The Apple and the Arrow

by Mary Buff, Conrad Buff

A 1952 Newbery Honor Book 

The year is 1291, and Walter is the eleven-year-old son of William Tell, the greatest bowman in the land of Uri. Walter lives happily in the remote heights of the Alpine Mountains, caring for his family’s goat herd and practicing his marksmanship in the hopes of making his father proud. But as the end of the year approaches, Walter’s peaceful life is shaken as his country enters a revolution, and Walter must carry a secret that could threaten the life of the father he loves so dearly.

More than seven hundred years have passed since the day Walter stood in the marketplace balancing an apple on his head while the Austrian tyrant Gessler commanded Walter’s father, William Tell, to take aim at the apple with his great crossbow. The dramatic tale of William’s arrest and escape and the daring revolt of the Swiss against the Austrians has become a legend around the world.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Picture Books, Medieval, Classics, Juvenile

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Mary Buff, formerly known as Mary Marsh, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 10, 1890. Mary had an early interest in arts and poetry but only continued to study art. She studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and at the Cincinnati Art Academy and received her bachelor's degree in Kansas at Bethany College. Mary then lived in Albion, Idaho and in the 1920s settled in Los Angeles. In 1922 she married Conrad Buff. Mary was the assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her income was large enough to allow her husband, Conrad Buff, to paint full-time. After marrying Conrad Buff, Mary gave up her pursuit of painting to write children`s books with him. She died in 1970.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

So yes, Mary and Conrad Buff's Newbery Honour winning The Apple and the Arrow (which features Swiss national hero Wilhelm Tell's famous apple/arrow incident and is told from the point of view of his older son, Walter, the person who had the apple shot from the top of his head) is definitely readable and teeming with much excitement and adventure (and of course also presents positive messages regarding fortitude, courage, fighting against tyranny, standing tall and brave against oppression). And if I simply were to approach The Apple and the Arrow as a story in and of itself and uncritically, I could and would indeed consider it most enjoyable, evocative and for its publication date of 1951 both still relevant and not even all that horribly thematically dated (enjoying and appreciating in particular that while Wilhelm Tell is indeed considered heroically brave and patriotic, and with unrelenting courage fighting on behalf of Swiss independence, he is also not simply drawn as bravery personified, as heroic perfection, but is portrayed with flaws and peccadilloes, such as being in possession of a rather mercurial hot headedness and a tendency to basically and for him and his son Walter dangerously beak off rather quickly and without forethought so to speak).

However, and this is indeed a very very big however for me personally, I just have not found either the storytelling or even the general themes of The Apple and the Arrow all that particularly European, all that particularly Swiss in nature (except for perhaps Conrad Buff's accompanying illustrations), with the general plot line reading more like a North American (a United States of America) story of a single and courageous patriot fighting against oppressive tyranny (albeit of course painted with and in a thin and pale cracking veneer of Switzerland).

For according to my own understanding of the Wilhelm Tell legend (and how Wilhelm Tell is also portrayed in Friedrich Schiller's famous play on the latter, how he is featured in Schiller's brilliant 1804 drama Wilhelm Tell), Wilhelm Tell is actually and generally NOT as he is for the most part portrayed by the Buffs as right from the BEGINNING of The Apple and the Arrow being an active conspirator against Gessler and Habsburg authority (no, Tell has generally or at least more often than not been portrayed both historically, folklorically and in European literature as someone who is at first rather an aloof and coolheaded loner, who although sympathetic to the rebellion against Austria, against Habsburg, is more concerned with his personal freedom as a lone mountain huntsman and only decides to actively and wholly join in the rebellion against Austrian rule when Gessler basically and without pardon and mercy forces his hand with the apple/arrow incident).

And even the apple/arrow incident (the main turning point of the legend and folklore regarding Wilhelm Tell as a hero, as a Swiss patriot) has not really (at least according to my knowledge of the Tell legend) been portrayed all that much in legend and literature as the Buffs have depicted it in The Apple and the Arrow (for unlike in the latter novel, in both Schiller's Wilhelm Tell and in most of the folktales, the legends surrounding Wilhelm Tell as a hero of the Swiss confederacy, Tell does not in fact actively and verbosely refuse to kneel before Gessler's plumed hat, that his failure to bow before it in respect might in fact have even been, as Tell attempts to explain to Gessler in Schiller's play, an actual oversight on his part, an unintentional omission). Of course, in both Schiller's Wilhelm Tell and in Mary and Conrad Buff's The Apple and the Arrow the entire premise of forcing the Swiss to acknowledge Gessler's tyrannical authority by having them salute and bow before his hat is considered and presented as being totally and utterly anathema, and the end result is also and indeed similar, is in fact the same, with Tell not bowing in front of the hat and then being forced to shoot an apple from his son Walter's head, and then later assassinating Gessler in Küssnacht (and why Tell does not immediately shoot Gessler and actually engages in the now famous "apple-shot" I have also never really and fully understood).

