The Wonder Smith and His Son by Ella Young (published 1927) tells traditional Irish tales about the Gubban Saor, a magical builder (spelled elsewhere on the web as Gobán Saor). I had not been familiar with this traditional character from Irish history, so these stories were all new to me! They were quite strange. Unlike some fairy tales, this is person who was mysteriously given his powers when a bag of tools appeared in front of him. And while his strange powers gave him a miraculous power in creating fantastic buildings as an architect, many of the stories were far removed from building.
The Gubban Saor was also a strange character. One main aspect that bothered me was his children. There is no mention of a wife, so apparently she is out the picture. But, he was disappointed to have a baby daughter instead of a son. The neighbor woman had a son and wanted a daughter so they switched children. Thus, the titular son of the Wonder Smith is actually an adopted son. Then, later in the stories, the Gubban decides he wants to find his actual daughter, Auyna. Once she is found by magical means, Aunya then marries the Wonder Smith’s son. Ew? Weird?
Making magical buildings isn’t quite like some other types of magical characters from fairy tales. But according to tradition, he was a real architect from Dublin that lived in the 500s AD, and is sometimes referred to as a Saint by the Catholic church. I think it is fantastic that these stories have been collected. In the forward, the author explains that she spent a lot of time interviewing people in Ireland to get the stories and combine them together into this book.
I was completely bored by it, however. I found the magical elements so foreign and unconnected that I had a hard time following them. It just wasn’t that interesting or amusing!
The Wonder Smith and His Son was awarded a Newbery Honor for 2028. I rate it “Okay” and say “Don’t bother.”
Newbery rating scale: FANTASTIC | REALLY GOOD | PRETTY GOOD | OKAY | BLAH
What to do with this Newbery: KEEP IT AND READ IT | MAYBE IF YOU HAVE TIME | DON’T BOTHER
