Dobry by Montana author Monica Shannon, was first published in 1934, and won the Newbery Medal for most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1935. It is the story of a farm boy with a talent for art, who wishes to leave his small village to become a sculptor. Bulgarian-born sculptor Atanas Katchamakoff illustrated the book.
Summary[]
When the story begins, Dobry is a young boy (all the ages are kept vague) living in a farming village in Bulgaria with his widowed mother and his grandfather, a famous story-teller. Dobry spends much of his time working in the fields, living from season to season, the years marked by the Winter arrival of the Gypsy Bear, whose miraculous massages restore the health of the old people in the town. What little free time Dobry has is spent with his friend Neda, the daughter of the village shoemaker.
Beginning with drawing snowflakes in the mud, Dobry discovers a love of art. For four years, he looks after the village cows to pay for art supplies- charcoal, paints, and canvas- to be sent from Sophia, the capital. He hones his skills, producing sketches and oil paintings, concentrating on nature and country scenes. Then one day he notices a stone that resembles the Gypsy bear, and this inspires him to carve his own, a carving Neda recognizes immediately. After this, sculpture is his passion.
Dobry’s mother becomes increasingly worried. Proud of the family farm, she had always assumed that Dobry would one day inherit and work it. To leave home to study and be a lawyer is one thing, but “Bah! What is an artist?” However, Dobry's grandfather recognizes that “if a boy is something, it doesn't matter what kind of work he chooses.”
Maestro Kulu, the famous maker of jamals (ornamental fireplaces) agrees, and encourages Dobry to work with clay. When Kulu shows Dobry how to find and prepare the material, Dobry sculpts a head of the old artist that convinces Kulu and Dobry’s grandfather that Dobry should leave the village to study art. Neda becomes his muse, but Dobry’s mother remains reluctant.
Then, one winter after the games held by the village, Dobry creates a snow-sculpture of the nativity, and his mother is forced to acknowledge her son’s gift. “The child Mary, Joseph and the good animals blessed by the child, had been born of their snow, snow from the village sky, the water that would help to create their bread and wine… ‘You are right about Dobry. You are right. God made Dobry an artist and who am I to set my heart against it.’”
At the New Year celebration, Dobry's mother presents him with a surprise gift: the gold coins from her wedding-dress, which will allow him to study art in Sofia. When he tells Neda, she is concerned that he will never come back to her. While Dobry excitedly begins to prepare for his new life, Neda worries that he will be leaving the village forever. But Dobry is sure of returning, in autumn for Neda’s betrothal feast, and in either January or February for their marriage.
(The story is enlivened throughout by the stories the characters tell; Hadutzi-dare and the Black Arab, The Poplar Tree Story, The Betrothal Feast, and The Two Animals Noah Forgot. Katchamakoff’s lively, blocky, almost sculptural sketches are a perfect accompaniment.)
Readers' reviews[]
1.[]
This book meant a great deal to me growing up, a glimpse of cultures well beyond the TV and movie staples. The individual stories stayed with me so long I forget where I'd learned them- until I reread this book working through the Newbury winners. How astonishing it's not available on Kindle!
Recommendations[]
If you enjoyed Dobry, you may enjoy these other stories of young people learning and growing into their gifts:
- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and its sequel Anne of Avonlea, which takes Anne up to the age when she is earning her living as a teacher.
- Bright Island by Mabel L. Robinson, set in main in the 1930s, about a loner girl raised on the sea who must attend High School on the mainland.
- Sioned by Winnie Parry, about a girl in rural Victorian Wales, who will settle for no husband who is not the measure of her beloved older brother Bob.