Madlenka - Hardcover

Peter Sís

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1865082937 ISBN 13: 9781865082936

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Children's Books, 2000

Synopsis

Madlenka has lived in the same apartment, in the same building, in the same block ever since she was born. Everyone on the block is her friend: the French baker, the Indian newsagent, the Italian ice-cream seller, the Asian shopkeeper, the Latin American greengrocer...A trip around the block to tell them all about her wiggly tooth is like a trip around the world. Peter Sis is the author of Tibet: Through the Red Box and Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, both Caldecott Honour books. He lives in New York.

About this title

Review:

"In the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city, on a block, in a house, in a window, in the rain, a little girl named Madlenka finds out her tooth wiggles." To further illustrate where exactly this girl fits into the universe, Peter Sís's endpapers depict a tiny blue planet Earth with a red dot, then a bigger Earth and a bigger red dot, then an aerial view of the south part of Manhattan Island, then city blocks, then lo! a small Madlenka in an apartment window. And, since she has a loose tooth that wiggles, she simply must tell everyone.

As she traipses around New York, she sees the whole world in the way a child might peer into a sugar egg at a colorful three-dimensional diorama within. At Mr. Gaston's patisserie, he tells her about Paris as he bakes croissants and madeleines. Readers peer through a die-cut square in his bakery window to glimpse the Eiffel Tower. Turn the page, and an exciting blue landmark map of Paris unfolds. (Is that a tiny petit prince we see as well?) At Mr. Singh's newspaper stand, our window on the world takes us to winged elephants and onion domes and the many-armed gods of India. Mr. Ciao from Italy ("Buon giorno, Maddalena") makes visions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and cats on gondolas and the Coliseum dance through our heads. Throughout Sís's enchanting, moody illustrations dances blonde-haired, lavender-clad, yellow-booted Madlenka with her yellow umbrella--reminding us of what is really important. "Madlenka! Where have you been?" "Well... I went around the world. And I lost my tooth!"

Fans of Sís's gorgeous work in Caldecott Honor Books Tibet: Through the Red Box and Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei will find an equally stunning, but more accessible book in Madlenka. Children will discover enough fascinating details to stand up to hours of fierce page perusal, and adults will, as ever, marvel at Sís's breathtaking artistry. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson

About the Author:

Peter Sis is the author of Tibet: Through the Red Box and Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, both Caldecott Honour books. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin Children's Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1865082937
• ISBN 13: 9781865082936
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48