Varmints - Hardcover

Helen Ward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1840113286 ISBN 13: 9781840113280

Publisher: Templar Publishing, 2007

Synopsis

Striking, surreal illustrations and a haunting, evocative text tell a mysterious tale of a threatened natural world —- and a hopeful new start.

Once, the only sounds to be heard were the buzzing of bees in the grass, the murmuring of moles in the earth, and the song of birds in the sky. These warmed the hearts of those who cared to listen —- until the others came to fill the sky with buildings and the air with a cacophony of noise. With dramatically lit artwork and a spare, intriguing text, Varmints tells of a pastoral world in need of protection and of the souls who love it enough to ensure its regeneration. Includes vellum pages and French flaps as part of a gorgeous paperback design.

About this title

About the Author

Helen Ward, the author and illustrator of more than twenty-five children’s picture books, has been praised equally for her lucid prose and her meticulous illustrations. She lives in Gloucestershire, England.

Marc Craste is a senior animation director at London-based Studio Aka, where he has designed and directed numerous award-winning commercials. He is currently working on a short-film version of this book. He lives in London.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up—This story of ecological doom and resurrection begins with an arresting cover portrait: a small, winsome creature (think part rabbit, part mole) looks straight out at readers from a lacy glade, alert but vulnerable. The book is divided into three sections by opaque pages resembling the opening countdown frames on a film. Brief oblique text relates how the creature's idyll in a sunny, bee-filled meadow is cut short by the arrival of "others" whose construction of towering, shadowy, noise-filled buildings ultimately blots out all light and all sounds. The small creature saves a bit of the natural world in the form of carefully nurtured wilderness plants. When the time is right, he releases the seeds into a pod-world. Once again a sunny, bee-filled meadow flourishes, and nature can begin anew. Filmmaker Craste's surreal digital paintings create three starkly contrasting worlds. The two meadow worlds, with their "whispering wind" and bird songs, are vast, open, and filled with light, both literally and figuratively. The industrial world, with its hopeless masses teeming far below its looming towers, is suffocating in its claustrophobic darkness. Lavender-gray text on blackish pages is difficult to read, perhaps intentionally. This oversize picture book will be most effective as a discussion book for children and adults who can bring environmentally informed interpretations to the abstract, transcendental story.—Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT
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About this edition

• Publisher: Templar Publishing
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1840113286
• ISBN 13: 9781840113280
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40