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Summary
Summary
A robust and wildly entertaining fairy tale, freely abridged from Eden Phillpotts's 1910 fantasy and wryly retold by Katherine and John Paterson.
An ambitious Stone Age man demands a talisman that will harden his heart, allowing him to take control of his tribe. Against his better judgment, the tribe's magic man creates the Flint Heart, but the cruelty of it causes the destruction of the tribe. Thousands of years later, the talisman reemerges to corrupt a kindly farmer, an innocent fairy creature, and a familial badger. Can Charles and his sister Unity, who have consulted with fairies such as the mysterious Zagabog, wisest creature in the universe, find a way to rescue humans, fairies, and animals alike from the dark influence of the Flint Heart? This humorous, hearty, utterly delightful fairy tale is the sort for an entire family to savor together or an adventurous youngster to devour.
Author Notes
Katherine Paterson was born in Qing Jiang, Jiangsu, China in 1932. She attended King College in Bristol, Tennessee and then graduate school in Virginia where she studied Bible and Christian education.
Before going to graduate school, she was a teacher for one year and after graduate school, she moved to Japan to be a missionary.
Her first book, Sign of the Chrysanthemum was published in 1991. Other titles to follow included The Bridge to Terabithia and Jacod Have I Loved which both won her a Newbery Award, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Lyddie and The Master Puppeteer.
In addition to the Newbery Award, she is the recipient of numerous others including the Scott O'Dell Award, the National Book Award for Children's Literature, the American Book Award, the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Award and the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year Award. She was also honored with the Hans Christian Anderson Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
The husband-and-wife team of the Patersons has created what they term a "freely abridged" version of Eden Phillpott's 1910 fantasy about an ancient, heart-shaped amulet whose power reaches down through the ages to harden the bearer's heart. When their mild-mannered father transforms into a tyrant after finding the amulet, 12-year-old Charlie enlists the aid of his younger sister, their dog, and some unusual partners, including a fairy king and a German hot water bottle to return Billy Jago to his loving self. The updated text is well served by Lister's avuncular narrative style with its comfortable pacing and spot-on voicing of characters both human and magical. Common Core Standard:CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.9 Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Katherine and John Paterson's bewitching fairy tale about the re-emergence of a dangerous talisman called the Flint Heart that hardens the heart of anyone unlucky enough to be corrupted by its magic comes to life thanks to top-notch narration from Ralph Lister. Throughout this audio production, Lister creates distinctive voices for the diverse cast of characters. He offers up a gruff rumble for the ancient tribesman first possessed by the flint heart and a nasal, high-pitched voice for a persnickety fairy that harbors a passion for English literature. For children Charles and Unity-whose father falls victim to the object-Lister creates bright, inquisitive voices, while lending the wise and kindly Zagabog, a sort of guru to the fairies, a gentle voice reminiscent of Harry Potter's Dumbledore. And for the story's most whimsical character-a timid hot water bottle that dreams of someday being mended-Lister utilizes a voice that becomes confident and brave as the story unfolds. Ages 7-12. A Candlewick hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
At the core of Eden Phillpotts's 1910 original fairy tale The Flint Heart lies a marvelous modern fantasy. During the Stone Age, a young warrior, Phutt, asks Fum, a mystery man, to make him an amulet so he can become king. After much protesting, Fum fashions a heart out of flint. Phutt rules, but through the charm's influence he does so with intimidation and violence. When Phutt dies, Fum buries the flint heart with him, and there it stays, doing no mischief, until the turn of the twentieth century. Readers familiar with fairy-tale conventions will anticipate that the heart will be found two more times and know that each finding will trigger cruelty and evil. Two children smart and brave enough to venture into the land of the pixies and fight the influence of the flint validate this truth. Until now, this story has remained buried in Phillpotts's Victorian verbiage, piled as high as the cairn that covered the flint upon the moors. But the Patersons' modern abridgment allows the tale to emerge. They've eliminated much unnecessary detail and toned down many conventions of the time by playfully incorporating direct address and lighthearted, rather than didactic, asides. The book will be illustrated with full-color pictures and silhouette spot art, and the page design is generous; best of all, the story delivers. betty carter (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A heart-shaped talisman created in the Stone Age brings terribly corrupting power to those who possess it, until 12-year-old Charles Jago manages to destroy it permanently.This magical adventure begins with the fashioning of a piece of flint into a charm for hardening hearts. A hard-hearted individual can rule his tribe in the Stone Age and, fast-forwarding