Let the Lynx Come In - Hardcover

London, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1564025314 ISBN 13: 9781564025319

Publisher: Candlewick, 1996

Synopsis

On a cold winter's night, a boy opens his door and lets a magical lynx into his home, and is quickly convinced by the lynx to sit on his back and travel with him on an exciting adventure to places far, far away.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Like many of London's (The Owl Who Became the Moon) previous books, Let the Lynx Come In lends a distinctive poetry to natural themes; but here, as in his best books, his language approaches the resonant power of myth. In a cabin in the north woods, a father sleeps by the pot-bellied stove while his wide-awake son imagines what lies outside in the vast darkness. At the sound of scratching, the boy opens the door and beholds a lynx, which steps inside. While "firelight glows in its yellow eyes," the wildcat grows "till his whiskers touch the walls!" He commands the youngster to climb up for a ride. Continuing to grow, the Great Lynx takes the child past the tips of pine trees to "claw up and up the curtains" of the rippling northern lights, all the way to the moon. London's poetic prowess and ability to capture awe renew the familiar theme of riding into the wild night on an animal's back. The fine texture and modulated light of Benson's (Owl Babies) watercolor and ink illustrations gentle the story, bathing the recklessness of the narrator's adventure in the benign qualities of a satisfying dream. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2?A young boy and his father hike to a wilderness cabin. While dad snores in front of a potbelly stove, the boy frets over what might be lurking in the woods outside: wolves, bears, "And a lynx." At a scratching on the door, he opens it and sees the lynx. The creature enters the cabin and begins to grow larger. He silently bids the boy to climb on his back, and then carries him across the snowy landscape to watch the dance of the northern lights. Their journey continues to the moon, and then they return home. London's poetic tale conveys his love and respect for the natural world. His prose, though, is somewhat stilted and passive for a tale that centers on overcoming one's fears. Benson's lovely, watercolor-and-line illustrations lack a sense of mystery: his lynx seems a trifle tame. This isn't a particularly compelling book. London's The Owl Who Became the Moon (Dutton, 1993) or Martin Waddell's Owl Babies (Candlewick, 1992), which Benson illustrated, easily surpass this offering.?Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1564025314
• ISBN 13: 9781564025319
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Benson Patrick