Jancsi had imagined Kate as a sort of fragile, fair-haired princess, but the little girl who stepped off the train had plain black hair, a smudgy face, and skinny legs.

But he and Kate share many adventures on his father's ranch in Hungary—riding run-away horses, going to a Country Fair, celebrating Easter and Christmas in traditional ways.

When her father arrives at the end of the book, he hardly recognizes his polite, self-controlled daughter, and she persuades him to move to the country to teach.

The Good Master was written after May Massee, children's editor for Viking Press, suggested that illustrator Kate Seredy should write a story about her childhood in Hungary.

The events in the book are based on summers Seredy spent with her father on the rural plains while he studied peasant life.

The Singing Tree, also a Newbery Honor book, is a sequel to The Good Master and describes the changes brought by World War I to the people and countryside.

According to her "both children are well-realized characters in a book that contains, humor, adventure, and a vivid sense of rural Hungarian life.

[2] It was also named a Junior Literary Guild selection, having been chosen by the editorial board consisting of Helen Ferris, Angelo Patri, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mrs. Sidonie Gruenberg as an outstanding publication of the month for younger readers[citation needed].