People Share Common Needs and Desires

The summer of 2020 has been unique in every way possible. I have not had time to write as I should, so I am using something my daughter wrote recently. This is a book report my 7th grader wrote for her homeschooling program.

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    In the historical novel The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy, the author shows that a common goal among people of different nationalities and religious beliefs is to live a peaceful life. Even when nations become entangled in the destructive acts of the Great War in 1914, the common man still strives for peace. Kate Nagy and her cousin Jancsi, both thirteen years old, and their family represent the common man in Hungary who tries to live in accord with his fellow man. In this book, the Hungarian people live together in peace and harmony, even in wartime, as shown by the Nagys’ loving family life, their ability to live and work together with people of different cultures, and their recognition that all men are brothers.  

    Throughout the book, the Nagys illustrate a loving family life. During the wedding, Lily Kormos discovered a group of puppies after Kate locked her in a barn. Kate and Jancsi also wanted the puppies, but they let Lily choose what puppy she wanted first. Kate and Jancsi liked to race each other on horses, and even when Kate kept beating Jancsi, they still raced. They also were always good sports with each other all the time. Finally, whenever one of them got mad at another, they always forgave them no matter what they had done. The Nagys show what a loving family life is like, even if it’s not always perfect.

    The Singing Tree demonstrates that people from different cultures may live and work together for the sake of peace and harmony. The Nagys and Uncle Moses’ family’s have worked together for peace and have ignored things that make them different from each other. Uncle Mosees’s family is Jewish, and the Nagys are not. They still worked together in the past to help each other. During the war, the Nagys took in six Russian prisoners and treated them like they were a part of the family instead of treating them like prisoners like other people might have done. Also, during the war, the Nagys took in six German children without a home and made them feel like they were a part of the family. They treated the Germans like they were just another family and not like they were from the country that started the war.  The Singing Tree shows that people from different cultures can live and work together in order to keep peace and harmony.

    People of different backgrounds recognize that they share common needs and desires with their fellow man. During the war, the Nagys helped hide Peter Hodi, who deserted during the war so he could see his wife because she just had a baby. The Nagys understood that Peter Hodi only wanted to see his family during the war, so they helped him. When the Nagys took in the six German children, everyone treated them like they were part of the family because they understood that the children were scared and wanted to have a loving family.  The Singing Tree shows that people share common needs and desires.

    In The Singing Tree, the Nagy family represents the Hungarian people who love their family, live and work with people of different cultures and realize that all men are their brothers. A common goal that is shared by a variety of people is to live a peaceful life. Everyone would live a more peaceful life if they realized that everyone is human and should be treated the same way.