But yes, how Wilhelm Tell is portrayed as a general literary character in The Apple and the Arrow, does indeed bother me more than a bit on a personal level, as his presentation as a rather raging and right from the start active conspirator against Gessler and Habsburg tyranny is so majorly different from the Wilhelm Tell of history and legend that I know and yes love (from both Swiss folklore to Friedrich Schiller's classic play), that I cannot really, that I have not really been able just to read and simply enjoy The Apple and the Arrow, and that the to me a bit erroneous depictions of especially Wilhelm Tell's character do leave more than a bit to be personally desired. And thus for me, only a two star rating for The Apple and the Arrow (and no, not a terrible novel, and yes, an adventuresome story with important messages against tyranny and happily, fortunately in favour of striving against political oppression, but too historically inaccurate and yes too inaccurate on a literature basis as well for me to recommend The Apple and the Arrow without some major reservations and caveats, especially to and for readers like myself who adore Schiller's Wilhelm Tell and consider his Wilhelm Tell as the bona fide, the true Wilhelm Tell of legend and perhaps of history).

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whether it's history or legend, this is a wonderful story! Read it for the little boy's nobility of character, as a New Year's Eve read or as a Swiss legend and it's people's fight for independence.

Geography: Switzerland

Ages: 7+

Cleanliness: "Bl**dy" used to mean lots of blood. "Holy Mary" and "go to the devil" are said. Mentions a man who's "daughter had suffered at the hands of one of Gessler's soldiers." Mentions wine.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the legend more than the book. This Newberry honor book of only eighty pages was offered time and again in the Scholastic book orders for fifty cents or a dollar. I purchased them for my classroom, but truthfully rarely saw anyone take interest. It's not a great read aloud, but is an okay offering in early reader historical fiction.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading for CC2 during the Medieval Period. Jacob picked out this book to read. We read it over 3 years ago but Ellie was too young to remember..krb 9/7/16

Both kids liked this book. Wonderful book that shows how Switzerland began, fighting against tyranny, and the love of God..krb 9/10/16

[Jennifer (JenIsNotaBookSnob) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not actually finish this. I just couldn't. It lost me when the 2 unaccompanied children stop and kneel at a cross at the side of the road as part of their routine after spending an afternoon practicing their marksmanship to please dear old absent father.

Look, I get it, people want to imagine that good little Christian children behave piously when unaccompanied by their parents. This was supposed to be taking place in the 1200's in Switzerland but it reads how a 1950's parent would wish for their would-be altar boy to behave. I just really, really don't like unrealistic children in books.

Yes, you could say that it was the 1950's AND the authors were trying to portray the 1200's. However, back in 1902 Nesbit wrote a perfectly believable children's book called "5 Children and It" where the children have pretty typical attitudes to normal children everywhere.

People are people are people. The children of yesteryear weren't noble miniaturized adults. Since William Tell is a legend and folktale and nothing exists about him except what was written fully 200 years after the event; well, I guess I'm saying they could have had a bit of fun with the material. Though, I will say that the boy is such an insufferable, pious little bootlicker that I wouldn't particularly mind attempting to shoot an apple off the top of his head either.

I was going to attempt to read all the Newbery medal books; this book perfectly exemplifies why I've abandoned that endeavor. Now my goal is to TRY all the Newbery medal books.

Would love to see someone tackle a William Tell book for children in a way that would actually be entertaining. I'm sure someone from Switzerland has already done it well, just probably isn't available in English. :)

[Charles Haywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do any American children learn about William Tell today? Do any Swiss children learn about him? Very few, if any, I suspect. My children do, but only because last year I was reminded of William Tell by Ernst Jünger’s "The Forest Passage," and so I went and bought what few children’s books are still in print about the Swiss hero. Among those was "The Apple and the Arrow," winner of the Newberry Medal in 1952, which I have just finished reading to my children, to their great delight.

