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Summary
Summary
New York Times Bestseller!
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A never-before-published, previously unfinished Mark Twain children's story is brought to life by Philip and Erin Stead, creators ofthe Caldecott Medal-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee .
In a hotel in Paris one evening in 1879, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds. Later, Twain would jot down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished . . . until now.
Plucked from the Mark Twain archive at the University of California at Berkeley, Twain's notes now form the foundation of a fairy tale picked up over a century later. With only Twain's fragmentary script and a story that stops partway as his guide, author Philip Stead has written a tale that imagines what might have been if Twain had fully realized this work.
Johnny, forlorn and alone except for his pet chicken, meets a kind woman who gives him seeds that change his fortune, allowing him to speak with animals and sending him on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. In the face of a bullying tyrant king, Johnny and his animal friends come to understand thatgenerosity, empathy, and quiet courage are gifts more precious in this world than power and gold.
Illuminated by Erin Stead's graceful, humorous, and achingly poignant artwork, this is a story that reaches through time and brings us a new book from America's most legendary writer, envisioned by two of today's most important names in children's literature.
ABank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year
"Will capture the imaginations of readers of all ages"- USA Today ,★★★★ (out of four stars)
★ "Samuel Langhorne Clemens himself would be proud."- Booklist , starred review
★"A cast of eccentric characters, celestially fine writing, and a crusade against pomp that doesn't sacrifice humor."- Publishers Weekly , starred review
★"Completing a story penned by arguably America's greatest author is no easy feat, but the Caldecott-winning author-illustrator (and husband-wife) team proves more than equal to the task. . . .A pensive and whimsical work that Twain would applaud."- Kirkus , starred review
★ "The combination of Twain's (often sarcastic) humor and "lessons of life," a touch of allegory, and Stead's own storytelling skills result in an awesome piece of fantasy."- School Library Journal , starred review
★ "Beautifully understated and nuanced illustrations by Erin Stead add the finishing flourishes to this remarkable work."-Shelf Awareness, starred review
"drawn with a graceful crosshatched intelligence that seems close to the best of Wyeth."-Adam Gopnik, The New York Times
"Twain and the two Steads have created whatcould become a read-aloud classic, perfect for families to enjoy together."- The Horn Book
"Artful and meta and elegant"- The Wall Street Journal
"Should inspire readers young and old to seek further adventures with Twain." -The Washington Post
Author Notes
Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He worked as a printer, and then became a steamboat pilot. He traveled throughout the West, writing humorous sketches for newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was very well received. He then began a career as a humorous travel writer and lecturer, publishing The Innocents Abroad in 1869, Roughing It in 1872, and, Gilded Age in 1873, which was co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mississippi Writing: Life on the Mississippi, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Working from notes Twain made after telling an especially successful bedtime story, Philip C. Stead completes the tale of gentle Johnny, whose heart is pure despite his bleak surroundings and cruel grandfather. A magic flower gives him the power to understand the speech of animals, and a menagerie of kindly creatures helps him win the reward for finding the kingdom's lost Prince Oleomargarine-an insufferable twit, as it turns out. In postmodern fashion, Johnny's odyssey is often interrupted by imagined banter between Twain and Stead, who sit outside an island cabin and argue about how to proceed. Erin Stead's exquisite woodblock-and-pencil prints give the creamy pages an ethereal feel; her detailed close-up portraits of the main characters create a sense of intimate acquaintance. Even the action spreads have the stately appearance of medieval tapestries, as when Johnny and his animal family appear before the king: the tiny monarch, a tad defensive about his stature, sits on a throne that elevates him almost to the ceiling, putting him face-to-face with the delegation's giraffe. At the story's heart is a plea for honesty and kindness, expressed in its purest form by Johnny, who-unlike his voluble authors-doesn't say much. "Then he opened his mouth and discovered the words that could save mankind from all its silly, ceaseless violence.... He said: 'I am glad to know you.'" Stead stays faithful to Twain with a cast of eccentric characters, celestially fine writing, and a crusade against pomp that doesn't sacrifice humor. Ages 8-12. Agent: (for the Mark Twain House and Museum) Tina Wexler, ICM; (for the Steads) Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
From Twains notes on a bedtime tale spun for his children, Philip Stead develops a folktale-like American story with heaping dollops of nonsense. It involves our hero, the orphaned Johnny (whom illustrator Erin Stead envisions as a young African American boy); his pet chicken; a handful of blue seeds given to him by an old woman after he is kind to her; and of course a life-expanding journey for its protagonist. After eating a flower grown from one of the beautiful and plain seeds, Johnny can understand animal language. He is able to communicate with a group of animals who build the almost-starving boy a home and create a bountiful feast. A wise skunk named Susy (the name of one of Twains daughters) helps Johnny make sense of it all. When they spy a handbill on a tree in the forest--Reward: Prince Oleomargarine Is Missing! Giants Suspected!