BookAngles - All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop

Friday, September 10, 2010

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All Alone

Summary

Author: Claire Huchet Bishop

Illustrator: Feodor Rojankovsky

Summary: All Alone Ten year old sets off to his family's pastureland in the French Alps, to care for his family's cows for the summer. His father admonishes him to "Keep to yourself, mind your own business and nothing else"; the philosophy of the whole village. His friend Pierre is doing the same job on a nearby peak, and when Pierre's cows get loose, Marcel decides to help his friend rather than heed his father's admonition. The boys are stranded together after a landslide and the whole village must work together to save them. The event transforms the village, and thereafter people pool their resources and work together.

1953 Viking 95 pp with illustrations ISBN 0-670-11336-0
1954 Newbery Honor

Reading Skill Level: 9-12

Reviewed by: Derri Smith July 2006

Our Angle

All Alone is a well written and interesting story. I would have liked it much better without the rebellious internal attitude of Marcel against his father's advice and the glorification of his disobedience to his father's wishes, which saved his life, his cows and the future of the village. In the end, the mayor speaks glowingly of how a little child led them out of their independent ways. The couple of instances of bickering and Marcel calling his sister "stupid" were added negatives for me. The story has its place in illustrating the benefits of working together, rather than each man fending for himself, of facing responsibility and troubles with courage, and simply as an interesting story, but it is not my favorite of Claire Huchet Bishop's books.

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