Tell’s story is the core legend associated with the founding of the Old Swiss Confederacy, where around A.D. 1300 three communes (basically the cantons of today), Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, agreed to act together for purposes of defense and trade. This was not the Common Market, a primarily economic arrangement. Rather, the Swiss expected to have to fight to maintain their political freedom, and they did. And like most legends remembered through the ages, especially those suppressed by our ruling classes today (which most are), the Tell story is chock full of useful lessons for modern men and women, some of which are thrown into highlight by today’s events.

The background history is a little complex, but in short at that time the ultimate overlord of all what is now Switzerland was the Holy Roman Emperor, though in practice day-to-day political control was usually in the hands of a greater or lesser ducal family. The Habsburgs, the villains of the Tell story, were originally just another such Swiss ducal family—“Habsburg” was not the family name, but the name of their castle in the Swiss canton of Aargau, which, like the three original cantons of the Confederacy, adjoined Lake Lucerne. Ducal rule was not the only arrangement—sometimes the relevant lord was a powerful local abbot (this was true for long periods in Schwyz) and sometimes a town or canton enjoyed “imperial immediacy,” direct rule (very light) by the Emperor, which in practice was, naturally, strongly resisted by the local dukes. For example, Emperor Frederick II granted Schwyz imperial immediacy in 1240, but the Habsburgs gradually accrued power there anyway—the Emperor was far away and had much else on his mind. By one method or another, by the end of the thirteenth century the Habsburgs exercised immediate control over all three cantons, but this was a control of short standing—not sanctioned by custom, the real source of most medieval law, and not liked by the Swiss, used to hands-off rule in their mountains and forests.

According to the Tell legend, Habsburg effrontery began the trouble. Rudolph of Habsburg died in 1290, and was succeeded by his son Albert, who decided to show the stiff-necked Swiss who was in charge. Albert sent a bailiff, or reeve, one Albrecht Gessler, to Altdorf, the main town of Uri, to administer the cantons claimed by the Habsburgs. Gessler set up a pole in the marketplace, atop which he placed his hat, and required all passers-by to bow to the hat. This was a double humiliation, and intended as such, for not only was obeisance to a hat not something free men were accustomed to, but Gessler himself was a commoner, and not even entitled to the modest deference the Swiss might have offered a noble.

The story from here is simple enough. William Tell was a huntsman of modest means living in Uri. He took his son to market, and Gessler’s soldiers demanded he bow to the hat. He refused, and was arrested and taken to Gessler. The reeve knew of Tell’s reputation for marksmanship, and so ordered that Tell shoot an apple off his son’s head, or they would both be killed. Tell, seeing no choice, took two crossbow bolts, put one in his belt and the other in his weapon, and successfully split the apple. Gessler, angry and no doubt suspecting the reason, demanded to know why Tell had put a second bolt in his belt. Tell refused to answer, other than saying it was a bowman’s custom, so Gessler assured Tell he would not be executed if he answered. Whereupon Tell told Gessler that if he had struck his son, he would have immediately taken the second bolt and killed Gessler.

No surprise, this enraged Gessler. But he did not break his promise—rather, he assured Tell he would die in prison. Gessler’s men took Tell in a boat, across Lake Lucerne, to the dungeon of Küssnacht. They never made it—a storm blew up, and Tell, experienced on the water, was untied and told to steer the craft. He brought it to land—and leaped off, fleeing into the forest, while the boat was carried by the waves back onto the lake. But Tell did not return home. Instead, he lay in wait for Gessler to either drown or to get to shore. He managed the latter, and with his men immediately proceeded to his castle—so Tell assassinated him from the shadows with his crossbow. This second half of the legend is often forgotten, when this tyrannicide is really the most important part of the legend—both the action itself, and that it began the forging of a new system, rather than being simply an attempt to turn back the clock, which is and can never be successful.

Thus began the Swiss war of rebellion against the Habsburgs, in which the key battles were Morgarten (1315) and Sempach (1386). In the latter, the Habsburg duke, Leopold III, was killed, allowing the Confederacy to expand. Today, with many twists and turns along the way, the Swiss still live under a political system with external characteristics not that different, most notably a subsidiarity extreme by modern standards, and the use of national referendums to decide important questions. The Swiss are, or were until recently, free—not a libertarian freedom that exalts individual choice, but an ordered freedom.

