Gorky Rises

William Steig

ISBN 10: 0374427844 / ISBN 13: 9780374427849

Published by Square Fish, US, 1986

About this Item

Seller Inventory # LU-9780374427849

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Gorky Rises
• Publisher: Square Fish, US
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374427844
• ISBN 13: 9780374427849
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Steig, William
• Edition: Sunburst ed.
• Condition: New
• Weight: 122 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Gorky Rises is an imaginative and humorous story about a frog who concocts a potion that grants him the ability to fly―from William Steig, the Caldecott and Newbery Medal-winning creator of Shrek!.

One fresh and fair summer day, as soon as his parents go out, Gorky sets up his laboratory by the kitchen sink to have another try at concocting a magic potion. This time he strikes upon the missing ingredient―half a bottle of his mother's attar of roses―and he knows it's a success at last.

While he is waiting for the bubbly, glinting liquid to show what it can do, he heads over to Elephant Rock, “his best spot for doing nothing.” But on the way he stops to bask in the sun, soon falls asleep―and wakes to find himself floating in the immensely blue sky, clutching his bottle of magic.

There follows the most astonishing, bewildering, and bedazzling adventure a young frog could possibly have. Orbiting the globe has its ups and downs, however, and Gorky soon begins to wonder if he'll ever get back to earth. He does manage to outwit the magic; but the potion saves a last surprise until Gorky reaches Elephant Rock, just one day later than he had planned.

About the Author

William Steig (1907-2003) was a cartoonist, illustrator and author of award-winning books for children, including Shrek!, on which the DreamWorks movies are based. Steig was born in New York City. Every member of his family was involved in the arts, and so it was no surprise when he decided to become an artist. He attended City College and the National Academy of Design. In 1930, Steig’s work began appearing in The New Yorker, where his drawings have been a popular fixture ever since. He published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968. In 1970, Steig received the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. His books for children also include Dominic; The Real Thief; The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book; Amos & Boris, a National Book Award finalist; and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books. Steig's books have also received the Christopher Award, the Irma Simonton Black Award, the William Allen White Children's Book Award, and the American Book Award. His European awards include the Premio di Letteratura per l'infanzia (Italy), the Silver Pencil Award (the Netherlands), and the Prix de la Fondation de France. On the basis of his entire body of work, Steig was selected as the 1982 U.S. candidate for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration and subsequently as the 1988 U.S. candidate for Writing. Steig also published thirteen collections of drawings for adults, beginning with About People in 1939, and including The Lonely Ones, Male/Female, The Agony in the Kindergarten, and Our Miserable Life. He died in Boston at the age of 95.