The Tin Forest - Hardcover

Ward, Helen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525467874 ISBN 13: 9780525467878

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 2001

Synopsis

Living alone in a barren area filled with scrap metal, an old man sets out to make a tin forest filled with trees and animals, and after its completion, real birds start to arrive and soon his dream forest comes alive with a diverse collection of living plants and animals.

About this title

About the Author:

Helen Ward (Author) Helen Ward trained as an illustrator at Brighton School of Art, under the direction of well-known children's illustrators such as Raymond Briggs, Justin Todd, Chris McEwan and John Vernon Lord. In 1985, her final year at Brighton, Helen was awarded the first Walker Prize for Children's Illustration. Awards for Helen's work include The National Art Library Awards 1998 and 2001 for The Hare and the Tortoise and her version of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows in the Templar Classic series, and The National Art Library Award for The Tin Forest. She was shortlisted for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award in 2003 for The Cockerel and the Fox. This book also won the award in the children's trade category at the British Book Design and Production Awards presented in November 2003. Helen Ward lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Wayne Anderson (Illustrator) Wayne Andersen has been illustrating in his colour pencil style for over 40 years and is renowned for his playful imagination and fantastic imagery. His titles for Templar include contributing illustrations to the worldwide best-seller Dragonology.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 1-3-A tale with a pointed ecological message. Ward begins pessimistically with the words, "There was once a wide, windswept place, near nowhere and close to forgotten, that was filled with all the things that no one wanted." In the midst of this forlorn environment, there lives an old man who remembers better times and dreams of beautiful forests teeming with exotic birds and wildlife. Even though he tries to clear away the trash, his world remains essentially the same. One day, he plants a light bulb that takes root and grows and grows until it creates a forest made of tin and garbage. Two birds drop seeds on the dry ground; they sprout and bloom, bringing insects and small creatures to the land. The last page reiterates the first with this change: "There was once a forest, near nowhere and close to forgotten, that was filled with all the things that everyone wanted." Anderson's sinister illustrations emphasize the gray coldness of the tin forest. Colors are added as the new one comes to life. The pictures are reminiscent of those in early German folktales, depicting the forest as dark and deadly. With true eloquence, Ward has created a morality tale of environmental devastation. A good choice for Earth Day collections.

Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0525467874
• ISBN 13: 9780525467878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Anderson Wayne