Who Is My Neighbor?

Grejniec, Michael

ISBN 10: 0679958010 / ISBN 13: 9780679958017

Published by Random House of Canada, Limited, Mississauga, ON, Canada, 1994

About this Item

Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # 0711631

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Who Is My Neighbor?
• Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited, Mississauga, ON, Canada
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679958010
• ISBN 13: 9780679958017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Thus.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

A little boy discovers a wonderful and imaginative new world when he meets his upstairs neighbor, a mysterious man who can pull colorful balls out of a small black hat and make a lion leap through a ring of fire.

From Publishers Weekly

A boy's dreary world is transformed when he meets his unusual neighbor in this picture-book fantasy. Young Phil describes life on the edge of town, where the sky is always cloudy and the streets are always gray. He can't help being curious about the mysterious man in the apartment upstairs. Phil watches him leave the building in the morning and return in the evening, but he never sees the man's face. One day the electricity fails, and Phil's mother sends him to borrow candles from the shadowy man. Inside the strange apartment, Phil is treated to a mind-bending magic-trick/circus extravaganza. Grejniec's (Good Morning, Good Night; What Do You Like?) short sentences and matter-of-fact tone aptly mimic a child's storytelling style. However, Phil's adventure flags because of the text's mixture of moods. An imaginative flight of fancy on one level, the story also contains some potentially disturbing undercurrents (e.g., encountering strangers alone in the dark). A happy ending helps resolve these issues, although it is difficult to distinguish between real and make-believe here. Grejniec's richly textured watercolors have the look of a mixed-media collage, and his dense, energetic colors pop right off the black-and-white backgrounds. The menagerie of lions, rabbits and spotted horses vaulting through the blackness is especially eye-catching. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.