are as true as history. When you read this book, you read history, because history is as full of untruths as truths. Read this book when you are young, and when you grow up, read it again to yourself anf your childern. Each time you read this book, your insight of its sighnificance will grow.

My mother found a copy of this book at a library book sale and after growing up with The Good Master, The Singing Tree and The White Stag, this is another wonderful Kate Seredy book! It's all about a young girl in Poland that must leave her village and go to the big city to earn money for her family. She relies completely on the spirit of her grandmother to lead her to make the right decisions, some of which are very unusual but lead to the right ending for the book. If you can find it, it's another great Seredy to add to your collection.