Albert's Quiet Quest (Mile End Kids Story) - Hardcover

Arsenault, Isabelle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553536567 ISBN 13: 9780553536560

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2019

Synopsis

Albert wants a quiet place to read...but his friends just want to play! Can they figure out how to have fun together?

Albert's home is very loud--and all he wants to do is read! He escapes outside for some peace, and thinks he's found it at last. But, one by one, his friends boisterously infiltrate his space until Albert just can't take it anymore...and snaps! How will his friends react? While they leave him alone at first, they slowly return...with books in hand.

This beautifully illustrated story models flexible, empathic play, and articulates a range of ways a group can have fun together. A useful tool for any classroom or neighborhood!

About this title

About the Author

ISABELLE ARSENAULT is a Quebec illustrator whose passion for illustrated books has garnered her an impressive number of awards. She has achieved international recognition and has won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature three times. Two of her picture books have been named New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year. She lives with her family in Mile End, Montreal.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 2—The Mile End Kids are back in this follow-up to Colette's Lost Pet. Albert's row house yard opens onto an alley, where he goes seeking some peace and quiet in order to read. Noticing a painted beach scene someone has dropped there, blond, fair-skinned Albert sets up a chair and imagines himself sunning by the shore. As a series of other children with various skin tones interrupt his solitude, he incorporates them into his fantasy. Two girls potting plants become sand castle builders and are joined by badminton players, a girl with a baby buggy, and kids playing music and dancing. When Albert loses patience with the noisy beach scene and yells that he is trying to read, the children scatter, only to return, one by one, with their own books. Albert tries to apologize, but his friends cheerfully shush him. Pencil, watercolor, and ink illustrations, with Photoshop coloration, are primarily black-and-white with teal and orange used as accent colors. VERDICT The imaginative contrast between the beach scenes and the urban setting creates a humorous backdrop for this "quiet" tale of kindness and friendship.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0553536567
• ISBN 13: 9780553536560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48