The Apple and the Arrow views the key events of the legend through the lens not only of Tell, but of his immediate family. The authors take some liberties with the traditional legend, most notably casting Tell as an active participant in a conspiracy against Austrian tyranny prior to running afoul of Gessler’s hat, whereas in the traditional version, he was an apolitical man radicalized by that event. No matter; the exact details of the revolt against the Habsburgs are long lost, and what matters is that the men of the three cantons agreed to fight, and did. They risked their lives, and won, for which their reward was to risk their lives again and again, since as the saying goes, freedom isn’t free.

That’s not to say the women didn’t matter—as always in the West, they mattered a great deal, they just didn’t pretend to be men, as women are told today they must. One key benefit of this book as a children’s book is that it depicts, and instructs children in, proper roles for men and women, those based on reality and resulting in a healthy society. The story offered is not the silly fantasy we would get if the book were written today, where Tell’s daughter would have the best crossbow skills in the canton, spend her days humiliating boys with her superior skills in every physical endeavor, and be solely responsible for killing Gessler, shrieking “Girl Power!”, while her father cowered in fear at home. In this book, rather, Tell’s wife, Hedwig, takes counsel with her husband, balances and smooths the edges off the defects that are inherent in masculinity (as he balances the defects that are inherent in femininity), and is an active participant, in a wholly realistic way, in the Swiss fight for independence, while never lifting a weapon or leaving her village. That’s the way a society should work, and mostly did work, until we were fed infinite amounts of lying propaganda about the past and sold a bill of goods about relationships between men and women, resulting in today’s pernicious chaos, pleasing and benefiting neither sex, that afflicts men and women today at all stages of their lives.

So I highly recommend this book. Even for adults, it’s a quick introduction to the Tell story, worth having in these days when it is mostly forgotten, or rather suppressed for the hero’s supposedly retrograde nature, for daring to accurately reflect reality and celebrate virtues that our masters deny are virtues. It’s a reminder of when awards such as the Newberry Medal, awarded by the American Library Association, went to worthy books. Today, the ALA is overtly racist and celebrates various perversions, and, inevitably, its awards don’t reflect merit, but its political priorities and its desire to indoctrinate children into its divisive ideology. You can be certain no book given a medal today focuses on, or even shows, a strong nuclear family, or shows men doing masculine things while women do feminine things. Now, the Newberry Medal’s primary benefit is to show a book to avoid. Schools, of course, eagerly use such guides, and similar collections that have gone full Left, such as Scholastic, to choose books to indoctrinate children. For example, my children’s school proudly displayed, before the Wuhan virus shut their doors, the covers of four books all grades under fifth must use to brainwash children. Two were racist and that was their main point. One celebrated homosexual penguins. To be fair, the fourth was mostly about kindness, although with racist overtones and encouraging an attitude of helplessness and handouts in tough economic straits. Needless to say, no book was written more than ten years ago, or was in any way a classic story, or will be remembered ten years from now.

It’s not just the Newberry Medal that has gone downhill. The Swiss have, too, though it took nearly seven hundred years. I’m not an expert on Swiss politics, but I think much of the recent turn to the Left winning national referendums is due to the dying out of the rural Swiss and their replacement with (also dying out, but more slowly) effete city dwellers who are mere carbon copies of the end-stage EU-loving drones of Germany. In recent years, for example, the Swiss have sharply limited the right to keep firearms (long correctly deemed necessary to maintain a free society) and imposed “hate speech” laws (always only ever used to suppress conservatives), among other stupidities. Today, Tell’s target wouldn’t be a foreign overlord, but the men of his own country who have stripped its people of their freedoms and bow to foreign ideological domination. True, in Switzerland as in other European countries, a party devoted to the country’s original ideals continues to gain power, violently attacked using the usual totalitarian tricks of the ruling class, and the outcome is ultimately in doubt (more so now with the Chinese virus spreading chaos in Europe, although the pansified global reaction to the pandemic gives more cause for pessimism than hope about the future).

I have talked elsewhere at length about rebellion and tyrannicide, so I will not specifically address the morality of Tell’s actions (short version: they’re awesome). Nor will I talk again about Ernst Jünger’s casting of Tell as the original “forest rebel,” which is a fascinating analysis very much worth reading. It interests me, too, but I will not talk today about, how the Tell legend illustrates the radicalization of men in the face of injustice—in essence, how and why men react to injustice by taking huge risks to inflict violence on their oppressors achieve a goal of which the risk-taker has no legitimate expectation of success and when he will almost certainly lose his own life. Not long ago, this was one of the most common storylines, across cultures—that men will often value justice far more than their own lives. But I will save that for another time.

