The Bold Boy - Softcover

Malachy Doyle; Jane Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0744589371 ISBN 13: 9780744589375

Publisher: Walker Books, 2002

Synopsis

When the bold boy finds a pea, he puts it in his nut-brown bag and he does a little dance and he sings a little song and off he toddles. He finds an old lady to look after the pea, but her speckledy hen eats it. When the bold boy finds out, he pops the speckledy hen into his nut-brown bag, saying "Naughty, naughty! You ate my pea so now you're mine, for that's the law where I come from!" And so it continues, until the bold boy discovers that the law where he comes from is not necessarily the law of the land!

About this title

About the Author:

Malachy Doyle has produced numerous books for children, including the Walker Read and Wonder title, Jody's Beans, and the picture book Sleepy Pendoodle. Malachy lives on the west coast of Wales with his family. Jane Ray is one of the most acclaimed contemporary children's book illustrators. Her books include The Story of the Creation, winner of the Smarties Book Prize and Hansel and Gretel. She has been shortlisted four times for the Kate Greenaway Medal - for Noah's Ark, The Story of Christmas, The Happy Prince and most recently for Fairy Tales, rewritten by Berlie Doherty, which has been shortlisted for the 2001 Kate Greenaway Medal.

From School Library Journal:

reS-This well-designed book with playful fonts is accompanied by magical, arresting illustrations that will captivate young children. The bold boy in his red, knitted hat finds a pea. "Then he did a little dance and he sang a little song, and off he toddled." This refrain repeats throughout. He asks a woman to keep it safe, but her hen eats it, and the boy takes the hen. He then takes a pig from an old man, when the pig frightens the hen. And he rides a young girl's donkey away, when the donkey chases the pig. The woman, the old man, and the young girl find the naughty child and he has nothing until he finds-a pea. All of the action takes place on bled spreads, which are great for group viewing. Ray enhances her decorative folk-art style by using arrows, sometimes humorously. The arrows echo the circular story by starting on the front cover, traipsing through endpapers, appearing on the boy's journey, showing up on the back cover, and ultimately ending on the front. Because of its unique illustrations and playful theme, The Bold Boy will work well in storytime with Clare Beaton's There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch (Barefoot, 2001).

Debbie Stewart, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0744589371
• ISBN 13: 9780744589375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40