![]() First edition | |
Author | Carol Kendall |
---|---|
Illustrator | Erik Blegvad |
Language | English |
Series | The Minnipins Series |
Genre | Speculative fiction, Fantasy |
Publisher | Harcourt Brace, Scholastic |
Publication date | 1959 |
Media type | Print (paperback) |
Pages | 283 |
Awards | Newbery Honor, ALA Notable Childrens Book, and Ohioana Book Award |
ISBN | 0-590-45103-0 |
Preceded by | The Other Side of the Tunnel |
Followed by | The Whisper of Glocken |
The Gammage Cup is a children's book by Carol Kendall. It was first published in 1959 in the United Kingdom as The Minnipins and in the United States as The Gammage Cup. It was later republished by Scholastic in November 1991 and by Harcourt in 2000. It tells the story of a race of little people called the Minnipins who, despite inner divisions, must unite to defend their village and the valley in which they live against an evil race of humanoid creatures called the Mushrooms or Hairless Ones. The sequel, The Whisper of Glocken , was published in 1965.
Themes in the book include conformity and individualism. The book also includes several references to the real world including the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb and several common abbreviations such as Ltd., Co., Bros., etc. It was highly praised and became a Newbery Honor book and an ALA Notable Children's Book. Audiobook and cartoon versions of the book were also created.
Caroll Kendall became interested in writing for children when her first novel The Black Seven was published in 1946. She enjoyed writing about children and eventually decided to write children's stories. Of her first forays into fantasy writing she says, "I thought I didn't know enough to write fantasy, and then suddenly I had a theme to work on and gradually the characters became real". Kendall's main character Muggles was inspired by a friend who often joked about being in a muddle. [1] an article in Child Life inspired her to write about the dangers of conformity. She said:
It was about a costume party, and went something like this: 'Everybody' was having costume birthday parties that year—it was the very latest fad and the mothers met in protest to plan an end to their children's obsessive copy-catism. When the day of the party finally came and the children began to arrive at the birthday house, they found that their secret costumes were exactly like all the other secret costumes. They were a party of sheep. [2]
The Gammage Cup was illustrated by Erik Blegvad and was first published in 1959 by Harcourt Brace in New York. The copyright on the book expired and was renewed in 1987. It was later published by Scholastic in 1991 and then by Harcourt in 2000 with cover art by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt. The book was also published in the United Kingdom under the title of The Minnipins. [3] Its sequel The Whisper of Glocken was published in 1965.
The story starts in a fictional valley named the Land Between the Mountains. It is surrounded by four mountain ranges: Snowdrift to the north, Frostbite to the south, the Sunrise Mountains to the east and the Sunset Mountains to the west. This valley is populated by twelve villages of Minnipins, a race of industrious "little people" rather like hobbits. [4] The novel takes place in a village called Slipper-on-the-Water, in and around the gold mines in the Sunset Mountains and on a nearby knoll where the outlaws live. The date of the story is given as the year of Gammage
Slipper-on-the-Water is home to a clan known as the Periods, who are descendants of Fooley the Magnificent or the Great Fooley, who 440 years before the book opens constructed a balloon, flew to the land beyond the mountains and returned with a case of curiosities. They hold high offices in Slipper-on-the-Water, have very high opinions of themselves and have a "Council of Periods" that rules the village. Also living in the village are a group of Minnipins referred to as "Them" by the other villagers. These include Gummy, Walter the Earl and Curley Green. "Them" shun the tradition-based existence of the other Minnipins. One night, a Minnipin named Muggles wakes up and sees fires in the Sunset Mountains in the West. While digging for treasure, Walter the Earl discovers a vault under his house and finds iron chests that contain ancient scrolls, swords, armor and military trumpets. The scrolls reveal Fooley the Magnificent's story and contain ominous warnings from Walter the Earl's forebear Walter the Obtuse saying that the vault will be found when it is needed for the protection of the Minnipins.
The mayor returns from the annual meeting of village mayors with news that there will be a contest to find the finest village in the Land Between the Mountains. The winning village will win the legendary and sacred Gammage Cup. The villagers are excited but the Periods convince the villagers that "Them" will ruin their chances of winning the cup. During a town meeting, the Periods outlaw "Them". Mingy, the curmudgeonly money-keeper who resists spending money for "fancying up the village" is also outlawed. Along with Muggles who has become involved with "Them" because of her seeing the fires on the Sunset Mountains.
