Tom, Babette, and Simon: Three Tales of Transformation - Softcover

Avi

3.47

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9780380727704: Tom, Babette, and Simon: Three Tales of Transformation

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380727706 ISBN 13: 9780380727704

Publisher: Camelot, 1997

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TOMTom is bored all the time. When he's given a homework assignment to write The Most Exciting Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Tom realizes that not one exciting thing has happened to him in his entire life. Then Tom makes a deal to trade places with a cat named Charley, and something very exciting happens. But Tom may never have the chance to write about his outrageous adventure. . .BABETTEBabette's mother, the queen, wishes for a perfect baby daughter, and her wish is granted. No one can see a single flaw in the child's appearance. In fact, no one can see Babette at all. But when Babette finds out that she's invisible, how ill she see herself?SIMONSimon is an only child whose doting parents grant his every wish--until Simon's demands grow so big his parents have nothing left to give him. So Simon leaves home, determined to make his own greatest wish come true. He wants the whole world to admire him, and after a startling meeting with a magical bird, he has all the attention he dreamed of. . .but now he only wishes to be free of it once again.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6?In the first and most successful of these quirky tales, a bored boy envies his cat Charley, who sleeps all day, and wishes he could do the same. The neighborhood wizard-cat transforms human into cat and cat into human, and, in a truly Hitchcockian twist, Charley refuses to change back into a feline when Tom is ready to be a boy again. It seems that all over the world, bored children agree to be turned into cats, and the only way out of the enchantment is to trick another child into switching. Babette gives new meaning to the phrase "self-made woman." Her mother will accept only a flawless child, and so the princess is born invisible. Everyone in the kingdom convinces themselves of her beauty, and without mirrors to contradict, Babette believes them. She is horrified to learn the truth, but she finds a place where she may choose her own eyes, feet, thumbs, etc., and becomes a person of her own making. In the parable of "Simon," even a thoroughly unlikable character receives grace. The young man's greed leads him in pursuit of the Golden Bird, and when he kills her, he is changed into a bird from the neck up. Captured and put on display, he is eventually cast out. He returns to the forest filled with self-pity, but when the Golden Bird reappears, Simon is remorseful. She transforms all of him into a majestic bird, and he flies away forgiven. These sophisticated short stories are witty if a bit odd. Read them aloud or share with a child who enjoys something out of the ordinary.?Cheri Estes, Dorchester Road Regional Library, Charleston, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4^-6. Bored with home and school, Tom wishes he could sleep all day like his cat. With help from a wizard, Tom and his cat switch places, but soon Tom decides that he wants to be a boy again. At this point, readers might expect Tom to go back to his old life, but Avi's conclusion is more unsettling. The second story involves a princess who was born flawless, as her mother had insisted, but invisible. When she realizes that no one can see her, the haughty princess undergoes trials to discover how to become visible. The third tale concerns a spoiled lad who grows into a vain man. Transformed into a bird from the neck up, he endures the scorn of men and birds until a selfless act sets him free. Although the first tale has a modern setting and tone and the others are closer to fairy tales, the stories share themes of the outward and inward transformation of the main characters. Reminiscent of Joan Aiken's short stories, these brief tales will intrigue young readers. Carolyn Phelan

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