--Susy encourages Johnny to be brave and search for the missing prince. The story meanders but maintains wry humor throughout and provides timely commentary on human nature. Interludes of imagined conversations between Philip Stead and my friend Mark Twain lend insight into the creative process behind this unconventional tale. The tenderness of Erin Steads pictures (created with wood carving, ink, pencil, and a laser cutter) invites a childs contemplation of tiny but meaningful details, such as a spider dangling from a soldiers spear. Twain and the two Steads have created what could become a read-aloud classic, perfect for families to enjoy together. susan dove lempke (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* This beautiful book began as a story that Twain told his daughters Clara and Suzy in 1879. Perhaps hoping to expand it, Twain subsequently took 16 pages of notes that lay unread for more than 100 years until they were discovered in the Mark Twain Archives. They form the foundation of the yarn that Philip C. Stead helps spin. Sprightly and in the spirit of Twain slightly sardonic, it's the tale of an impoverished young boy named Johnny who is given a handful of magic seeds by an old woman. He plants one and when it has blossomed, he eats its flower and discovers he can talk to animals! One of them, a skunk named Suzy, quickly becomes his friend. Accompanied by all the animals of the land, they go on a quest to find the missing Prince Oleomargarine. The conceit of this charming oddity is that it is being told to Stead by Twain himself, who makes a guest appearance in scattered interludes. The book is hugely enhanced by the exquisite illustrations that Caldecott-winning Erin Stead has created. Rendered in wood carving, ink, pencil, and a laser cutter, they range from little vignettes to lavish double-page spreads set off by generous amounts of white space. The result is a gift to the eye. Samuel Langhorne Clemens himself would be proud.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
ARTEMIS By Andy Weir. Read by Rosario Dawson. (Audible Studios.) Dawson's nuanced voice takes us to the moon in the second novel by the author of "The Martian." UNCOMMON TYPE By Tom Hanks. Read by the author. (Penguin Random House Audio.) The Oscar-winning actor brings to life his debut collection of 17 loosely linked short stories. THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE By Mark Twain, with Philip Stead and Erin Stead. Read by Keegan-Michael Key, Philip Stead et al. (Listening Library.) The comedian and producer (and one half of the dynamic Key and Peele) narrates a previously unfinished and unpublished manuscript by Mark Twain, newly completed by the husband-and-wife children's book team behind the Caldecott Medal-winning "A Sick Day for Amos McGee." THE BOOK OF DUST By Philip Pullman. Read by Michael Sheen. (Listening Library.) The Welsh actor transports us into the fantastical parallel universe of Pullman's latest Y.A. trilogy, in which everyone has an inner daemon. PROMISE ME, DAD By Joe Biden. Read by the author. (Audible Studios.) The former vice president delivers his candid, heartfelt and inspiring memoir of losing his son Beau to cancer while facing political challenges foreign and domestic. & Noteworthy "O.K., I'm a nerd. I loved THE ODYSSEY from my first encounter in ninth-grade English class (the Robert Fitzgerald translation). The great questions of survival, cunning, treachery, exploitation and parental and marital love have never failed to transfix me, in whatever translation (Richmond Lattimore, Robert Fagles). But Emily Wilson's, the first into English by a woman, is a revelation. Never have I been so aware at once of the beauty of the poetry, the physicality of Homer's world and the moral ambiguity of those who inhabit it. Don't miss reading her enlightening translator's note, which explains how seriously she took up the challenge posed a few lines into the first book: 'tell the old story for our modern times./Find the beginning.' She wrestled with contemporary questions of feminism and colonialism without imposing them on the values of Homeric Greece. Her decisions to discard flowery conventions, and to limit herself to the number of the lines in the original poem, produce a version both fleet and vivid. Read for all this, but mostly to savor lines like these: 'he plunged into the sea and swooped between/the waves, just like a seagull catching fish,/wetting its whirring wings in tireless brine.'" -SUSAN CHIRA, SENIOR EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT FOR GENDER, ON WHAT SHE'S READING.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-8-From the recently-discovered notes of a tale that Mark Twain told to his daughters comes the tale of Johnny, a young boy who has been badly treated, but whose positive and charitable outlook on life is generously rewarded. Johnny was raised by a miserable grandfather, and his only friend was a scraggly chicken named "Pestilence and Famine." When he is told to sell the chicken for something worth eating, Johnny and the hen trek to town, where he is again treated badly. His generosity to an old woman earns Johnny magic beans, whose blooms will supposedly stave off his hunger forever. Eating the blossoms brings very unexpected results, however, and sets Johnny up to be the hero who rescues the missing Prince Oleomargarine. The story is a blend of fairy tale and conversation between the author and Twain, which explains how the latter supposedly revealed most of the tale over tea. The interruptions to the story might be quite distracting to listeners, although the voices are quite distinct. Keegan-Michael Key does an admirable job of relating Johnny's tale with humor and great expression, voicing animals and humans quite skillfully, while Mark Bramhall counters as the voice of Twain, and Julia Whelan as his daughter Suzy. Musical interludes are pleasant but cannot substitute for the elaborate and intriguing illustrations by Erin Stead in the book. VERDICT A charming tale with a wonderful moral, true to Twain's voice, that may inspire listeners to seek out the printed volume and other tales by Twain.-MaryAnn Karre, Vestal, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This recently discovered Twain fairy tale finds life as a picture book.Completing a story penned by arguably America's greatest author is no easy feat, but the Caldecott-winning author-illustrator (and husband-wife) team proves more than equal to the task, transforming Twain's jotted notes in an 1879 journal entry about a story told to his daughters into a beautifully illustrated fable that showcases the exemplary talents of all three artists. The tale follows the adventures of Johnny, a kindhearted African-American child being raised by his cruel grandfather. Forced to sell his only frienda pet chickenJohnny, rather like Jack before him, instead acquires seeds, the flowers from which enable him to converse with animals. When Prince Oleomargarinethe kingdom's heiris kidnapped, Johnny and his animal friends mount a rescue. Interwoven through the fairy tale is a series of author's notes detailing a fictitious meeting between Twain and the author, from which this story emerges. Twain's presence in the narrative allows Philip Stead to both acknowledge his literary debt and retain the freedom to make the tale his own. He is aided by Erin Stead's sublime print illustrations, which demonstrate her masterful ability to create physical presence and characters' emotions as well as landscapes; the muted greens, soft blues, and light pinkish-brown hues of her double-page spreads set a magical tone for a world that mirrors, but is not quite, our own. A pensive and whimsical work that Twain would applaud. (Picture book. 8-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
