The Literacy Bridge - Large Print - The Game of Sunken Places - Hardcover

M. T. Anderson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786270640 ISBN 13: 9780786270644

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004

Synopsis

When Brian and Gregory receive an invitation to stay at a distant relative's strange mansion . . . well, they should know better than to go. Such trips rarely go well, and this mansion is even stranger than most. Uncle Max doesn't really know what century he's in. The butler boils socks. And the attic houses the Game of Sunken Places - which looks like a board game, and most of the time acts like a board game, but is hardly an ordinary board game.

About this title

Review

Have you ever read a children's book about a boy or girl who visits an eccentric relative's mansion for vacation? Oh--of course you have. Well, M.T. Anderson's The Game of Sunken Places is one such book. Thirteen-year-old Gregory Buchanan's Uncle Max is very strange, as Gregory is quick to tell his friend Brian Thatz whom he enlists to join him in Vermont. Uncle Max, or Maximilian Grendle, and Gregory's cousin Prudence live in the "kind of world where there's organ music that gets louder when he eats refined sugar." Well, not exactly, but that's a typical Gregory-style comment.

Brian and Gregory's adventure begins when they find an old board game called The Game of Sunken Places. As it turns out, the Game is reality, and the boys must participate and win in order to settle the score in an age-old battle of enchanted spirit-nations. The story involves Brian, the quieter, more sensible friend, coming into his own and proving that, though not flashy, he is capable and brave. In addition, it examines the lifelong friendship between two very different boys. Also a suspenseful adventure, the story leads the boys to an ax-wielding, riddle-bearing (and hilarious) troll, an ogre named Snarth, the wee elf Sniggleping (not as cute as he sounds), translucent ghost riders, and much more. While the dialogue is exceedingly smart and funny, and the characters vividly drawn, the story bogs down a bit in twists and turns, leaving the reader wishing for a road map as much as the boys wish they had one for the Game. Still, Anderson, author of the popular Burger Wuss, Thirsty, and Feed, surprises his fans again with something utterly new and different. (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson

About the Author

M. T. Anderson is the author of several distinguished picture books, including Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and a Boston Globe-Horn Honor Book, and The Serpent Came to Gloucester, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, a Junior Library Guild Selection. He is also the author of several young adult novels, including FEED, a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786270640
• ISBN 13: 9780786270644
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 331