Catilda - Hardcover

Stadler, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689847289 ISBN 13: 9780689847288

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2003

Synopsis

If you listen, you may hear Catilda singing sadly. She misses her teddy bear, Ollie, whom she's lost on a trip to the city. If you listen, you will hear her parents creeping up the stairs, talking about the child they have put snugly to bed. They hear only silence. If you watch, you will see everything those parents don't suspect -- everything that a child's love for a teddy bear can lead to. John Stadler has told his loving story with the lightest of touches and painted it with the lightness of air.

About this title

About the Author:

John Stadler's books for children include three Reading Rainbow titles and two Children's Choice selections.

His "Snail" books were chosen for the New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children and are widely used in textbook formats for schools. The Cats of Mrs. Calamari was a Booklist Editors' Choice and has been made into a permanent, life-sized, interactive exhibit at the Children's Museum of Portsmouth and One Seal was a Children's Book-of-the-Month-Club selection.

John says the art for Catilda was done using a watercolor-layering technique. In some instances, as many as twenty layers were applied to achieve the desired luminosity. He also says he sings himself to sleep every night, much to the chagrin of his wife, Nomi, and their dog, Sasha. The family lives in Lyme, New Hampshire.

From Publishers Weekly:

Stadler (Hooray for Snail!) inventively explores the lengths to which a child will go to reclaim a favorite toy. Catilda's parents think their kitten daughter is tucked into bed-feeling a bit sad, perhaps, having left her teddy bear, Ollie, behind in the city. They're wrong. "Did you tuck Catilda in?" asks her mother, as a serene scene of an oceanside cottage shows a tiny figure on the stair landing. "Yes. She's in bed, singing," says her father. As the two debate-offstage-whether or not to check on her, Catilda travels over sand and sea to fetch Ollie from the Statute of Liberty's torch. The wide-eyed, nightgowned heroine, reminiscent of Japanese anime, comes alive in flat, incandescent watercolors that lend her a look of calm even in the scariest of circumstances. Full-bleed paintings of calamities alternate with inset close-ups to create an adventure that tantalizingly teeters between fancy and dream. The conversation of Catilda's parents-the book's only text, set within dialogue boxes-serves as a kind of reality counterpoint. "It's awfully quiet up there," says one parent, while a startled Catilda surfs a huge green wave. "But we might wake her," rejoins the other parent on the next page, as the heroine lands on a ship's mast (visible poking through the clouds; the next page reveals the schooner). When she eventually ends up snuggled in bed with her beloved bear, her parents are none the wiser. By keeping the adventure solely from the child's perspective, Stadler conveys the full range of Catilda's emotions and affirms her ingenuity. Ages 2-5.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0689847289
• ISBN 13: 9780689847288
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Stadler John