Instead, let’s talk current events, that on which everyone is forced to focus. The Chinese virus has highlighted that in the West today the dominant ethos is that every person should value most of all his own life, at any cost that may be imposed on others or on broader society. This is fundamentally a form of cowardice, but less judgmentally (not that there’s anything at all wrong with judging others), it is a form of societal feminization, since protection is a core characteristic of women, in their nature. We see this in the global reaction to the Wuhan virus, which has sharply exposed many things, but in this context it has exposed how deep into the West the desperate desire for safety, at all costs but granted and directed by others stronger than ourselves, has choked us. Its manifestation in this moment is that rather than weighing risks and rewards, and choosing to bear burdens to accomplish goals, the vast majority of people accept, and even seek out, the most exaggerated worst-case scenarios as reality, and act on the basis of reducing risk as close to zero as possible. Everyone knows the internet has turned most of us into hypochondriacs, but maybe it’s not WebMD that has done that, but our own flaccidity and the simpering weakness of our “leaders.”

There is little doubt at this point that the death rate from the virus among the vast majority of people is very low. The obvious answer is to protect those actually at risk, or to let them protect themselves if they choose, and let everyone else get on with their lives, taking reasonable precautions. Yet there is no logical discussion, and any data that does not support the dominant narrative of overprotective panic is swiftly censored or memory-holed. Also pervading the hysteria is a strong element of wanting to avoid “stigma” by pretending that everyone is similarly situated; the desire to not stigmatize others or see them stigmatized is a feminine trait. And to the extent that activity, rather than passivity, is asked for by those in charge, it is second-order feminine actions, like initiatives for “kindness,” around which a municipality in my area has launched a massive campaign, complete with plenty of colored chalk drawings on local driveways. That’ll show the virus!

Everyone is told he must enter his government-provided mental cocoon and hold close his government-issued teddy bear, and wait for it all to be over. He complies, for he is no William Tell or forest rebel, even though there is no visible path for a return to normalcy other than by simply suffering for a short, sharp period, while doing our best to protect and aid those actually at significant risk. That truth is ignored and painted, for no specified reason, as evil. Instead, we accept and cower to the demands of legions of Karens, who lecture us that all that matters is following “the rules,” whatever those are today, whomever they are issued by, and whether or not they make any sense. And in truth, most of those ever-changing rules are the commands of the fearful women who run governments, either directly as political leaders, who may have been an adequate choice to coddle a weak but stable society, but were the wrong choice for a crisis, or who have foolishly been put in charge of our councils, rather than sent to nurse the sick.

Instead of acting with a forthright, decisive . . . [Review completes as first comment.]

[Andria Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Newberry book. 4 ⭐. RTC.

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great kids book about resisting tyranny. Good for our day.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

At just eighty pages in length and plentifully decorated with full-page illustrations, The Apple and the Arrow certainly is one of the shorter books to have ever been designated a Newbery Honoree by the ALA committee. It's brevity doesn't prevent it from being a very good book, though, filled with splashes of excitement and conspiratorial intrigue in the retelling of an old legend about a brave people who fought back against despotism to earn freedom for themselves and their children. The action peaks at the suspenseful scene in which the great archer William Tell, a hero in the mold of Robin Hood, is forced by the cruel sovereign Gessler to use his vaunted bow to shoot an apple resting on the top of his own eleven-year-old son Walter's head. Should William Tell fail in hitting his mark, either killing the boy or simply misdirecting the feathered missile away from the perched apple, Gessler has decreed that father and son should both die.

There is noticeably more suspense to this book than in most other Newbery Honor recipients from the early 1950s. Near the beginning of the story, as Walter listens from his bedroom to the heated conversation between his mother and father about the current state of their country, and his mother cautions his father against stirring up any more trouble, one can imagine the possibility of a government soldier riding up at any time to bring danger to the Tell's door. The dark night could hide any sort of lurking conspirator working for Gessler, listening in for a choice bit of secret information that could put Walter's father and the rest of his family in mortal jeopardy. Walter worries about his father in this new tyrannical government state run by the despised Gessler, but it turns out that he won't have to worry from afar. Walter is going to be right in the middle of the action as matters turn from bleak to even bleaker, and he is compelled to put his life in the hands of his father to an extent that few children will ever be required to match.

