{{Short description|1954 book by Meindert DeJong}}
{{Short description|1954 book by Meindert DeJong}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | name = The Wheel on the School
{{Infobox book | name = The Wheel on the School
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””’The Wheel on the School””’ is a children’s novel by Dutch-born American author [[Meindert DeJong]] and illustrated by [[Maurice Sendak]]. In the Netlanderlands fishing village of Shora, storks, a symbol of good luck, never nest; six children set out to change that. The book won the 1955 [[Newbery Medal]] and the 1957 [[Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis|Germany Youth Literature Award]].<ref name=”award”>{{cite web |url=https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/newbery-medals-honors-1922-present.pdf |title=Association for Library Service to Children – Newbery Medal Winners & Honor Books, 1922 – Present |website=ALA.org |access-date=2025-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb |url=https://www.jugendliteratur.org/buch/das-rad-auf-der-schule-1725-1725/?page_id=1 |title=Book: The Wheel at School |website=JugendLiteratur.org |access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>
””’The Wheel on the School””’ is a children’s novel by Dutch-born American author [[Meindert DeJong]] and illustrated by [[Maurice Sendak]]. In the Netlanderlands fishing village of Shora, storks, a symbol of good luck, never nest; six children set out to change that. The book won the 1955 [[Newbery Medal]] and the 1957 [[Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis|Germany Youth Literature Award]].<ref name=”award”>{{cite web |url=https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/newbery-medals-honors-1922-present.pdf |title=Association for Library Service to Children – Newbery Medal Winners & Honor Books, 1922 – Present |website=ALA.org |access-date=2025-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{ |url=https://www.jugendliteratur.org/buch/das-rad-auf-der-schule-1725-1725/?page_id=1 |title=Book: The Wheel at School |website=JugendLiteratur.org |access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>
==Plot summary==
==Plot summary==
{{Maurice Sendak}}
{{Maurice Sendak}}
{{Newbery Medal}}
{{Newbery Medal}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheel on the School, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheel on the School, The}}
[[Category:Children’s books set in schools]]
[[Category:Children’s books set in schools]]
[[Category:Children’s books set in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Children’s books set in the Netherlands]]
{{1950s-child-novel-stub}}
{{1950s-child-novel-stub}}
1954 book by Meindert DeJong
The Wheel on the School is a children’s novel by Dutch-born American author Meindert DeJong and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In the Netlanderlands fishing village of Shora, storks, a symbol of good luck, never nest; six children set out to change that. The book won the 1955 Newbery Medal and the 1957 Germany Youth Literature Award.[1][2]
Lina is one of six school children in the small fishing village of Shora in Friesland. When she writes an essay for school that asks why there are no storks in their village, she sets all the others to wondering. Their teacher encourages the class to find out for themselves. The children set out to bring the storks back, but they have to overcome many obstacles. They discovered that the roofs on the village’s homes are pitched so steeply that the storks cannot find space to nest on the sharp ridges, and placing a wagon wheel on each roof ridge would give storks a place to nest. The task of finding a wagon wheel in the tiny village proves difficult, and the children meet several interesting personalities during their search. This simple yet compelling plot teaches that when people think and wonder why, things begin to happen, and dreams come true.
The schoolchildren are: Lina, the only girl in the small school; Jella, the biggest of all the children; Auka, an average boy; Eelka, who is fat and awkward; and Pier and Dirk, the inseparable twins. These six kids are aided by their teacher, Grandmother Sibble III, legless Janus, old Douwa, and the “tin man”. Other characters include the fathers of the children, who are all fishermen; Lina’s aunt, who lives in Nes; Evert, the man living across from Lina’s aunt; Lina and Auka’s younger siblings, Linda and Jan; Jana, Janus’s wife; and the mothers of the children.
