Old, Old Man and the Very Little Boy, The - Hardcover

Franklin, Kristine L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689317352 ISBN 13: 9780689317354

Publisher: Atheneum, 1992

Synopsis

Revered by all the inhabitants of his African village, an ancient storyteller is delighted to pass on his wonderful tales to a little boy who, one day, will carry on the traditions as village storyteller.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 3-4-- Here is a picture book that has a colorful, polished appearance, with handsome scenes of an African village, and that tells a story intended to help develop sympathy for the elderly. When an old man confides to a child that inside of him ``lives a very little boy,'' the youngster laughs in disbelief. The man dies and is forgotten. The boy grows up and leads a successful life; as he ages he tells the same stories and warns that, ``Tomorrow you will be old men just like me.'' An understanding of the passage of time is not something that is natural to children. Unfortunately, this tale inspires no emotional response in a rapidly aging reviewer either. There is no idiosyncracy to bring the nameless men to life; both are passive, on the fringes of village life, and are described as telling the same tales over and over. The single silver tear trickling down wrinkled cheeks inspires pity rather than sympathy. Most of the full-page illustrations in opaque watercolors also convey a sense of distance. The figures are often alone on the page, with their faces averted. The illustrator has a nice sense of color and composition, but her backgrounds only heighten the sense of the characters' isolation. There are several delightful images of young children, but in general the people do not seem interested in one another. Patricia Polacco's Mrs. Katz and Tush (Bantam, 1992) addresses the aging process and features unforgettable members of the older generation. --Marilyn Iarusso, New York Pub . Lib .
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this promising debut for author and artist, an African boy loves to listen to the village elder's stories, but cannot comprehend his talk of the very little boy who still lives within the old man. When enough seasons pass, however, the boy, long grown, begins to speak of the inner youthfulness that now underlies his own old age. Franklin summons evocative images to chronicle the links between the generations and the bittersweet passage of time. The old man's face is as brown and wrinkled as the deep garden soil and his toes spread like stubby fingers from decades of walking barefoot, as around and around the seasons danced. With its impressive dignity, this prose suggests the fullness of experience that is possible with a strong conneetion to both past and future, and a gracious acceptance of one's changing place within them. Shaffer's lustrous oils give rich life to this affecting vignette-by focusing on her characters rather than on their surroundings, her spare yet precise earth-toned portraits allow the story's emotionality to emerge. Ages 4-6.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689317352
• ISBN 13: 9780689317354
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 27