Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream - Hardcover

Lester, Julius

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803719876 ISBN 13: 9780803719873

Publisher: Dial Books, 2000

Synopsis

Chaos results when a dream tells all the children and animals of the world that they should do whatever they want without fear of adult reprisal, and it is up to Albidaro, Guardian of Children, and Olara, Guardian of Animals, to put everyone back where they are supposed to be.

About this title

About the Author:

Julius Lester is a celebrated author whose accolades include a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award. He is also a National Book Award finalist, a National Book Critics Circle nominee, and a recipient of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In addition to his critically acclaimed writing career, Mr. Lester has distinguished himself as a civil rights activist, musician, photographer, radio talk-show host, and professor. For 32 years he taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He lives in western Massachusetts.

Jerry Pinkney is one of America's most admired children's book illustrators. He has won the Caldecott Medal and five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Awards, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the Society of Illustrators' Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. Recently a member of the National Council of the Arts and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has also served on the U.S. Postal Service Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Schomburg Center, and the Norman Rockwell Museum. Jerry Pinkney lives with his wife, author Gloria Jean Pinkney, in Westchester County, New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this offering from a talented duo (Black Cowboy, Wild Horses), teddy bears inadvertently set off a chain reaction when they slip to their young owners a dream promising that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, without punishment. Albidaro (the mythical "Guardian of Children" who lives in the sky) then uses the dream to get even with his snooty sister Olara ("Guardian of Animals") by planting it in the minds of the animals. The next morning, children balk at their parents' requests while animals shed their leashes and flee their cages and homelands to wear pajamas, eat popcorn on the couch and surf the Internet. Ironically, the animals on the loose turn the youngsters into responsible parent figures, and total freedom makes everyone unhappy. In the end Albidaro and Olara restore order. Pinkney's fluid illustrations exude bedtime magic, and he wisely balances the outlandish scenario with realistic renderings of the animals as they engage in merry mayhem. The fable itself fares less well, however. Though shot through with humor, it stumbles by straining too hard to be silly (listing "hippopotamussesessssss" and "rhinossyhorses" among an otherwise normal lineup of animal names, for instance) and serving up such gushing descriptions as "happy as a butterfly's heart." Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0803719876
• ISBN 13: 9780803719873
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Pinkney Jerry