The Clothes Horse and Other Stories - Softcover

Ahlberg, Allan; Ahlberg, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140329072 ISBN 13: 9780140329070

Publisher: Puffin, 1992

Synopsis

A collection of stories in which the literal interpretation of everyday expressions brings such surprising results as a horse made out of clothes and a train that delivers the night

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Each of the six shaggy-dog stories in this collection provides a literal interpretation of an everyday expression. In "The Clothes Horse," a magician creates an equine from old garments; the creature ends up on the vaudeville stage. A giant tosses troublesome boys of a certain moniker into a container in "The Jack Pot"; a woman hoards moments from her early years in "Life Savings"; and so on. While the initial concept may appeal to the literal-mindedness of children and their fondness for wordplay, the stories themselves are somewhat disappointing. Their silliness seems strained and arbitrary rather than genuinely funny, with adult undertones instead of a truly childlike perspective; and the chatty narrative voice begins to seem intrusive, even fey. In format, the collection falls somewhere between picture book and middle-reader. Full-color pictures decorate, rather than illustrate, the text; but these contain all the charm, humor and liveliness for which this husband-and-wife team (The Jolly Postman, The Baby's Catalogue, Peek-a-Boo, etc.) is renowned. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0140329072
• ISBN 13: 9780140329070
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 32