A Wagonload of Fish - Hardcover

Bodnar, Ms. Judit Z.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688121721 ISBN 13: 9780688121723

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1996

Synopsis

There was once a peasant couple who had plenty of all they needed--but the old woman wanted more. So she sent her husband off to fetch a wagonload of fish.

About this title

About the Author

Judit Z. Bodnar is the author of A Wagonload of Fish, which was a 1997 Child Study Association Children's Book of the Year. She immigrated to the United States as a child, earned degrees in Anthropology and library science, and is now a children's book editor as well as a writer. She, her husband, Jack, and their two children, two cats and one large "Dumberman" divide their time between a tiny New York City apartment and hundred year-old Pennsylvania coal miner's house.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2?In this retelling of part of a Hungarian folktale, a peasant and his "beetle-browed wife" produce ample food on their small farm. The old man would be perfectly happy except for his dissatisfied, nagging wife. One December, she demands fish?nothing will do but fish. She plagues her poor husband with reminders of fish all winter and spring. In mid-June he can stand it no longer, loads the wagon with fishing gear, and journeys forth. Returning with his catch, he encounters a wily fox that also has an appetite for seafood. Outsmarted by the fox and roundly scolded by his wife for his ineptitude, the old man plots with his oxen to take a months-long journey to Lapland for reindeer meat. Bright, earth-toned, primitive paintings aptly portray the shrewish old woman and the harried old man, adding sly humor to the telling. The patient oxen?sturdy, handsome beasts?and the faker fox are especially well done.?Virginia Opocensky, formerly at Lincoln City Libraries, NE
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A long-suffering man who tries to please his crabby and demanding wife is bested by a sly fox in this folktale amalgam. In the dead of winter, an old peasant woman insists that her husband rustle up some succulent fish to eat. Obsessed, she embroiders fish patterns on the napkins and hums fish songs until she drives her husband batty. In June he finally embarks on a fishing expedition and hauls in a great catch. On the way home, the old man spots a seemingly dead fox in the road, and scoops this additional prize into his wagon with the fish. Outfoxed by the fox, the man returns home empty-handed, surely to endure more henpecking. Unfortunately, first-time author Bodnar's retelling of this Hungarian tale feels like a bit of a hodgepodge, echoing both the Fisherman's Wife from the Brothers Grimm as well as Aesop's fox fables. This divergent structure means the story never finds its footing, the focus relegated to neither fox nor fish nor unhappy couple. Despite the narrative's shortcomings, Bodnar's stylish, intelligent prose is spiked with humor and full of colorful imagery. More compelling are Natchev's (The Hobyahs) wittily composed, rustically textured paintings. His folksy fish motifs and earth-tone period peasant costumes splashed with bits of bright red, green and pink keep the unwieldy story afloat. Ages 4-up. (Mar.) Fiction
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Based on an episode in a longer Hungarian story, Bodn r's debut work has the robust humor of a true folktale. An author's note places the tale, which has echoes of both ``The Fisherman and His Wife'' and ``Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar.'' An old couple has plenty of food, but the crabby wife nags her husband through the winter months to get her some fish. In mid-June he goes off to fish, and soon has a wagonload, most of which he promptly loses to a clever fox. At home, his wife pronounces him lazy, but the old man hardly notices; he is busy contemplating a trip to Lapland to get reindeer meat (a journey that would keep him away from home for a good, long time). The language of the retelling is delightfully traditional (``Once there was, or once there wasn't''), with some less-familiar words (pullets and sows rather than chickens and pigs) and phrases to make each character distinct (the fox holds himself as still as a ``fallen sapling''). Employing rustic colors and unusual perspectives, Natchev presents his peasant with wonderfully bushy moustache and eyebrows and a scowling, babushka-covered wife. A lark for readers and listeners alike. (Picture book/folklore. 4+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4^-7. In this Hungarian folktale, a shrewish wife, discontented with cheese, butter, bacon, hocks, eggs, broth, and roasts, demands that her husband bring her some fish. After seven months of her nagging and not-so-subtle hints, the old man sets off with his poles, hook, and nets. His fishing goes well, but he's duped by a clever, hungry fox and returns, not with "a hundred pounds of fish," but with a handful. The twist at the end, in which the old man muses about a trip to Lapland to hunt reindeer, may not be clear to children, but they'll admire the old man's pluck throughout. This droll retelling has charm and wit; in an appended note, Bodnar cites her source and personal association with the story. Natchev's bright, textured illustrations, in dominant browns and oranges, add a distinctive Eastern European setting and extend the humor. An entertaining glimpse of old Hungary. Linda Perkins

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688121721
• ISBN 13: 9780688121723
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Natchev Alexi
• Edition number: 1