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Product Description
From Amazon
Winner of the Canada's Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award and the Sydney Taylor Award, Something from Nothing is one of Phoebe Gilman's finest books for young readers. Based on a classic Yiddish folk tale, it tells the story of Joseph, whose Grandpa, the tailor in a little village, makes him a beautiful blanket to keep him warm and comfy and safe from bad dreams. When the blanket becomes a little tattered and his mother wants to throw it out, Joseph takes it to Grandpa to see if he can rescue it. Grandpa makes him a jacket and, later, a vest, and finally there's nothing left of the original blanket but a fancy button. Gilman's storytelling skills are matched by her noteworthy illustrations--in oil and egg tempera on gessoed satin-finish watercolour paper--of the Polish shtetl where Joseph and his family live. But that's not the end of the fun--Gilman mirrors shtetl life with a little mouse family that lives under the floorboards of Joseph's house. Her truly remarkable book even offers its young readers a wonderful surprise ending. (Ages 4 to 8) --Jeffrey Canton
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
When Joseph was a baby, his grandfather made him a shimmering blue blanket adorned with the moon and stars. As the boy grows and the blanket wears out, the old tailor recycles it, in succession fashioning a jacket, a vest, a tie and, finally, a cloth-covered button. But when Joseph loses the button, even his grandfather cannot make something from nothing. With its judicious repetition and internal rhymes, this thoughtfully presented Jewish folktale will captivate readers right through the ending, in which the boy discovers one last incarnation for his beloved keepsake. Although her renderings of human faces border on cartoonishness, Gilman's ( The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs ) oil-glazed tempera paintings suggest the vivid world of Joseph's shtetl, with full-page cutaway illustrations recording the multileveled activity in Joseph's house. In an imaginative visual stroke, the bottom of each spread features the beneath-the-floorboards doings of a family of mice whose domestic life--from new births to Sabbath dinners to the outfitting of their entire home in discarded swatches of the blue blanket--winsomely mirrors Joseph's own. Ages 5-11.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
When Joseph was a baby, his grandfather made him a wonderful blanket...to keep him warm and cozy and to chase away bad dreams. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
When Joseph was a baby, his grandfather made him a wonderful blanket...to keep him warm and cozy and to chase away bad dreams. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives Me the Warm Fuzzies,
By Danielle (Toronto, Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Something from Nothing (Hardcover)
One of my top 5 favorite children's books! The story line is touching, the illustrations are amazing! I recommend this book to young and old! Besides the beautiful bond between Joseph and his grandfather, I love the incorporated journey of the family of mice that is illustrated at the bottom of the pages - the little girl with the red coat and hankerchief covered head is also brilliant! So many stories happening in one book! A definate 'keeper'
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book to grow up with!,
By
This review is from: Something from Nothing (Hardcover)
I've seen a few knock-offs of this story, and actually, they're all based on a classic Yiddish folktale, so I guess they have the right. But in my mind -- and my kids'! -- Gilman's sweet take on this tale of old-world frugality and love will always be the "classic." Gilman's richly colourful paintings are full of action, vivid cross-sections depicting events playing out in all the rooms of Joseph's house, out on the street, and even in the cellar where a growing family of mice plays out a surprising "bonus" story of their own. The characters here are all believable; Joseph is as mischievous and playful as any modern child. And the time flow in this book is exquisite: as in life, Gilman's transforms Joseph from page in subtle but certain stages, bringing him from early childhood into his cheder years. This is a story kids will love to listen to over and over, and even adults will enjoy making new discoveries within the familiar illustrations. A superlative gift for any child, one which will grow with them and be cherished for years to come.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely book,
By MB "MB" (Toronto, Ont.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Something from Nothing (Paperback)
My son first heard this story at one of the Mother Goose sessions when he was about 6 or 7 months old. He just sat there for the whole story looking and listening to the educator, so I had to buy this book for our collection. Even now as an 11 month old he loves to listen to it although it is a somewhat lengthy story.One day when he was cranky in his car seat on our way home, in order to keep him from crying I repeated over and over a line from the book 'Grandpa turned it round and round, Hmm, he said as his scissors went snip, snip, snip, and his needle few in and out and in and out...'
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