Kate and Jancsi also maintain their unbiased kindness toward others when they welcome German and Russian prisoners into their home. Kate and Jancsi are sad when Uncle Marton is called to join the army, but because of their hopeful dispositions they never despair, even when it seems that they may have lost their beloved 'good master' forever. Though the characters, at heart, remain the same good people they have always been, their circumstances require them to become stronger and bolder than ever before. Indeed, as men in their small Hungarian community are called to be soldiers, Kate and Jancsi witness this very stampede, and see their own lives continually reinvented by the changes around them. A small thing can start it and suddenly the very earth is shaking with fury and people turn into wild things, crushing everything beautiful and sweet, destroying homes, lives, blindly in their mad rush from nowhere to nowhere. Early in the story, Kate's uncle articulates the story's moving message:

This is a powerful novel filled with emotion which shows the true impact of war on civilians in a way that is accessible to children. Now comes a great war, the effects of which cannot be escaped by anyone, no matter how young or old. Unfortunately, as the wedding comes to an end, the news passes through town that Archduke Francis Ferdinand has been assassinated. The family is excited to participate in a traditional Hungarian wedding, a wonderful celebration filled with joy that mirrors many of the adventures experienced by the characters in The Good Master. Two years after her summer adventures with cousin Jancsi, Kate has stayed at her uncle's ranch, along with her father, who has found work as a schoolteacher in a nearby community. A sequel to The Good Master, this book departs from the warmth and safety of its predecessor and meditates instead upon the encroachment of violence into the daily lives of ordinary people.

The singing tree by kate seredy