to the early 20th century, become the leader in one's community, but at a cost to his good nature, family and friends. That's what happens first to Charles' father, then to an imp called a Jacky Toad and then to a badger. Happily and with help from his little sister, his dog, the king of Fairyland, a talking hot-water bottle and the all-knowing Zagabog, Charles wrests the stone away from each one in turn, with no harm done. After all, this is a fairy tale. Written by Eden Phillpotts and first published in 1910, this traditional story has been deftly abridged and brought up to date by the Patersons. They've preserved the faintly English narrative voice and humor, idiosyncratic characters, lively action, distinctive Dartmoor setting and even many of the words. The 21st-century version features thoughtful design and Rocco's digitally colored film-animationstyle illustrations, including chapter-heads, full-page images and decorations throughout.A grand tale skillfully updated and tightened up, this should win the hearts of a new generation. (Fantasy. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Spouses Katherine and John Paterson have adapted Eden Phillpotts' 1910 story of the same name, skillfully calibrating the fantastical tale's charm and humor for a younger, contemporary audience. When their father discovers a heart-shaped totem of flint and succumbs to its hard-hearted, tyrannical power, young siblings Charlie and Unity and their dog, Ship, consult with pixies and imps and a talking German hot-water bottle to rescue him and restore order. The Patersons' robust language casts a spell that is simultaneously nonsensical and compelling. Rocco's periodic full-color paintings embellish the goings-on with a steampunk sheen and art nouveau flourish, and clever spot illustrations in the occasional corner punctuate the action. The book's format, with broad margins and generous line spacing, adds to its readability. This timeless, enjoyable retelling is a strong choice for both a read-aloud and an under-the-covers escape.--Barthelmess, Tho. Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
FOR this revival of "The Flint Heart," a wonderful British fantasy by Eden Phillpotts first published in 1910, we can thank Katherine Paterson, the well-known author and current national ambassador for young people's literature, and her husband, John, who at the request of their publisher "freely abridged" the original. At its center is an object, the Flint Heart, a heartshaped pebble that changes whoever possesses it into an evil person. The book opens with the talisman's back story, explaining how a shaman made the object (appropriately) during the Stone Age when a warrior wanted to become hardhearted in order to overthrow his ruler. The subject is classic, but in the Patersons' abridgment of Phillpotts, its treatment is comic - the "Iliad" as retold by the Flintstones. "If you are one of those people that think people in those long-off days were much kinder and gentler than people are today, you are being far too romantic," Phillpotts warns in the Patersons' rendition. People then, as now, were "always trying to see who could throw the biggest lump at his enemy." Time passes, the evil stone is eventually buried and over the next 5,000 years that region in southern England, Dartmoor, is invaded by pixies, fairies, brownies, trolls, flibbertigibbets, dwarfs, pidgwidgeons, spooks and ghouls. Then comes the 19th century, when the Jago family farms the same area and the father, Billy, happens upon the Flint Heart, puts it in his pocket and suffers a Jekyll-like change. Unaware of the lapidary explanation for their father's transformation - he goes from Wordsworthian paterfamilias to a despot who beats his children and cheats his neighbors - 12-year-old Charles and his 5-year-old sister. Unity, seek a remedy to Billy's disease by traveling to the Pixies' Holt, home of tiny supernatural creatures and an example of the Fantasyland that the British do so well. Along the way to destroying the Flint Heart, the children are guided by the pixie poet Mr. De Quincey, meet the King and Queen of the Fairies, grapple with animal misbehavior à la "The Wind in the Willows" and proctor a hilarious "Alice in Wonderland"-like school exam. Phillpotts's most original contribution to this familiar territory is the Zagabog, a wise creature who introduces the concept of point of view by explaining how Aesop's hare let tne tortoise win in order to boost the sluggard's selfesteem. Illustrations by John Rocco, a former employee of Disney Imagineering and a contributor to "Shrek," add a cinematic flavor with artwork that seems to anticipate Storyboards for a future film complete with Pixargenerated pixies. Echoes of Charles Bragg's work and of Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" occur throughout, but the guiding inspiration, in both atmosphere and palette, seems to be Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." Asked why Phillpotts's century-old book should be reimagined now, Katherine Paterson has hinted that the story may have a relevant political message. Could it be the Flint Heart's capacity to make its owner lunge for power? Indeed, if the Flint Heart still exists, we should be able to identify its owner by means of its distinguishing symptoms. All we need do is look among political aspirants for the one who is a bully and a narcissist, ignorant and narrow-minded, power-hungry and hardhearted to find its current possessor. Jerry Griswold's most recent book is "Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature."