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Summary
Summary
After being kidnapped by outlaws, Antonio, an eight-year old boy is asked to tell them a story which he makes up as he goes along.
Summary
After being kidnapped by outlaws, Antonio, an eight-year old boy is asked to tell them a story which he makes up as he goes along.
Summary
Antonio, a small boy who has been kidnapped by brigands, passes the dark and stormy night in thier cave weaving incredible stories for their own exploits - and solves his own problem of how to escape.
Author Notes
Allan Ahlberg was born in 1938 in South London, and grew up in the Black Country. He worked as a teacher, postman, grave digger, soldier and plumber's mate before he became a full-time writer.
He met his wife and creative partner, Janet at teacher training college. It was because Janet wanted to illustrate a book that Allan wrote his first book, the Brick Street boys. After that, together they wrote 37 books.
Janet died in 1994 and Ahlberg discontinued his writing career for a few years before picking it up again.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Allan Ahlberg was born in 1938 in South London, and grew up in the Black Country. He worked as a teacher, postman, grave digger, soldier and plumber's mate before he became a full-time writer.
He met his wife and creative partner, Janet at teacher training college. It was because Janet wanted to illustrate a book that Allan wrote his first book, the Brick Street boys. After that, together they wrote 37 books.
Janet died in 1994 and Ahlberg discontinued his writing career for a few years before picking it up again.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Janet Ahlberg was born in Huddersfield, England in 1944 and brought up in Leicester. Originally trained as a teacher in Sunderland from 1963 to 1966, Ahlberg was encouraged to paint and draw. She decided that keeping charge of a class was very hard work so she decided to develop her artistic ability and went to study graphic design at Leicester Polytechnic for three years.
She met and married Allan Ahlberg and began to illustrate books for children, first with Night published in 1972, and then with The Brick Street Boys series, written by her husband. Since then, she and Allan Ahlberg have worked together successfully. Another series, also written by Allan Ahlberg, is Happy Families, published by Puffin Books. In 1978, Ahlberg was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for Each Peach, Pear, Plum. Ahlberg is a two time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal having won again in 1991for The Jolly Christmas Postman. She was awarded the Kurt Maschler Awards in 1986 for The Jolly Postman: or Other People's Letters, whoch sold over a million copies worlwide.
Sadly Janet Ahlberg died in 1994 at the age of 50 after suffering from cancer
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Meticulously meshing words and pictures, the Ahlbergs ( The Jolly Postman ) present an unusually witty yarn-within-a-yarn. Dozing while tending his family's goats, eight-year-old Antonio is kidnapped by a band of brigands and their bored chief, who demands that the boy tell a story to pass the time during, yes, a dark and stormy night. A rather rude bunch, the rogues keep interrupting Antonio (whose tale features these very brigands), heavily editing his narrative (``No crocodiles or sharks--no jaws!''; ``No Brussels sprouts!''). With a good-natured ``Right-o!,'' the lad repeatedly starts over. Eventually Antonio tells of a ``Thingy'' lurking in a castle moat who is about to do in the chief and his cronies. As this distresses them greatly, the boy wisely switches his plot to ``something pleasant'': a lavish banquet followed by a treasure hunt. But when Antonio's tale has the chief demanding all of the booty, the fictional brigands protest loudly--much to the chagrin of the real brigands, who fear their master's wrath. Mayhem ensues, leading to a very clever finale. As always, Janet Ahlberg's delightfully detailed art offers youngsters lots to look at--and to laugh at. Ages 7-10. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Kidnapped by a band of brigands, eight-year-old Antonio entertains his captors with a rambling story until he is able to escape. There is humor in the color illustrations, but the severely attenuated story is confusing and overwritten. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. Captured by brigands, taken to their mountain cave, and ordered to tell a story, a plucky lad named Antonio entertains his captors with a tale that captivates the childlike chief and his band of dim-witted desperadoes. Led into acting out the story, the brainless brigands eventually fall into such confusion that Antonio escapes and returns to his loving family. Rather like Colin McNaughton's Jolly Roger (1988) in its spacious format and humorous tone, this illustrated story offers the satisfaction of an eight-year-old outwitting a band of outlaws more silly than sinister. The large pages give plenty of space for the detailed, full-color artwork and plenty of room for the text to linger over words, words, words: "Roast potatoes . . . tons of them, all crisp and golden--and piping hot, freshly made spaghetti, tagliatelli, vermicelli, macaroni--and, best of all, perhaps, a huge tureen of delicious and enticing stew." An appealing read-aloud choice with a longer story than most picture books. ~--Carolyn Phelan
Publisher's Weekly Review
Meticulously meshing words and pictures, the Ahlbergs ( The Jolly Postman ) present an unusually witty yarn-within-a-yarn. Dozing while tending his family's goats, eight-year-old Antonio is kidnapped by a band of brigands and their bored chief, who demands that the boy tell a story to pass the time during, yes, a dark and stormy night. A rather rude bunch, the rogues keep interrupting Antonio (whose tale features these very brigands), heavily editing his narrative (``No crocodiles or sharks--no jaws!''; ``No Brussels sprouts!''). With a good-natured ``Right-o!,'' the lad repeatedly starts over. Eventually Antonio tells of a ``Thingy'' lurking in a castle moat who is about to do in the chief and his cronies. As this distresses them greatly, the boy wisely switches his plot to ``something pleasant'': a lavish banquet followed by a treasure hunt. But when Antonio's tale has the chief demanding all of the booty, the fictional brigands protest loudly--much to the chagrin of the real brigands, who fear their master's wrath. Mayhem ensues, leading to a very clever finale. As always, Janet Ahlberg's delightfully detailed art offers youngsters lots to look at--and to laugh at. Ages 7-10. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Kidnapped by a band of brigands, eight-year-old Antonio entertains his captors with a rambling story until he is able to escape. There is humor in the color illustrations, but the severely attenuated story is confusing and overwritten. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. Captured by brigands, taken to their mountain cave, and ordered to tell a story, a plucky lad named Antonio entertains his captors with a tale that captivates the childlike chief and his band of dim-witted desperadoes. Led into acting out the story, the brainless brigands eventually fall into such confusion that Antonio escapes and returns to his loving family. Rather like Colin McNaughton's Jolly Roger (1988) in its spacious format and humorous tone, this illustrated story offers the satisfaction of an eight-year-old outwitting a band of outlaws more silly than sinister. The large pages give plenty of space for the detailed, full-color artwork and plenty of room for the text to linger over words, words, words: "Roast potatoes . . . tons of them, all crisp and golden--and piping hot, freshly made spaghetti, tagliatelli, vermicelli, macaroni--and, best of all, perhaps, a huge tureen of delicious and enticing stew." An appealing read-aloud choice with a longer story than most picture books. ~--Carolyn Phelan