The Apple and the Arrow is an excellent story, but I'd have to say that what stands out best about it is the way that Walter handles the apple-shooting incident. His total confidence in the man he calls father never wavers for an instant. He has a "bring it on" attitude about the whole ruthless test, and under the circumstances it's quite obvious that nothing at all about his response was an empty show. He was risking his life by standing directly beneath the trajectory of his father's arrow, yet Walter never flinched because he knew in his heart that there was no way his father was going to miss this shot. It was impossible that his father would ever kill him, and so there was no reason for fear of the damage that the arrow could potentially cause. The horrified spectators were watching a struggle for life or death that would balance with unbearable precariousness on a razor's thin edge; Walter, gazing out at his father from beneath the piece of fruit bestowed upon his head, was watching no such struggle. To him, he had simply been given the best seat in the house to observe what would undoubtedly be his father's greatest triumph. Who can help but be shaken by such an example of deep and utterly unwavering faith?

So while The Apple and the Arrow on the surface is a story about political oppression and the strength of a free people to redeclare their own freedom when it is threatened, I see it more as the celebration of a quiet young hero who did more for his country's revolution by standing in one place and not moving than most others accomplished by way of the sword. Ultimately, it was the stirring show of the boy's absolute faith that galvanized his countrymen to take up their part of the bold collective resolve necessary to overthrow Gessler's oppressive regime and earn back for themselves the freedom that had been theirs by birth for so many centuries. But in many respects it all started with one boy, who demonstrated his own power by believing wholeheartedly in the power of another. It has always been and always will be hard to defeat strong faith, because when one truly is possessed of it, victory is never impossible.

I like this book very much. Mary and Conrad Buff always work together nicely as an author/illustrator combo, but The Apple and the Arrow is easily their best work that I've read. There's a good chance that I would give it the full three stars.

[Haley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story contained within the pages of this book was a great story--good morals, evil failing, bravery. But. But. I really didn't like it. It bored me to tears. I was so glad that there was only 80 pages. It was interesting to see the backstory, and how it all played out. Part of the reason that this book might have been so hard for me was that the protagonist bothered me. Maybe seeing from the eyes of a young boy just didn't sit well with me. The overall story was interesting and good but I just didn't like the way it was executed.

The story follows a small boy and his famous and brave father William Tell. We are introduced to our main character as they are outside and being outside is most of the story. We see how William Tell and his men go about planning a revolution and are thwarted at first by evil men and then triumph over that. The revolution happens and we see the start of a war and the pivotal points that started this uprising from his son, Walter. A main point of the story is when William shoots an apple from Walter's head.

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A must-read for any young or young-at-heart traveller to Switzerland. If you know this story, you will be welcomed with open arms, especially in Zentralschweiz (Luzern, etc.). ;)

[Stephen Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the legend of William Tell and the beginning of Switzerland.
There is a heavy revolutionary message akin to the fervor of the American Revolution, but at a smaller scale and in the late 1200’s. But a tale of fighting against tyranny is timeless. In this tale we see the desire to be rid of a new political and royal tyranny, while trying to keep your family safe. Tell is a noble figure, balancing his Catholic faith with his family’s safety, as well as his desire for freedom and yearning for vengeance.

⚠️ Parental Warnings ⚠️
Some suspense and non-graphic deaths.
Nothing inappropriate.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little gem has been sitting on my shelf for quite awhile now. I saw it at a second hand store and, remembering people's comments about it, purchased it.
I picked it up off the shelf one evening and read it in an hour or so to my husband and my 8 year old son. It was a perfect for what it was. A short uplifting story about a legend of a truly amazing man and how Switzerland gained its independence.
It's pages are rich with tales of integrity, morals, strength, faith, freedom, and courage.
At one point Walter is sitting at his mothers knee. She teaches him something simple and yet so profound, she says: "All will fight as one nation. All will die together too, if it ever comes to that." I look at the things going on in our nation and they seem so divisive. There is power in staying United. Hedwig is a wise woman to recognize this and so are the people in her world.
William teaches us another, perhaps more profound, lesson when in the town square, he is told to bow before a hat waving on a flag pole. He is ordered to and he refuses, logically explaining that he will not bow down to a thing of rags. 'Next thing you'll command us to bow down before you, you bullies.' 'I will bow only to those more truly noble than I.... A hat is nothing to worship.'
The lesson here is what he teaches us. The hat is a distraction and a means to a more controlling end. It's nothing but a way to see how far they can push the people. That is happening so much more magnified right now in my country. The powers that be are throwing so many distractions at us and we are being distracted by them alright. In the mean time they are using those distraction to divide us--because we are letting them and what's worse while we are letting them distract us they are busy passing laws that seem to 'fix' the problems but in fact are actually destroying the Founding documents that make our country free.
Then comes Walter! Walter teaches us the most powerful of all the lessons contained in this book. The power of faith! I heard a comment just today that faith and fear cannot cohabitate. When the time comes for William to shoot the apple off Walters head Walter with complete faith and confidence tells his father to do it. And then he adds: 'Shoot, Father, shoot. I am not afraid. God is watching over us.' And this brought back his fathers courage.
As the story concludes Walter has solidified through the example of his mother and father that 'man lives by faith, and that faith can be stronger than fear.'
I so hope that we can grasp the concept of these simple yet profound lessons and that we can, like William, be 'peaceful' men but I also hope that we, again like William, will always 'be brave men' and 'risk all we have for a belief.' I hope we can know what Walter knew: Man lives by faith and faith can be stronger than fear!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: "Missed it again. Go and find the arrow, Rudi, will you? It fell near that old rotten log over there--the one with the big hole in it."

