The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day

by Scott O'Dell

The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by award-winning author Scott O'Dell is historical fiction set in Europe during the 1500s. In this Christian fiction book Tom Barton and his uncle Jack are smugglers who are used to breaking the law. With quick wits and secret cargo holds, they have managed to make a comfortable living. And then William Tyndale asks them to carry English Bibles along with their usual cargo. As enemy after enemy rises to oppose Tyndale's Bible translation, Tom is confronted with a choice between what he wants and what he knows to be true

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Young Adult, Christian Fiction, Classics

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Scott O'Dell was an American author celebrated for his historical fiction, especially novels for young readers. He is best known for Island of the Blue Dolphins, a classic that earned the Newbery Medal and has been translated into many languages and adapted for film. Over his career he wrote more than two dozen novels for young people, as well as works of nonfiction and adult fiction, often drawing on the history and landscapes of California and Mexico. His books, including The King’s Fifth, The Black Pearl, and Sing Down the Moon, earned him multiple Newbery Honors and a wide readership. O'Dell received numerous awards for his contribution to children’s literature, among them the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Regina Medal. In 1984, he established the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction to encourage outstanding works in the genre.

Reviews

[Reagan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was very boring, and rather hard to understand. It doesn't get exciting until the end, and even the end is pretty boring.

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book aloud for school. We all gave it four stars. This was a great story about William Tyndale and his courageous accomplishment of translating the Bible. We owe our ability to read the Bible to him and other great men who so valiantly fought for us to be able to do so.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

pretty boring.

[Sarah Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was disappointing. I expected more from Scott O’Dell, who wrote one of my favorite books (Island of the Blue Dolphins).
I almost stopped reading it halfway but kept going because I truly didn’t think it could flop this bad.
If O’Dell gave half as much detail on characterization, motivation, and plot development as he did on details about shipping and smuggling, there’d be a satisfying story.

As is, the story is lost in attempts at “textural” details, the plot jumps so quickly it’s hard to follow, and the characters and their motivations are so unclear, they’re hard to care about.

There’s a huge subplot (arguably given enough space that it’s the main plot) that leads absolutely nowhere, with no explanation along the way, and no satisfying resolution — it isn’t even addressed in the end. Instead of engaging the character and showing growth, it’s actually passively resolved by circumstances twice, and yet never acknowledged as resolved?? I’m seriously so confused as to how that was written or passed the editing stage.

And then there’s the Tyndale plot, which sadly feels buried as a subplot until the very end. Tyndale is a pretty one-note character — what a huge missed opportunity to really develop him and dive into what drove him.
I still don’t know why the main character (and his uncle) got and stayed involved with Tyndale - it’s like O’Dell was trying to be mysterious and not give things away, but instead didn’t give anything and maybe didn’t even know himself??

Suspense seems to build just to fizzle. There’s multiple points the story builds to points of huge revelation just to reveal nothing of consequence - and yet supposedly the character gleans everything from it??

Plenty of opportunities to foreshadow and tie ends together we’re wasted. Multiple characters are written in just to go nowhere, other major characters with huge roles in the plot just drop off the face of the earth and are never heard from again.

Overall this felt like a huge missed opportunity and sadly, a waste of time to read. Sorry Scott O’Dell, I really tried to give it a chance.

Also, my kids really wanted to know where the title came from and the book doesn’t allude to it. There’s a tiny section where it mentions Tyndale can only go out at night but it’s not really emphasized that he’s doing productive things then, so even the weight of a cool title feels lost.

[Abby Cashen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and slightly sad (what do you expect? It's Scott O'Dell after all) story that I honestly enjoyed until the end.

(Read full review here.)

http://sutorinohana.blogspot.com/2016...

(Includes content advisory.)

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book enhanced our study of the Reformation, William Tyndale, and persecutions suffered by those who challenged Church authority. Our family enjoyed reading this book aloud.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't decide between two and three stars on this one, but due to the author having written other books that I adore and the subject matter, I will call it 2.5 stars and round up. This was just not well written and did not convey the sense of what was really happening in these times that led to the martyrdom of Tyndale. I did love the early description of Tyndale. "A cloud-kisser, Master Tyndale. Always got his nose in a book." My frustration came with weak characters and some troubling plot holes. I did love the declaration that the main character makes near the end of the book, "The words William Tyndale wrote and gave his life for you cannot burn," I said. "Your fires lighted the sky but nothing else."

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this immediately following Caxton's Challenge, which has a bit in common with it regarding early printing. I found this to be much weaker in terms of providing information on historical aspects of life at the time. It focuses mostly on the plot and the interaction between the characters. This felt much more like average, rather than exceptional, historical fiction.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction, perfect for older elementary school/Jr. high. Boys will love it! It is based on the true story of William Tyndale, an early Bible translator. The story moves quickly, has many surprises and is engaging.

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow dull historical fiction of William Tyndale written for middle schoolers.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this aloud...until we got to the end and I was a blubbering mess.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in the history, and had previously loved this author's work, but it was hard to read more than a chapter a day.

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to continue my tradition of reading Christian biographies during the summer.

This was definitely an easy read, but it included some archaic terms (not a crazy amount, just more than I desired), which is why I didn't give it 5 stars.

Regardless, this story is about William Tyndale who challenged the Catholic church during Reformation times in order to provide Bibles to the English speaking world--as opposed to the Latin that was so common in that era.

I was encouraged by the patience, love and conviction of Tyndale--who secretly moved around European cities for up to eleven years to avoid premature arrest/execution, looked out for the poor by providing food, money and hope through words, and being willing to do the unpopular thing as long as it is God's will for your life.

I liked how the author of this book included the fictional characters of Tom Barton and his Uncle Jack, which provided a lot of coinciding adventures with Tyndale in order to add substance and suspense to the overall story.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and owned multiple Scott O’Dell books when I was growing up, but only recently did I learn that he wrote a historical fiction novel about the Reformer and English Bible translator William Tyndale. I then searched diligently, and finally found a used copy! The historical research for this book seems excellent, and O’Dell does a great job of making the reader feel like they really are walking the streets of London and sailing the seas in the sixteenth century. O’Dell brings many real people of that era to life, as Tom Barton, the fictional protagonist, gets involved in the effort to smuggle Bibles into England. It seems to me that this book does for the Reformation what Johnny Tremain does for the Revolutionary War, and like that book, I’d recommend this one for junior high or high school.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite this book often being a recommended historical fiction book, I was not impressed by the writing. Granted, it’s middle grade fiction, but it was really poorly written and the story seemed very choppy/jumpy. I was disappointed that I had my students read this book when there are much better stories available.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good historical novel about William Tyndall, who first translated the Bible into English and was executed as a heretic for it. Perhaps those younger than high school might not appreciate the significance of the story.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good YA historical novel about William Tyndale translating and printing the New Testament in English undercover. He had to leave England to do it. Was later burned for it. Most of Bibles today are based on his work.

[Rosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was trying to find a book I loved as a kid, and this is OK, but I don't think this is it. However, I might have found a reference to what I was looking for in the reviews here (Caxton's Challenge?)-- the search continues!

[Jamie Gottlieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! I read this along with my kids for school and learned a lot.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

An incredibly boring telling of an incredibly inspiring life. Bummer.

[Scott Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from a colleague. I read aloud to the kids (11, 10, 8) and they really enjoyed it. A good historical novel based on William Tyndale.

[Lexie Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love reading how hard it was to be a true Christian’s in that time period loved the adventures and obstacles Tyndale went through

[Karen B]

A basic short history about a young man who met and aided William Tyndale who translated the New Testament Bible and printed it to be distributed to the English people.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. A bit slow.

[Heather Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow and hard to follow at times.

[Emma Whear]

Fun.

Fits in that genre of "this is technically fiction, but actually a loosely-veiled history lesson for kids."

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting and well done book, but I think some kids will find it challenging. Essentially the story of the famous Bible translator Tyndale plus the story of a boy who agrees to smuggle Tyndale's Bibles back to England, O'Dell tells the story very authentically. It sounds like a much older book than one from the 20th century (maybe a Treasure Island or a Robinson Crusoe feel in the prose), and this may make it a hard read for some children. But if you're interested in Tyndale and/or in the period of history just preceding Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and the like--this is a perfect fit for that!

[Rev. Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting find at a yard sale: a novel about actual people who helped smuggle Tyndales Bibles into England. At first is is just another smuggling episode, as much of that took place during this period of time. However, the young man, Tom Barton, becomes friends with Tyndale (Tyndale teaches him to read) and plays a major role in Tyndale's vision that one day, "the Bible would be read by every ploughboy in England." Certainly not a new book (1975) but definitely worth locating if you enjoy reading about church history.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly good historical fiction of William Tyndale's story told from the point of view of a young smuggler (a career choice that did not carry the same stigma that it does today). The main fictional characters, as well, are maybe not the most striking and memorable, but they do have some interesting choices and dilemmas that are good for conversations with kids. Though I often wished for a bit more on several of the characters' feelings and motives. The time lapse throughout the story I found difficult to follow sometimes.