For school my sister and I are working on the book The Shakespeare Stealer. Our assignment is to write a book review for The Shakespeare Stealer on ideas of childhood morality up to the point we read thus far.
In the beginning of the book Widge, (the main character) loses his family and is brought up at an orphanage where he learns his first idea of right and wrong. Later on in his life he is adopted by Dr. Bright. Bright asked Widge to go and copy his colleagues’ sermons, he gives his own sermons, to put into a book of the best sermons. Later Widge finds out that Bright is actually using the sermons for his own. Widge has a flicker of a shadow of doubt, but then thinks “Right was what benefited you , and anything which did you harm was Wrong.” With this thought in mind, Widge overlooks the doubt he had before. Also if Widge tattles on Bright, that will probably mean that Bright will disown him and then he goes to the orphanage again. That is not good for him. Soon Widge is caught, and the blame falls squarely on Widge. Although this is not shown, the reader can deduct from evidence given later in the book that this greatly changes Widge’s thoughts of morality. Furthermore, at the orphanage they set a foundation stone for Widge’s ideas of morality. To build a new and better morality stone takes a lot to understand that this new one is better. Also, going on with the theme of childhood, once a stone is set it becomes increasingly harder to break as you grow.
So far I have not finished the book, although maybe something will happen that drastically changes Widge’s ideas of morality. Honestly, I think that he should just take a spin on the wheel or morality with Yakko, Wakko and Dot!
-Hf
fretzes on the loose 
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, illustrated by George Ford. Scholastic Press, 1995.
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Hey,Happyfrog2. I tried to send you a reply. I think I hit the wrong key or something. It disappeared. Anyway, it went something like this: Your post reminds me of a good friend of mine named Robert Coles. He’s old now, in his 80s. During a long career, he wrote many books on the moral lives of children. Before his writing, children were viewed as miniature adults. Coles’ books show that children have complex and unique moral lives. They face challenging moral questions and dilemmas, like the ones Widge faces in your post, with courage and moral insight. Coles wrote one book especially for children. It’s the true story of a girl he knew named Ruby Bridges. If you think Widge faces a tough situation, you won’t believe what Ruby went through.
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