Overview / 简介: |
A picture book about shyness from a new and truly innovative artist
Halibut Jackson is a very shy person. He would prefer not to be noticed at all. So he makes himself clothes to suit his surroundings. His library suit has a striped look to it to match the shelves. But when he is invited to a party at the Palace, he is flummoxed -- what does the palace look like inside? At last, having researched hard, and sewn quickly, Halibut is ready: only to discover that the party is not being held where he expected it to be, and his suit does not suit the occasion at all. But everyone admires it tremendously. |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| PreSchool-Grade 3--Halibut Jackson is so shy he hardly goes out at all, but when he does, he wears a suit that serves as camouflage. His garden outfit is grass green and adorned with flowers. His food-shopping attire sports bright-red apples. His library ensemble displays books on shelves. When he receives an invitation to a birthday party at the palace, he makes a suit of "silver and gold, covered with jewels," hoping to blend in with the palace itself. The party, however, is in the garden, and Halibut Jackson definitely stands out from the other guests--and is admired rather than ridiculed. So many suit orders pour in that he soon gathers enough courage to open his own clothing shop. The text is brief, with just the right amount of repetition. The large, busy watercolor illustrations, many of them spreads, are executed in a pastel palette and abound in curlicues and swirled shapes. There are many comical touches in these cartoon renderings: someone dressed as an apple handing out notices in the food market; Halibut Jones at home, wearing a suit made of the same material as the chair in which he sits facing a picture of himself with his hands covering his face; and people wearing unusual hats and outfits. Pair this offering with Rosemary Wells's Shy Charles (Dial, 1988) to encourage young wallflowers to bloom.--Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| Rating: five stars.
Sometimes I like to believe that the truly great picture books out there are the ones written by author/illustrators that have studied children's literature for years and years. I would imagine that they slaved to make the "good" picture book after many attempted (and failed) tries. Then finally, after years and years of effort, a picture book would come into fruition that epitomizes everything that the picture books of the past have led to. Then an author like David Lucas comes along and, in his first picture book, creates something as deeply original and wonderful as "Halibut Jackson" and my entire theory goes ka-blooey. "Halibut Jackson" is, to my mind, one of the finest picture books that I have had the pleasure of reading in a long long time. Simultaneously beautiful and detailed, the story is reminiscent of older picture books some forty years back. It's well worth a peek.
Halibut Jackson is a shy fellow. When he finds himself in a public situation where he must interact with other people, Halibut freaks. To avoid this problem, he has constructed clever clothing that blend into any situation. If he wants to go a-walking amongst the daisies, he merely slips on his flower covered poncho. If it's a trip to the library on his mind instead, on goes the book covered clothing. Everything is going perfectly well until one day Halibut gets an invitation to the palace for the very first time. Halibut wants to go, but the idea of being around so many party guests doesn't appeal to him. That next day he constructs a suit covered in silver, gold, and jewels, assuming he'll fit right in and never be noticed. But what Halibut didn't reckon with was that this was a garden party. Suddenly he's the center of attention, and everyone wants him to construct clothing for them. With this encouragement, Halibut goes into business, creating crazy clothing for every person's needs. Says the book, "And although he was still a little shy, it seemed not to matter so very much at all".
The story may not blow you away after reading it, but the illustrations in this puppy are to die for. Halibut Jackson himself walks around wearing clothing that, at times, look as if the author/illustrator was simply tracing a protractor for a design. I loved that despite the somewhat old-fashioned feeling of this tale (it's something about the use of lines and colors, I guess) the cast of characters that Halibut encounters is wonderfully raucously multi-racial. Heck, the king's black and the queen's white cementing this tale as definitely a twenty-first century picture book. I also loved the intricate details that fill the pages. Every spread features pictures that fight and contend with one another for the reader's attention. My favorite scene was of Mr. Jackson's clothing store at the end. By this point the shy tailor has truly let his imagination run wild. There's a suit that resembles the sun, a dress (with matching swan hat) of Monet's waterlilies, and a cot that's filled with a million different people.
Nostalgia is selling quite a lot of picture books these days. Adults are looking wistfully at their own favorites and trying to find modern creations that look and feel like such books as, "Make Way for Ducklings" or "Andy and the Lion". I think what "Halibut Jackson" does so well is that it captures the feeling we get from reading older picture books, but not the unfortunate stereotypes of the time period. Though steeped in old-fashioned storytelling techniques, this is truly a modern concoction that kids today will adore. |
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感谢Winnie提供图片
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感谢Winnie提供图片
--来自这本书另一个版本的图片
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感谢Winnie提供图片
--来自这本书另一个版本的图片
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