A Book

A CHILD IN SEARCH OF HER STORY Caldecott medalist Mordicai Gerstein looks at books from a whole new angle.

Once upon a time there was a family who lived in a book. All but the youngest had stories they belonged to—fighting fires, exploring space, entertaining in the circus—but she didn't have one yet. Walking through all the possibilities of story types Mordicai Gerstein presents her quest in unique and changing perspectives: readers look down into the books below at the characters in their worlds. A funny and touching celebration of books, stories, and finding yourself.

Publishers Weekly

Living in a book is a bummer if you're the only character in the family who doesn't have a story. That's the problem facing Caldecott Medalist Gerstein's (The Man Who Walked Between the Towers) pigtailed protagonist-even her family's pets have stories ("It's the story of a dog who seeks interesting odors," says the dachshund. "Goodbye. I'm off to sniff!"). The girl never does find a story she can drop into, but in the funny, freewheeling pages that follow, she discovers what a reader is ("EEEEK!" she exclaims, as she looks up and spots you-know-who peering down at her) and how the universe is filled with story possibilities, from historical fiction to Alice in Wonderland. Gerstein is playing at meta-fiction at a higher level than most authors do for this target group, and it's possible that younger audiences will be beguiled by the spunky heroine and the comics-style dialogue balloons and mystified by everything else. (Why do the family members have individual stories instead of one collective story?) Aspiring writers may be the most receptive: they'll see their own creative ambitions mirrored in the girl's wily willingness to find her narrative voice. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

Mordicai Gerstein was already a talented children s book illustrator when he decided to start writing children s books of his own. Since then, he has released dozens of titles and has won nearly as many awards for his stories of childhood innocence, spiritual exploration, and imagination gone wild. His biographical story of tightrope walker Philippe Petit won the 2004 Caldecott Medal, making The Man Who Walked Between the Towers the most distinguished American picture book for children in 2004.