All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop

Claire Huchet Bishop

Claire Huchet Bishop was a children's novelist and librarian, winner of the Newbery Honor for Pancakes-Paris and All Alone and the Josette Frank Award for Twenty and Ten...

 is a children's book

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

, illustrated by Feodor Rojanovsky. It was a Newbery Honor

Newbery Medal

The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...

recipient in 1954.

Plot

Marcel Mabout is a "ten-year-old man", sent by his father with their three cows to summer pasture in the French mountains. While he is being trusted with the "family fortune" for the first time, Marcel is even more entrusted with the family creed, which also permeates his village, "Mind your own business". It is a village of friendless strangers, not neighbours. In the mountains, Marcel faces the cold, fear, and loneliness he was not prepared for. But when he hears the yodels of Pierre Pascal, a slightly older cowherd boy in the mountains, and their yodeling consoles each other. Then Pierre's cows wander over to Marcel's mountain, and he is faced with a crisis of conscience that pits his antisocial upbringing with his inner sense of righteousness. Deciding to take the risk of returning Pierre's cows, Marcel sets off a chain of events that leads to a revolution in the village.