The "Outlaws" paddle up the river to Gummy's stone cabin on The Knoll. They move in but the cabin is too small for all of them, so they decide to sleep outside until a new house is built. Muggles organizes their working efforts and after much progress is made, they explore the Old Mines in the Sunset Mountains. Walter the Earl brings an iron sword from the vault. Inside the mines the sword glows as a warning, and they hear tapping sounds. After this phenomenon occurs again, they assume that the legendary enemies of the Minnipins known as The Mushrooms have returned and are preparing to attack, and they hold a council of war.
Muggles decides that Mingy should reconnoiter the Old Mines while the rest of the "Outlaws" wait behind. In the mines, Mingy sees several hairless creatures with mushroom-colored skin round bellies and big ears and wearing tight, brownish-white clothes. Over 200 of them emerge from the mines. Mingy concludes that these must be the Mushrooms and tries to return to the others, but his is foot is trapped in the rocks. The rest of the Outlaws rush to save Mingy as the Mushrooms swarm to capture him. They chase most of the Mushrooms away but four of them capture Mingy and carry him into the mountain. Gummy chases them into the Old Mines and returns after he is hit by a poisonous spear.
The group return to Gummy's cabin to tend to his worsening wound. Curly Green and Muggles stay and defend Gummy while Walter the Earl returns to Slipper-on-the-Water to raise an army to fight the Mushrooms. Walter the Earl tries to tell the Periods mayor and council about the coming Mushroom army but they will not listen. He decides to raise the village without the help of the Periods. He is successful, but the Periods tell the villagers the Walter is deranged and the villagers are uncertain what to do. An eerie chanting is heard from the mountains.
In the Old Mines, the Mushroom chief refuses to kill Mingy. One of the Mushrooms is scratched by a poison spear and Mingy watches as a white substance is used on the scratch, and thinks this may help his foot. After the Mushrooms leave to fight, he puts some on his foot, which feels better. The Mushroom army attacks the cabin where Gummy, Curly Green and Muggles are hiding. Gummy becomes weak because of the poison from the spear and Curly Green is knocked out while Muggles wards off the Mushrooms. The Minnipin army attacks and a fierce battle ensues. As the Mushrooms flee back into the Old Mines, Mingy sets a heap of mats on fire, making it impossible for the Mushrooms to escape. They rush out to escape the flames and are defeated by the Minnipin army. Mingy emerges from the cave holding the pot of white substance which is used cure Gummy and the injured Minnipins soldiers.
The Period village council regrets expelling the Outlaws and no longer cares about winning the Gammage Cup. The villagers celebrate the return of the soldiers and the five Outlaws. The three judges of the contest arrive. Witnessing the happy scene, they decide that Slipper-on-the-Water is the most deserving village and leave the Gammage Cup in the town square.
The Periods are descendants of Fooley the "magnificent". They are each given one of the "names" from Fooley's book. They tend to have positions of prominence in the Minnipin society.
Most of the villagers are distinguished by their trade and their names.
The Mushrooms are big bellied, mushroom colored, have almost no hair, and smell like mushrooms. They speak a strange language and are all killed and burned in a funeral pyre.
The main theme in the book is conformity versus nonconformity. Kendall uses five characters who do not fit in with their society but are able show their worth in saving it. The New York Times Book Review called the book a "fable about conformists and non-conformists". [5] A reviewer from the Black Gate said the book is "a warning against 1950's conformist tendencies".[ citation needed ]
Another theme used in the book is uniting against a common foe. Although the Periods and the outcasts are initially in opposition to one another, they are forced to reconcile their differences when they are all threatened by the Mushrooms. The theme of individualism are prevalent throughout the book. When Muggles is invited to return to the village by Ltd., she tells him she is no longer "poor simple Muggles" (184) and has gained individuality in her life at the knoll. Horn Book said that the book offers "insights into the value of individualism". [6] Muggles' heroism makes the book appear feminist; Kendall neither confirmed or denied this, saying "I just write the way it is". [1]
Another theme is a kind of military racism, or species-ism. The Mushrooms are clearly described as different, although they would seem to be human, to some extent. However, when it comes to battle, the Mushrooms are treated like non-humans or animals—alien. Killing them is necessary, impersonal, and raises no questions of conscience. The Minnipins feel no pity for their enemy, even as the story describes the shrieks from the Mushrooms as they are killed.