Premise/plot: Walter Tell loves his father William very much. He's proud to be his son, the son of one of the best bowmen ever. And he's a bit proud that he's old enough and responsible enough to hold such important secrets, secrets that could endanger the lives of his father and other men of the community of Uri. You see, come New Year's Day, the men are planning to revolt against the Austrians. The year is 1291. And the nation of Switzerland is a mere idea in the minds of men and women who long for freedom.

My thoughts: I'd heard a tiny bit about William Tell before. (The shooting an apple off his son's head thing.) I liked this one so much more than I thought I would. It is a Newbery Honor book from the 1950s. (So many Newbery winners and honors are set in medieval times.) I liked the faith elements in this one. So little is said about God and about prayer.

Favorite quotes:

War means starvation and death, not only for soldiers, but for women and children too. War always means that. (17)

Dear Lord, Father of all men, look down upon us this great night. Be with us when the bells ring, when the signal fires burn. Help us throw from our shoulders the yoke of the tyrant. But, good Lord, let no blood flow this night in the land of Uri. Even in this, our greatest hour, help us to remember that all men, even evil men, are our brothers. Keep our hearts pure, our arms strong. For the Virgin's sake. Amen."(74)

Now he knew why his mother had wished him to be here on this night of nights. He felt it all dimly, but he felt it nevertheless. He knew what the wise have always known, that men lives by faith, and that faith can be stronger than fear.(76)

[Jenny Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed this read aloud together as family. Kids didn’t want me to put it down.

[Joan Innes]

This book had a lot of appeal maybe because of the strong antagonist/protagonist theme. Will the people ever rise above the cruel overlord, Gessler, that has the people working for him to increase his greatness through buildings on his land? Switzerland is in a revolution against its Austrian rulers. Little Rudi and his younger brother Prinz live in a Swiss village in 1291, and courageous Rudi is the main character of this book. The book is rich in description of the surroundings of this mountainous region of Switzerland. William Tell, Rudi's father, plays an important role in this book with his sharp thinking, skill, and strength. Many other characters add depth and interest to this story that makes you feel like there is possiblity and hope against all odds with the love of family and help of friends.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confession: I didn't think I was going to like this book because it looks like the type of book I wouldn't enjoy, from the time period of Newbery Honor winners that I haven't particularly enjoyed. I know I know, not fair. And it turns out I did enjoy it. I was wrong. And now I know a little more about how Switzerland came to be, and who the William Tell Overture is written about. I could see a child in fourth or fifth grade enjoying this book, especially as it is told from the perspective of a child that age who looks up to his father. Had it been written from the father's point of view I don't think it would have been as powerful.

[Christopher]

The Apple And The Arrow was a book that I really was good. In the begging Walter was shooting arrows and his father came back late at night and told him the he would take him to Aldouf. In the middle Walter asked his father to tell the story of when he was younger and how he ran away form the solders. At the end Walter and his brother went to a fire late at night and Walter had to carry his brother home and they all fell asleep.

I really liked this book and it was easy to read and I recommend this book to a reader that likes to have a short story to read.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The legend of William Tell! I'd heard that name but didn't really know the deets about why he was famous. Apparently he refused to bow down to a hat. (I'm still laughing at this.) Then the evil governor forced him to shoot an arrow off his child's head (which he did with aplomb!) and then arrested him. They took him across dangerous seas and William Tell had to steer the boat and eventually he escaped and shot the evil governor.

