Mysterious Traveler - Hardcover

Peet, Mal; Graham, Elspeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763662321 ISBN 13: 9780763662325

Publisher: Candlewick, 2013

Synopsis

An uplifting tale evoking the golden sands of Africa by Carnegie Medalist Mal Peet and his wife, Elspeth Graham, captivatingly illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

Already an old man, desert guide Issa has seen thousands of dawns. One particular morning, however, the desert reveals something new; something that changes his life. Tucked away in a narrow cave, shielded from a treacherous dust storm by a faithful camel, a baby girl lies wrapped in fine cotton and wearing half of a star medallion around her neck. Issa names the girl Mariama. As years pass, Issa loses his sight, and Mariama becomes his eyes. So Issa doesn’t see the pattern on the robes of a mysterious young traveler who comes through their village, or the medallion he wears. Who is this young stranger, and what does his arrival mean for the life Issa and Mariama share in the desert?

About this title

About the Author

Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham live in Devon, England, in a house not too far from the sea. Elspeth Graham found the seed for this story while writing a book about tea. Mal Peet is the author of such YA novels as Keeper; The Penalty; Exposure; Life: An Exploded Diagram, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book; and the Carnegie Medal–winning Tamar.

P.J. Lynch is one of the most talented illustrators working today. He is a two-time winner of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal, and three of his books, including The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, have been awarded the Christopher Medal. He lives in Dublin.

Reviews

Gr 2-5-Peet and Graham team up again for an original folktale, this one inspired by the guides who navigate the Sahara in Mali. The authors spin a sweet and predictable story about a baby wearing a valuable necklace who is rescued from a sandy death by a kindhearted old man named Issa. He raises the infant as his granddaughter, relying more and more on young Mariama once his eyesight begins to fail. The text grows increasingly fantastical as Issa's blindness forces Mariama to verbalize the visual wonder of the vast landscape they traverse for a living. Lynch's rich mixed-media illustrations-in shades of velvety browns and tans punctuated by blues-capture the desert's expansive quality. Their beauty evokes Issa's love for the land, but does not entirely convey the menacing nature of the mercurial terrain, an essential tenet of the story. After a trio of arrogant visitors rejects Issa's guidance, he and Mariama rescue them just as a potentially deadly sandstorm swirls up. No one but the characters will feel surprise when the chastened young leader of the group notices Mariama's pendant and discovers her to be his long-lost sister and a princess. Some of the descriptions (e.g., "big-bellied baobab trees lifted their thick branches and fingery leaves like a line of stout old gentlemen waving their arms in the air") offer fresh whimsy to the folktale form. These lyrical sparks and Lynch's illustrations, most notably a desert mountain scene awash in luminous blues, elevate this effort.-Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Lyrically told, this is the story of an old man and a young girl, bound together by love and by the desert. Issa understands the hot, dry sands, making him an excellent guide. Then he finds something unexpected in the desert: a frightened camel and a baby girl. Issa adopts the child, names her Mariama, and puzzles over the gold half-star necklace she wears. As the years pass, Mariama learns all Issa has to teach her, and when he goes blind, she becomes his eyes, so together they can still guide travelers. When a trio of men appears, they request the guides’ services, but realizing Issa is blind, they decide to make their own way, which proves both difficult and providential. The story, with its iconic elements of abandonment, loss, and love, has no real unexpected moments, but it’s told with such precision to detail (of both setting and emotion) that children will respond. The artwork, often framed, is reminiscent of the work of Trina Schart Hyman and has a stately look that suits the story. Grades 4-6. --Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0763662321
• ISBN 13: 9780763662325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Lynch P.J.
• Number of pages: 48