A review of the book by Horn Book Magazine said, "This highly creative fantasy ... will be a gift book treasured by the entire family" (Back cover). The New York Times Book Review called it "highly amusing, imaginative, and thought provoking". [5] In 2001, a review in Black Gate described The Gammage Cup as readable and enjoyable with a cute turn of phrase and clever notions, though standing "at best in the second rank of the great children's fantasies." The reviewer said it includes the typical 1950s themes of conformity and the threat from outsiders. [7]
The Gammage Cup was named a Newbery Honor Book for 1960. [8] It was one of Horn Book's best books of 1959 [9] and won the Ohioana book award in 1960. [10]
Interest in the book was revived during the 1999 lawsuit between Nancy Stouffer and J.K. Rowling over the creation of the name "Muggles". [7] An article in the Lawrence Journal-World on June 14, 2000, said Kendall had used the name about 30 years before Stouffer and Rowling. Kendall found the incident amusing and was not ill-disposed towards either author. Speaking about the copying, she said, "I've got no quarrel with them ... There's only so many ideas and if you have one then someone else out there probably has the same one, too." [1]
A cartoon version of "The Gammage Cup" was created by Hanna-Barbera and aired on CBS Storybreak in 1982 and was later aired with closed captions. The cartoon stuck to the main premise of the book but changed the storyline. [2]
An audiobook version of "The Gammage Cup" was produced by Recorded Books in 2000. It was read by Christina Moore who was praised by School Library Journal , which said it conveys "the full emotional range of each character". The reviewer also said, "Moore consistently nails the perfect tone of the story" and, "this delightful fantasy is sure to please fans on several levels—humor, suspense, plot twists, winsome characters, and adventure". [11]
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, a Muggle is a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family. Muggles can also be described as people who do not have any magical blood inside them. It differs from the term Squib, which refers to a person with one or more magical parents yet without any magical power or ability, and from the term Muggle-born, which refers to a person with magical abilities but with non-magical parents. Equivalent terms used by the in-universe magic community of the USA include No-Maj and No-Majs ; French equivalents are Non-Magiques and No-Majes. Other terms are Can't-Spells and Non-Wizards.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a fictional boarding school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and serves as a major setting in the Wizarding World universe.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1927 adventure novel by German author B. Traven, whose identity remains unknown. In the book, two destitute American men in Mexico of the 1920s join an older American prospector in a search for gold. John Huston adapted the book as a 1948 film of the same name.
Dreams is a 1990 magical realist anthology film of eight vignettes written and directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Akira Terao, Martin Scorsese, Chishū Ryū, Mieko Harada and Mitsuko Baisho. It was inspired by actual recurring dreams that Kurosawa said he had repeatedly. It was his first film in 45 years in which he was the sole author of the screenplay. An international co-production of Japan and the United States, Dreams was made five years after Ran, with assistance from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, and funded by Warner Bros. The film was screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, and has consistently received positive reviews.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the mystery surrounding the entry of Harry's name into the Triwizard Tournament, in which he is forced to compete.
The Ministry of Magic is the government of the Magical community of Britain in J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World, headed by an official entitled the Minister for Magic. The magical government in Britain is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; the Ministry makes its first proper appearance in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003). Throughout the books, it is regularly depicted as corrupt, elitist and completely incompetent, with its high-ranking officials blind to ominous events and unwilling to take action against threats to wizard society. In Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge was placed at Hogwarts to observe the happenings within the school, and prevent the spread of news concerning the return of Lord Voldemort. It reaches a zenith of corruption, before being effectively taken over by Voldemort. At the end of the final book, following Voldemort's death, Kingsley Shacklebolt is revealed to have become the Minister for Magic.
Book the Seventh: The Vile Village is the seventh novel in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe contains numerous settings for the events in her fantasy novels. These locations are categorised as a dwelling, school, shopping district, or government-affiliated locale.
