The Defender

Author: Nicholas Kalashnikoff

Illustrated by: Claire Louden and George Louden

Publishing information: (Walker Publishing Co., 1993, Young Adult)

Number of Pages: 138 pages

Genre: Fiction

Summary of Plot:       

            This story is about a man named Turgen. He was thought to be a friend of the devil because he thought mountain rams were his friends. This man at one time had a wife and young son, but many years ago they both had died of illness. Turgen faced loneness while he lived alone, because people found him to be mysterious.

One night he helped out a mother’s (a widow) two children, Tim and Aksa, restart their fire while the mom was at work because he had seen them on his way back home from the village. He later brought provisions over to that family to help them out, they were poor. This started a friendship between the family and Turgen.

One day he was in the forest and saw a lamb get knocked off a slippery bridge. Being the kind man he was, he decided to try and save it. So he reset the lambs bone, gave it nourishment, watched it, and cared for it until it was ready to survive in the wild again. He then returned it to father of the lamb. He loved that lamb, but he knew it would please the Great Spirit to return it.

Some time passes, and the family’s and Turgen’s friendship grows deeper. The mother, Marfa, and Turgen decide to combine families, and get married. The book tells of their wedding. The villagers start to respect Turgen more. In the end Turgen and Marfa go to the “other side” and Tim (now married) and Aksa carry on their family’s tradition with the rams.

My Reaction to the book:

            I found this book to be slow in the beginning; I almost returned the book to the library because of that. I read on though, and it became really interesting. I liked hearing about the Russian setting and culture. I liked the messages the book had, about helping those in need, being kind to neighbors, and finding hope. In the very last page of the book there is a line, one of my favorites from the book, which reads, “Everywhere there is life and everywhere there are warm human hearts”(138). This is a good message to everyone in the world.

Potential Problems:

For most of the book the villagers weren’t very nice to Turgen. They found him weird, and excluded him from places. This may not be the message parents want to give children. However, this problem does resolve in the end.

Recommendations:

I would give this book a high recommendation. While I didn’t like it to start with, it grew on me. This book is on the Newbery Honor Role. I can tell why. It has some pictures (sketches) in it. Some kids may like those. It is a good book to read to teach the message of being kind to everyone.