Quotes from book
The Wheel on the School

Name: The Wheel on the School
Author: Meindert DeJong

The Wheel on the School is a novel by Meindert DeJong, a Dutch-born American, that won the 1955 Newbery Medal for children's literature and the 1957 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. The book was illustrated by noted author and illustrator Maurice Sendak.

“First to dream and then to do— isn't that the way to make a dream come true?”

Meindert DeJong book The Wheel on the School

The Wheel on the School (1954)

“Do you know about storks? Storks on your roof bring all kinds of good luck.”

Meindert DeJong book The Wheel on the School

The Wheel on the School (1954)

“To start with there was Shora. Shora was a fishing village in Holland. It lay on the shore of the North Sea in Friesland, tight against the dike. Maybe that was why it was called Shora. It had some houses and a church and tower. In five of those houses lived the six school children of Shora, so that is important. There were a few more houses, but in those houses lived no children— just old people. They were, well, just old people, so they weren't too important. There were more children, too, but young children, toddlers, not school children— so that is not so important either.”

Meindert DeJong book The Wheel on the School

The Wheel on the School (1954)

“There were no storks in Shora. Lina had written this story about storks of her own accord-the teacher hadn't asked her to write it. In fact, until Lina read it out loud to the five boys and the teacher, nobody in school had even thought about storks.”

Meindert DeJong book The Wheel on the School

The Wheel on the School (1954)