Call It Courage

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Call It Courage
Dust jacket of 1st edition, 1st printing
Author	Armstrong Sperry
Illustrator	Armstrong Sperry
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Children's novel
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	1940
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0689862296

Call It Courage (published as The Boy Who Was Afraid in the United Kingdom) is a book in English written and illustrated by Armstrong Sperry that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1941.

The book was originally published in 1940 and has had numerous printings since then, and has been translated into many languages, including Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Persian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Samoan, Hindi, Turkish, Indonesian, Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, and Braille.

[edit] Plot summary

Call It Courage is a coming of age story set in the Pacific Islands. It chronicles the journey of Mafatu, the son of the chief of Hikueru Island. Mafatu is afraid of the sea due to witnessing his mother drown as a young child, which makes him a shame to his father, and a coward among his tribe. One night Mafatu takes a dugout canoe and sets sail into the ocean without knowing where he will end up. He lands on a deserted island, which he discovers is deserted because cannibals visit it and make sacrifices there. It is on this island, with only his faithful dog and a friendly Albatross as companions, that he must survive and find a way to get home.

[edit] Comment from the author

"I had been afraid that perhaps in Call It Courage, the concept of spiritual courage might be too adult for children, but the reception of this book has reaffirmed a belief I have long held: that children have imagination enough to grasp any idea, and respond to it, if it is put to them honestly and without a patronizing pat on the head."^[1]

Preceded by Daniel Boone

Newbery Medal recipient 1941

Succeeded by The Matchlock Gun