(Sorry if these are spoilers for you, but it is a legend that's 700 years old, so I feel that's passed the statute of limitations on spoilers.)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read this book to some of my kids (ages 8-12) and we all loved it. I have been meaning to read this to them for years and just never did. I think this book has some great messages about faith, courage, family, and freedom. It also got us interested in learning more about Switzerland. The kids were engaged and begged me to keep reading. You can easily read this aloud in one or two sittings.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

We really enjoyed this true story of the independence of Switzerland. We liked how it pointed out the difference one man can make to change the course of events in his own world. Freedom requires courage and this story displays the courage of a family to gain independence from tyranny. There are lots of good attributes represented in this book.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for myself and attempted to read it to my eldest daughter. Sadly, she was not interested. I read it to know the tale of the legendary William Tell. It was fun and I learned more about honor and love of country and family. I also love the overture of the William Tell operetta because it is also the theme of The Lone Ranger.

[Lily! · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars


I remember my mom read this to my siblings and I for school and I thought it was so cool and daring to shoot an apple off of someone's head and us discussing the trust they must have had in each other. Nice illustrations and story from what I remember :)

CWs, or things that caught my attention: possibly people making fun of other people?


10/28/24

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He knew what wise men have always known, that man lives by faith, and that faith can be stronger than fear..." This was so much more than a story about William Tell. In five short chapters we learned and lived the history of the founding of Switzerland. A wonderful and touching book.

[Christina Packard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally now understand the story of William Tell.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

We really enjoyed this book. It reminds me of Robin Hood, another favorite. Well written and exciting!

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 4 out of 5]

I added this book to my queue after reading the excellent write-up on it by Charles J (my favorite GR contributor). It's intended for kids and, I fear, kids of a few decades ago. I showed it to my eighth-grader, conceding that it was a little young even for him but recommending the story anyway. He let me talk, and looked at the pictures, but said the notion of making people bow down to a hat is just absurd. To that I asked whether he'd been exposed to anything in school (any currently fashionable three-word phrases for example) before which all must show obeisance. He didn't answer, but he clearly took my meaning.

The ultimate point here is that it's often easier to live with the problem than to confront it. Other people in the William Tell story chose to genuflect before the hat because that was easier than being hassled by the soldiers. William Tell refused, and yes, that meant he had a fight on his hands, one that could have cost the life of his son. In today's world, it's certainly bad enough when soulless corporations also cooperate with oppression, in the pursuit of short-term profits. But individuals also play along. No doubt many have been taught to believe the narrative, but reciting it also enhances their social standing. On the other hand, not playing along can cost one in terms of employment (it did me, once; I've since learned to bite my tongue). One's car might be keyed (mine was). Someone more prominent than I might also experience doxxing.

No, it's much easier—and safer—to let the tyrants have their way with our society, right?

In that context, William Tell remains a true hero.

[Keenan Story · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional Literature
5th-6th grade reading level
This book is a great read for young readers or anyone looking for enjoyment in traditional literature. It tells the story of the legend of a man named William Tell. This is told from the viewpoint of William's son and is set around a historical and political framework of Switzerland. I loved this book because of the way that it uses a traditional literature aspect of story telling with a legend of a man in order to convey some pretty powerful messages and to foster strong themes in the book. These themes include bravery, motivation, willpower, determination, and faith in others. It is a fun and engaging book for readers, but it also is great for fostering these themes in the lives of young readers who may connect personally with the characters. For me, it shared with me a lot about being brave even in dangerous situations, even though that looks different today than it did back then.

[Jessica Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grades- 3-8
Genre: Historical Fiction
Newberry Honor Book
I liked this book because it is told from the son Walter's point of view. This book had me sitting on the edge of my seat not wanting to put it down because I was so nervous about what was going to happen when Walter puts his trust in his father to do what he does. However, the storyline of this book is intriguing and the author develops a good theme within the text. I would recommend this book to young readers because it is a Newberry Honor Book and is based on the fight for freedom by the Swiss people.

[Emmy Kirkham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade Level: 2-4

This book just didn't interest me very much. I thought the folk tale was interesting and I enjoyed the pictures, but overall, it just wasn't for me. I did enjoy that this story gave a perspective on a time in history that is not often written about. It was nice to read about something different. I also know this story could be popular in a classroom among students interested in medieval times. I will definitely keep this in mind for those students, but for me, I just couldn't get into this story.