The Green Ship

Quentin Blake

ISBN 10: 0099253321 / ISBN 13: 9780099253327

Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, GB, 2000

About this Item

A tale of imagination and friendship, from the nation's favourite illustrator, Quentin Blake!When two bold adventurers climb over the wall to explore the overgrown garden next door, the discover a ship made of bushes, with tall, thin trees for masts. They also meet marvellous Mrs Tredegar, who turns them into a fully trained crew, and with their imaginations at the ready, they embark on a series of glorious voyages."Blake is beyond brilliant . . . I've never met a child who doesn't love Quentin Blake" - Daily TelegraphQuentin Blake is one of Britain's best-loved and most successful author-illustrators, and was made the first Children's Laureate in 1999. He has won the Whitbread Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, and the Kate Greenaway Medal. among others.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780099253327

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Green Ship
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK, GB
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0099253321
• ISBN 13: 9780099253327
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 231 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Two children find the Green Ship when they climb over the wall into what is more like a forest than a garden. The ship has bushes for bows and stern and its funnels are trees; a small garden shed on an ancient stump is the wheel house and in command of the ship is the owner of the garden, old Mrs Tredegar. Throughout the summer she and the Bosun and the two children sail the Seven Seas visiting exotic faraway places and having wonderful adventures.

Reviews

An aura of melancholy pervades this imaginative tale about two youngsters who come upon a topiary ship, brought to life with Blake's (Mrs. Armitage and the Big Wave) familiar, whimsical illustrations. Alice and her narrator brother, while on summer holiday at their aunt's, discover a green "ship" next door made from bushes trimmed in the shapes of a bow and stern and trees shaped to resemble smokestacks and masts. While the siblings explore the tree-house-like wheelhouse, two grownups appear: an elderly woman and a man she refers to as "Bosun" (whom, the boy observes, "actually looked more like a gardener"). The woman invites the children to tea, and to return the next day, saying, "I'm sure that's what the Captain would have wished." The captain takes on an air of mystery, as his identity goes unexplained (perhaps he is her late husband?), and the woman invokes his name as the crew sails to exotic fantasy destinations. One dramatic spread of the trio in the wheelhouse during a lightning storm, violet hues abundant, bears a striking resemblance to a ship on turbulent seas. Readers caught up in the fanciful voyages may grow sad at book's end for, with the passing years, the ship loses its shape as the trees become overgrown, leading the narrator to conclude, "Soon there will no longer be any way at all of knowing that they were once the Green Ship." As with Shel Silverstein's Giving Tree, the duo's memories alone keep the Green Ship and its journeys alive. Ages 7-10. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.