 When Stanley Potts’s Uncle Ernie, who cans pilchards, sardines, and mackerel in the living room, tins Stanley’s beloved goldfish, Stanley decides to leave home. He joins a traveling carnival of wacky characters and gets a job washing plastic ducks for the “Hook A Duck” master, Mr. Dostoyevsky. He meets Pancho Pirelli, who swims with piranhas and believes that Stanley could be his successor. Wonderful and quirky things happen to “good and true” Stanley as he seeks his own way. Stylized cartoon drawings add humor. mjw |
| Title: The Boy who Swam with Piranhas Author: David Almond Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers Publisher:Candlewick Press Copyright: 2012 Original language: English ISBN: 978-0-7636-6169-4 Hardcover pages: 256 Age range: 9-12 Genre: Fiction Author’s residence: England Illustrator’s ethnicity: Irish Illustrator’s residence: United States Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults, International Reading Association Children’s Choice, NCTE Notable Children’s Book, Kate Greenaway Medal Subjects: Circus, Europe, Piranhas, Runaway children, Western Europe |
The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas
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In 2002, ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari’s village in Afghanistan fell prey to the Taliban. His mother sent him alone to fend for himself. Dangerous border crossings, trekking on foot across snow-covered mountains in Turkey, hiding in a false bottom of a truck, and steering an inflatable dinghy to Greece are some of the seemingly insurmountable and unimaginable obstacles he faced on his five year journey to Italy, where he sought political asylum. This is an incredible story of courage, hope, and survival reconstructed from Eniat’s memories by Italian novelist Fabio Geda. A map of Eniat’s journey is included. mjw
Twenty-one emotions that a child encounters are portrayed by fish in this splashy, simple concept book. Each double page spread presents one dazzling fish against a dark, deep sea background, expressing a particular emotion and its name in a font style and color that also conveys the emotion. Fish are curious, proud, loving, confused, shocked, and much more until finally delighted. The red, turquoise, chartreuse, magenta, and other neon-like oil pastel scribbly drawings are radiant. mjw
In these thirteen eccentric fairytales, written by one of the most successful twentieth century French authors for children, quick-witted young people overcome greedy kings, wicked witches, giants, naughty pigs, magical spells, and even silly names like Lustucru. Shoes fall in love, a doll can see everything, and a potato wants to be a French fry. Absurd line drawings illustrate these tales where good is always rewarded and evil is always punished. mjw
While on an expedition to the Himalayas, aristocratic young Lady Agatha Farlingham is kidnapped by a yeti father and his family. She stays to teach the kindly yeti English speech, good manners, and fairytales. Decades later, she transports the yetis back to her ancestral home in England for safety. They journey through Asia and Europe, liberate a zoo, save Alpine rescue dogs, and interrupt a Spanish bullfight. Upon arrival to England, the yetis are met by hateful Abominable snowman hunters. But, British school children and royalty save the day in this whimsical story with its message of human rights and environmentalism. mjw
Detailed, delicate drawings depict the Great Car Race on Mouse Day starting in front of the Mouse Assembly Hall and the grand prize is The Ultimate Piece of Cheese. It’s the biggest cheese anyone has ever seen. Easygoing Taro with his yellow scarf, mechanic Kuro with his knotted tail, young Chibi with her green bracelet, curious Guro with one blue sock, and gentle Shiro with her long tail team up to design an unbeatable racecar. After overcoming many obstacles they cross the finish line and throw the Ultimate Cheese Party, where everyone is a winner. mjw
In this cautionary ecological parable, best friends Hulda and Brimir, live on a beautiful, tranquil blue planet that is inhabited by children who never grow old. One day, a grown-up, Gleesome Goodday, “Dream Come True Maker and joy bringer,” crashes his spaceship on the beach. He sprinkles all the children with sun-activated fly powder, nails the sun in the sky so it can always be play time, and charges them a bit of their youth. When the children fly to the other side of the planet and see sickly, pale, dying children, they realize the Goodday is not all that he seems. mjw
This lively rhyme with bright, avant-garde illustrations tells of a lady who gets on the train with a suitcase, a hatbox, a couch, a painting, a package, a pouch, and a cute little pooch. During the journey, an enormous shaggy dog is substituted for the pooch. When the astonished woman claims her baggage, she is told that her dog grew up on the trip. This is a reproduction in size and layout of the Russian book, which was first published in 1926 to mold the minds of the children of the revolution. The original Russian text is included. mjw
Travel the world and explore cultural similarities and differences in the United States, France, Nigeria, Italy, Russia, Brazil, India, Australia, England, and Japan. Inviting short verses describe the vibrant, busy cityscapes. More than eighty hidden flaps open to reveal lively details. A woman makes a call in a phone box in London, a violinist steps onstage at the Sydney Opera House, ballerinas take class in Russia, and a man rides a camel in Nigeria. The challenge is to identify the many landmarks, flags, and clues.mjw
This small format story is about a child who walks home from school along the same road every day. It builds over seven sequences. The first contains three images: school, path, and home. The next builds to school, street, path, forest, and home. New words and images are added: a blue witch, a pipe-smoking stranger, foxlike bandits, a hot air balloon, a kidnapped queen, and more, until the child’s world has become enormous. Layer upon layer of bewitching silkscreen tableaux grow in strangeness in this allegory of life’s complexity. mjw
Like most Muslim girls between the ages of nine and 15 in Mauritania, Lalla wants to wear a malafa, the veil that covers women’s heads and clothes in public. She learns from her mama, her older sister, market ladies, and her grandmother that the malafa is more than beauty, mystery, tradition, and belonging. It is for faith. The second-person narrative and cut-paper collage illustrations explain potentially unfamiliar customs and observances of faith. An author’s note and a glossary of Hassaniya words is included. mjw
A young girl who lives in Pienza, Italy, tells the history of pizza. She also describes the customs in her community, like her midday meal and Giovanni’s, where pizza is cooked the old-fashioned way in a wood-fired brick oven. She learns at the library that ancient Greeks ate flatbreads, that a favorite pizza was named after Queen Margherita of Italy, circa 1889, and that the first pizzeria opened in New York City in 1905. The English text appears with an Italian translation on each page. Also included are a pronunciation guide, a two-page history of pizza, and a recipe. mjw
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