Courtney - Hardcover

Burningham, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517598833 ISBN 13: 9780517598832

Publisher: Crown Publishers, 1994

Synopsis

The children bring home an old mongrel named Courtney who cooks, serves meals, juggles, and even saves the baby from a fire, only to disappear mysteriously

About this title

About the Author:

John Burningham is one of the most prestigious and well-loved illustrators working in the children's book field today. Trained at the Central School of Art, his first picture book, Borka, was published in 1963. He has won the Kate Greenaway Award twice and has enjoyed a very distinguished career.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2-When the children want a pet, their parents reluctantly send them to the Dogs' Home with the instructions to adopt one with a proper pedigree. The children, who follow their own counsel, have only one requirement: they want a dog that nobody else wants, one that will not easily find a home. The canine that fills this requirement is Courtney, an old, unwanted mongrel who proves to have a long list of unexpected capabilities. He wins grudging approval from the parents by cooking, playing the violin, and entertaining the baby. When he disappears, their disapproval of his undocumented lineage is confirmed ("If they are not thoroughbreds, you cannot rely on them"). During a summer boating accident, when the children are dangerously set adrift in the sea, they are miraculously towed ashore by something or someone the adults cannot quite see. Of course, readers may guess, or, if they look closely, they may even see the deliverer. This is all typically assured Burningham at his ironic best: the deadpan, unregenerate parents; the sagacious youngsters; and a dog who looks a bit like Groucho Marx. The artist's expressive, broken-line cartoons convey his wit. His spreads, full of white space and unsaturated colors, express a lightheartedness well suited to a message of the triumph of simple, childlike acceptance-a message ever so gently delivered with successfully sly humor.
Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown Publishers
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0517598833
• ISBN 13: 9780517598832
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32