4.5 stars & 5/10 hearts. I read this book after I read the sequel... and I don’t know if that has anything to do with me not liking it quite as much as “The Singing Tree.” I liked it, but it wasn’t as good as the sequel. ;) It was written in a more juvenile style, since Jancsi is quite younger—which I appreciated, because it was so clever! What I disliked was that Kate never got punished for her escapades, not even when she smashed the glass cart (and when she goes swimming in her underclothes...). There were also many fairytales about fairies & other magical beings, as well as a dead army coming back to help their friends. Besides that, though, I did enjoy it. It was very funny, and it was still sweet and beautiful, and the setting was just as delightful as ever! And I was so pleased at how the story of Santa Claus was so properly and perfectly told!!!

A Favourite Quote: “‘Pooh! … A person would think that something wonderful had happened. And here you raise all this fuss for a few seedlings. Seedlings!’
“’You know, Janis, I think something wonderful has happened,’ said Father thoughtfully. ‘It’s such an everyday story to us. We know that seeds will grow into plants. But how? Why? What makes them? To Kate it’s a miracle—and so it is. Look at those tiny seedlings. See how they struggle up through heavy clumps of earth to reach the light and sun. We are so used to it that we take it for granted, instead of getting on our knees to thank the Lord for another gift!’’
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “She saw the great Hungarian plain unfold before her eyes. Something in her was toughed by the solemn beauty of it. Its immense grassy expanses unbroken by mountain for trees, shimmering under the spring sun. The dark blue sky, cloudless, like an inverted blue bowl. Herds of grazing sheep, like patches of snow. No sound, save the soft thud of the horses’ hoofs on the white dusty road, and now and then the distant tinkle of sheep’s bells, or the eerie sound of a shepherd’s flute[.] At times these plains … are the very essence of timeless calm.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Suddenly a wail came from [Kate’s] room. ‘Oh, Auntie, which skirt shall I wear?’
“‘Which skirt? Alll of them, of course, it’s a holiday!’
“’But there are eighteen on my bed!’
“‘That’s because you’re only a little girl. I’m wearing thirty-six, but I’m a married woman,’ said Mother, appearing in the doorway. She completely filled it. Her pleated and starched skirts were all the colors of the rainbow, standing away from her body like a huge umbrella…. Kate gazed at her with awe.
“‘I’m really very young,’ she said meekly. ‘Couldn’t I just wear one or two skirts?’

the best book i ever read