The Strange and Exciting Adventures of Jeremiah Hush - Hardcover

Shulevitz, Uri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374336563 ISBN 13: 9780374336561

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1986

Synopsis

Quiet, serious Jeremiah Hush, a monkey who lives alone, becomes involved in adventures at the Shake'n'Roll Dancin Hole, during a search for a missing umbrella, and while attending a county fair, and though he makes new friends, he learns to appreciate his quiet life.Lonely Jeremiah Hush, a middle-aged proboscis monkey, embarks on a search for friendship that takes him from the Shake 'n' Roll Dancin' Hole to his own neighborhood, where he finds four delightful companions who lead him into a series of adventures

About this title

Reviews

Grade 2-4 Shulevitz, best known for his beautifully designed and executed picture books, tries a longer form with mixed results. This short book contains three stories about Jeremiah Hush, a proboscis monkey existing in another world, similar to ours except that it's completely populated by animals. In the first story, Jeremiah, wondering if he is missing something, visits a sort of disco, the Shake'n'Roll Dancin' Hole: a complete letdown. It is in story number two that he discovers what is lacking: friends with whom to share his adventures. In the concluding story, he and his new friends combine forces to defeat the efforts of a foxy cheater in a pie-eating contest. The tales are held together by the lightest of constructions and are marred by an inconsistency of tone that varies from ironic to arch to genuinely appealing. The first story, in which Jeremiah is rejected by a ``slim,'' attractive giraffe, is adult in incident and style, while the second is overlong, with too much character introduction and too little plot. The third story is by far the best, uniting all of the positive elements of the book: gentle humor, warm characterizations, offbeat plot, and evocative, lyrical descriptions. The illustrations, not surprisingly, are more consistently appealing. The line drawings are full of witty detail, extending the occasional lightness of style to a prose all too often bogged down in leaden whimsy. This gets better as it goes along and it is an interesting, imaginative effort, but it is uneven: a promise more than a fulfillment. Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A probocsis monkey named Jeremiah Hush is getting on in years and worries that all chances for adventure in his life are past. He tries to find excitement at the Shake 'n' Roll Dancin' Hole, without success. Excitement finds Jeremiah when he starts looking for his umbrella. He discovers a network of tunnels and paths connecting his home to those of others. The umbrella may be gone forever, but the monkey business along the way leads him to new neighbors who become good friends and stand by Jeremiah when he enters a pie-eating contest. Despite its seeming aspirations to esotericism, this story never really goes beyond something resembling an inside joke. The quaint design of the book fits the tale's mood; finely wrought black-and-white illustrations are atmospheric, with images sculpted out of light and shadow.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374336563
• ISBN 13: 9780374336561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 90