Harley - Hardcover

Livingstone, Star

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1587170485 ISBN 13: 9781587170485

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2001

Synopsis

Harley is a young llama who lives on a ranch. He is learning to be a pack animal, but he is having a hard time. He kicks. He screams. He spits! But then a shepherd calls; she needs a llama to watch over her sheep. She decides to take a chance on Harley. Through the seasons, a series of challenges both great and small turn the temperamental llama into a loving leader—whether he's facing mischievous lambs, a bullying ram, or a pack of coyotes who prey on the sheep. With its poetic language and captivating artwork by Caldecott Honor-winning Molly Bang, this distinctive book speaks to all those who sometimes march to the beat of a different drummer.

About this title

About the Author:

Star Livingstone formerly lived in a tipi near the edge of the field where Harley watches his sheep. She now lives in Forestport, New York.

From Booklist:

Gr. 1-3, younger for reading aloud. In a lively, thoroughly enjoyable debut, Livingstone uses ultrashort sentences and contraction-free prose to both comic and dramatic effect, drawing from personal experience for this tale of a bad-tempered llama brought in to guard a flock of sheep from prowling coyotes. Stubbornly resistant to being trained as a pack animal, Harley becomes a mother hen once transferred to the shepherd's field, eating out of the shepherd's hand, carefully supervising the lambing, and one night springing to the attack when coyotes jump the fence: "Harley is screaming. Harley is running. His legs fly out every which way. His neck waves back and forth . . . .The coyotes are not there. They have run away." Molly Bang's artwork ranges from spot illustrations to full-spread scenes. Bang effectively captures the visual appeal of the woolly sheep and their ungainly, long-necked guardian, leaving large areas of her rough, speckled paper unfinished for a rustic look. The author and illustrator steer clear of anthropomorphism, but their close, accurate, good-humored observations not only bring out the individual characters here, but also will draw readers irresistibly into the world of field and flock as well. Excellent for newer readers wanting practice. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1587170485
• ISBN 13: 9781587170485
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64
• Illustrator: Bang Molly