Fire on the Mountain - Hardcover

Kurtz, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671882686 ISBN 13: 9780671882686

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1994

Synopsis

Alemayu, a shepherd boy living in the mountains of Ethiopia, wagers his future in a bet with his bad-tempered, boastful, and deceitful master. Children's BOMC Alt.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but when she was two years old, her parents decided to move to Ethiopia, where she spent most of her childhood. Jane speaks about being an author at schools and conferences—in all but eleven of the United States, so far, and such places as Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, France, Germany, Romania, England, Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Japan. She helped start Ethiopia Reads (EthiopiaReads.org), a nonprofit that is planting the first libraries for children in Ethiopia. She is the author of many books for children.

E.B. Lewis is the award-winning illustrator of such books as Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys by Elizabeth Fitzgerald, which was a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, and This Little Light of Mine. He received the Caldecott Honor for Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki Grimes. E.B. Lewis lives in New Jersey, and you can visit him online at EBLewis.com.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-A newly illustrated version of a well-known Ethiopian folktale about a clever shepherd boy and his sister. In exchange for a bag of money and four cows, Alemayu accepts a challenge from his sister's boastful, rich employer to spend the night alone on a mountain with minimal clothing and without a fire. He survives the bitterly cold night by concentrating on a shepherd's fire across the way on another mountain. The haughty man refuses to pay him, stating that looking at someone else's fire is the same as building one's own-until the siblings devise a plan that allows the man to see the foolishness of his reasoning. Lewis has done an outstanding job of capturing the warmth and simplicity of the tale through his beautiful, watercolor paintings. They bring the story to life, complementing the emotion, expression, and character of the printed words. While other versions, including one by Harold Courlander, are available, this is a well-written retelling that's sure to be enjoyed whether read individually or aloud.-Jos N. Holman, Cleve.-Hts.
Univ. Hts. Public Library, Cleveland Heights, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0671882686
• ISBN 13: 9780671882686
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Lewis E.B.