The Hinky-Pink: An Old Tale - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689875886 ISBN 13: 9780689875885

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2008

Synopsis

A happy Hinky-Pink is a fine thing. An unhappy Hinky-Pink pinches!

That is what happens to Anabel, a young seamstress in Old Italy who has only days to finish her dream: sewing a gown for the princess to wear at the Butterfly Ball.

Thanks -- or no thanks -- to the Hinky-Pink Anabel is woozy for want of sleep. Her lace looks like cheesecloth; her hems, like saddle cinches. Night after night, the Hinky-Pink keeps wrestling her bedclothes to the floor -- and pinching. What is its problem? And how is Anabel to help?

A grand old favorite of storytellers is here given sprightly new life.

About this title

About the Author

Megan McDonald, beloved author of the Judy Moody books, is also a gifted storyteller. She is the author of When the Library Lights Go Out, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson; The Hinky-Pink, illustrated by Brian Floca; and the now-classic Is This a House for Hermit Crab?, illustrated by S.D. Schindler. She lives in Sebastopol, California.

Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of Locomotive, winner of the 2013 Caldecott Medal; Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; Lightship, also a Sibert Honor Book; and Racecar Alphabet, an ALA Notable Children’s Book. He has illustrated Avi’s Poppy Stories, Kate Messner’s Marty McGuire novels, and Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan’s Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, a Sibert Honor Book and winner of the Orbis Pictus Award. You can visit him online at BrianFloca.com.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 2–4—Anabel is a seamstress in Old Italy who dreams of making a dress worthy of a princess. Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola is a princess who gives the girl one week to make her a dress worthy of the Butterfly Ball. Locked in the tower sewing room, Anabel finds the finest silk, chiffon, and crepe as well as gold scissors, thread that is clear as glass, and a silver thimble. Unfortunately, she also shares the room with a Hinky-Pink that pinches her at night, steals her covers, and makes sleep impossible. When Anabel is "chill as a fish and can't sew a stitch," the nursemaid advises her to make the Hinky-Pink a bed of its own. After many unsuccessful attempts, Anabel fashions a tiny bed from her silver thimble, and the Hinky-Pink hums happily. Having slept "the sleep of a princess without a pea," she sews the perfect dress in a single day. Illustrations are done in watercolor and ink and feature a warm palette of rose, peach, and gold tones. Actual landmarks are used to make Firenze come alive, while Italian words and phrases are scattered throughout, sometimes placed in speech bubbles. McDonald's flawless storytelling melds with Floca's joyous art, bringing new life to Margery Bailey's "The Bed Just So" from Whistle for Good Fortune (Little, Brown, 1948). Girls who love princess stories will adore this lively tale.—Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN
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Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0689875886
• ISBN 13: 9780689875885
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Floca Brian