Dear Brother - Hardcover

Asch, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590431072 ISBN 13: 9780590431071

Publisher: Scholastic, 1992

Synopsis

While poking about in the attic, Marvin and Joey discover old letters written by their great-great uncles, Henry and Timothy, whose correspondence with each other reveals to the youngsters the truths about being different and being brothers.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-- Helping their mother clean the attic, mouse brothers Joey and Marvin find a packet of illustrated letters exchanged by two brothers of an earlier generation, one who lived in the city, and the other who lived in the country. After reading the letters, they learn how, over the course of many years, the two reconciled their differences and expressed tolerance and love toward each other. At the end, presumably influenced by his great-great-granduncles' example, Marvin mellows out and speaks kindly to his own brother. The pictures are dense with color and domestic details, suggesting a life of materialistic suburban comfort for the modern-day mice, who are drawn with humanoid bodies bearing animal heads and tails. The letters form part of the text, so readers glean the story-within-a-story right along with the contemporary siblings. The epistolary concept is reminiscent of Vera B. Williams's record of another journey of discovery, Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea (Greenwillow, 1988), but this is a more labored delivery. The scope is too broad for the picture book format, with details that seem more suited to a novel. Still, it's a utilitarian effort that could lend itself to discussion of such themes as immigration, generations, acceptance, compromise, and family history. --Karen Litton, London Public Libraries, Ontario, Canada
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The Russian-American team whose 1989 collaboration, Here Comes the Cat, was ``the first Soviet/American children's book'' elaborates the story of the town mouse and the country mouse, setting it within another story about two present-day mouse brothers fascinated by letters they find in the attic of their farmhouse. The correspondence, which they enjoy reading late at night in their bunk beds by flashlight, is between their great- great-grandfather and his brother, who had moved to the city. The letters tell how each brother gets engaged and then married; other mild adventures serve to contrast their lifestyles. Meanwhile, past and present are also compared--the older mice address each other with affection but more formality, while the younger ones trade casual insults despite their underlying friendship; the meticulously designed illustrations for the present are as crisp and bright as color photos, while the letters are enlivened with marginal illustrations in a more informal style. Nicely contrived to point out that people who lead very different lives can still care about one another, and that family history can be intriguing. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0590431072
• ISBN 13: 9780590431071
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Vagin Vladimir Vasilevich