Wing-A-Ding

Hoopes, Lyn Littlefield

ISBN 10: 0316372374 ISBN 13: 9780316372374

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 1990

Synopsis

Jack's efforts to free his toy wing-a-ding from the branches of a tree soon involve the increasingly outrageous efforts of friends, neighbors, and passersby

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2-- Although readers never actually see the wing-a-ding, it's clearly a toy meant to fly when thrown in the air. Jack's sticks in a tree. He's disgusted, and calls it a "dumb thing." Friends happen by and try various solutions, but the wing-a-ding won't be shaken, or knocked, or retrieved (by a cat), or caught (by a fishing pole, or a lasso), or shot down from its perch. As proposals get more outlandish, Maralee comes skating along and begins to sing to the wing-a-ding, asking it (please) to fly down. Everyone joins hands and sings. "You're a good thing," Jack whispers: and lo, a wind blows up, and the wing-a-ding flies. Hoopes tells this slight tale in lively light verse, matched by Gammell in his most exuberant mood. The children are disconcertingly eyeless (under droopy hat brims, or glasses, or hair), and the tree has only green squiggles for leaves, but the energy level is high. Will children be dismayed by capricious expressionistic changes in the dimension of the tree-trunk, or by its wildly pastel bark? Probably not. Will adults be dismayed by the obvious message? Probably not. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Gammell, who won the 1989 Caldecott Medal for Song and Dance Man , performs more magic here, brilliantly using colored pencils to illustrate Hoopes's ( Nana ) whimsical story. When Jack opens a box labeled "Wing-a-ding" and throws its mysterious contents (a toy never seen by the reader) into the air, it gets stuck in a tree. "Wing-a-ding, you dumb thing!," says the frustrated boy. One by one, his colorfully clad friends and neighbors come along, all carrying objects which, they hope, might retrieve the lost plaything. Soon the branches of the tree hold not only the Wing-a-ding but a boomerang, a cat, a broom, a fishing pole, a lasso, cowboy boot and even "Cam, like a chimpanzee / swinging from the branches of the Willoughbys' tree." But still the elusive toy remains out of Jack's reach, even when all the children join hands, surround the tree and sing a song entreating the Wing-a-ding to fly down. Finally Jack whispers the words the Wing-a-ding has been waiting to hear, and it sails into his open arms. With Hoopes's breezy, musical rhyme and Gammell's glorious art, this book is a sure winner. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0316372374
• ISBN 13: 9780316372374
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Gammell Stephen