Thomas Horn Jr., was an American scout, cowboy, soldier, range detective, and Pinkerton agent in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West. Believed to have committed 17 killings as a hired gunman throughout the West, Horn was convicted in 1902 of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell near Iron Mountain, Wyoming. Willie was the son of sheep rancher Kels Nickell, who had been involved in a range feud with neighbor and cattle rancher Jim Miller. On the day before his 43rd birthday, Horn was executed by hanging in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Magical creatures are an aspect of the fictional Wizarding World contained in the Harry Potter series and connected media originally created by British author J. K. Rowling. Throughout the seven main books of the series, Harry and his friends encounter many of these creatures on their adventures in Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest, or other locations throughout the Wizarding World. In addition, students learn to take care of creatures such as hippogriffs and unicorns in the Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts. Rowling has also written Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a guide to the magical beasts found in the series, and based on the fictional textbook of the same name written by Newt Scamander and used by students at Hogwarts.
Hvalba is a village and a municipality in the Faroe Islands, which consists of Hvalba, Nes-Hvalba and Sandvík.
Ryton is a village in Tyne and Wear, England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, historically part of County Durham. In 2011, the population of the Ryton, Crookhill and Stella ward was 8,146. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Carol Seeger "Siggy" Kendall was an American writer of children's books. She has received the Newbery Honor, Ohioana award, Parents choice award, and the Mythopoeic Society Aslan award.
The fictional universe of British author J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of fantasy novels comprises two distinct societies: the wizarding world and the Muggle world. In the novels, the Muggle world is the world inhabited by the non-magical majority, with which the wizarding world exists coextensively, albeit mostly remaining hidden from the non-magical humans. The plot of the series is set in 1990s Britain, but in a veiled and separate shadow society wherein magic is commonly used and practised, and those who can use it live in self-enforced seclusion, hiding their abilities from the rest of the world. The term "wizarding world" refers to the global wizard community that lives hidden in parallel with the Muggle world; the different terms refer to different communities within the same area rather than separate planets or worlds. Any new works taking place in this universe are released under the "J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World" brand.
The Bronze Bow is a book by Elizabeth George Speare that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1962.
A kurdaitcha, or kurdaitcha man, also spelt gadaidja, cadiche, kadaitcha, karadji, or kaditcha, is a type of shaman and traditional executioner amongst the Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group in Central Australia. The name featherfoot is used to denote the same figure by other Aboriginal peoples.
Bows Against the Barons is a 1934 children's novel by the British author Geoffrey Trease, based on the legend of Robin Hood. It tells the story of an adolescent boy who joins an outlaw band and takes part in a great rebellion against the feudal elite. Trease's first novel, Bows Against the Barons marks the start of his prolific career as a historical novelist. It is notable for reinterpreting the Robin Hood legend and revitalizing the conventions of children's historical fiction in 20th-century Britain.
The Whisper of Glocken is a children's novel by Carol Kendall, first published in 1965. It is the second book in the series about the race of small people called the Minnipins, being a sequel to The Gammage Cup. The Minnipin valley is being flooded, and five new unlikely heroes set out on a quest to stop the flooding and save their homes.
The Silent Village is a 1943 British propaganda short film in the form of a drama documentary, made by the Crown Film Unit and directed by Humphrey Jennings. The film was named one of the top 5 documentaries of 1943 by the National Board of Review. It was inspired by the Lidice massacre in Czech Republic in June 1942.
Meʼma and the Great Mountain is a Weird West juvenile fiction novel by Lorin Morgan-Richards about an Indigenous girl named Meʼma who lives in an oppressed village called Sunken Creek. The primary antagonist in the story, Baron Von Nickle, commands his army to forcibly remove the villagers, leading Meʼma to flee but without the aid of her grandfather and wolf Bright Eye. Escaping the attack with only her dolls, Xetacu and Tchesue, Meʼma begins her journey bringing to focus her extraordinary ability to communicate with the spirit world. Along her path she confronts ghoulish characters, reacquaints with her wolf, and is carefully guided by unusual animals that try to help her overcome her fears and battle the Baron. The book includes a foreword by Oglala Lakota educator Corine Fairbanks who writes on the worldwide genocide of Indigenous people and the effects of industrialization, a common theme in Richards work.