Madlenka
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Overview
A trip around a city block is like a trip around the world!
Peeking out through a die-cut window on the jacket, Madlenka invites the reader to enter her world. And what a world it is! On the surface, it looks like an ordinary city block, but as we meet Madlenka's neighbors -- the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice-cream man, the Latin American grocer, a retired opera singer from Germany, an African American school friend, and the Asian shopkeeper -- and look through die-cut windows to the images and memories they have carried from old country to new, we can see that Madlenka's block is as richly varied as its inhabitants. And why is Madlenka going around the block, jumping for joy? Her tooth is loose, and she wants everyone to know! Madlenka is a 2000 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year.
Madlenka, whose New York City neighbors include the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice-cream man, the South American grocer, and the Chinese shopkeeper, goes around the block to show her friends her loose tooth and finds that it is like taking a trip around the world.
Synopsis
For Madlenka, a trip around her city block is like a trip around the world.
Publishers Weekly
Incorporating many of the visually astonishing methods of Tibet Through the Red Box, S s chronicles the adventures of a New York City girl (based on S s's own daughter) whose loose tooth occasions a one-of-a-kind round-the-world tour. S s reels readers into Madlenka's neighborhood using meticulous cross-hatch drawings with a pale blue-gray wash: a distant view of the earth, then a continent, then an island--all with tiny red dots--lead up to the title page, which zeroes in on Madlenka's building on her block on Manhattan's Lower East Side. At last, the red dot becomes distinguishable as Madlenka's blouse as she stands in the window on the fourth floor. Discovering her tooth loose, the girl runs down the three flights of stairs to spread the news. The moment Madlenka makes her announcement, "Hey, everyone my tooth is loose!" her block breaks out of its box-like shape and transforms into a round carousel bursting with color. Here S s sets the rhythm for the balance of the book. Madlenka's first stop is the French bakery. A silhouette image of the heroine appears at the left of the spread, as she calls out to the baker, "Hello, Mr. Gaston. My tooth is loose!" S s frames her image with a scaled-down version of the city block and a border that highlights the bakery's yields. On the right-hand side of the spread, Mr. Gaston enters his p tisserie carrying baguettes ("Bonjour, Madeleine. Let's celebrate"); through a die-cut view of a tapestry in his shop window, readers see the Eiffel Tower flying the French flag. A turn of the page reveals a spread of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by not only Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe, but also Bemelmans's Madeline and Saint-Exup ry's Little Prince. Her visit to Mr. Singh's newsstand ("Sathsariakal, Madela") offers a glimpse of India; a stop at Mr. Ciao's ice cream truck ("Buon giorno, Maddalena"), a taste of Italy. Each of her visits sparks similar exchanges and other distant destinations, but thanks to S s's careful buildup, the shops and their keepers retain a cozy proximity. As he did with Tibet Through the Red Box, S s takes readers to exotic lands, yet continues to bring them back to the comfort of what they know. In Tibet, it was the father's study; here, it is Madlenka's block. When Madlenka returns home and tells her parents that she "went all around the world," readers will feel that they, too, have been armchair travelers, delivered safely home in S s's capable hands. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Madlenka lives in New York City, and a trip around her block is like a trip around the world. Everyone knows the friendly little girl -- from the French baker and the Indian news vendor to the Italian ice-cream man and the Asian shopkeeper. When Madlenka has some good news to share, she visits all her multicultural neighbors -- and they shower her with treats and kind words. With Madlenka, two-time Caldecott Honor-winning author Peter Sis delivers an exquisite tale featuring see-through windows and stunningly detailed illustrations -- a book that allows readers to peek into Madlenka's magical world and celebrate the wonders of different people and different places.From the Publisher
“For Madlenka, who has just discovered that she has a loose tooth, the block is a world unto itself, a familiar, self-contained place and also a realm of infinite newness and variety, always reassuringly the same and yet constantly changing its shape, color and texture. Her adventure is perfectly ordinary and completely magical, like the wonderful, scary experience of losing a tooth. . . . The book’s design is ingenious, a kind of two-dimensional hypertext of maps and windows that allows you to flip from the cartography of real places to a geography of pure imagination. . . . A book to be read slowly and repeatedly.”—The New York Times Book Review “As he did with Tibet Through the Red Box, Sís takes readers to exotic lands, yet continues to bring them back to the comfort of what they know. . . . When Madlenka returns home and tells her parents that she ‘went all around the world,’ readers will feel that they, too, have been armchair travelers, delivered safely home in Sís’s capable hands.”—Publishers Weekly
“Visually stunning . . . The real magic comes in the cleverly cut-away windows in each storefront through which children glimpse complex, global dreamscapes. Madlenka journeys through these mystical places, too, and it is these surreal, wordless stories-within-the-story that will excite a wide range of children, launching them in their own imagined departures.”—Booklist, Boxed Review
“[Sís] incorporates simple and telling details—real and imaginary—into his rich and sophisticated art. Illustrations are intricate, providing plenty to see on every turn of the page. Several ingenious cut-outs provide literal peeks into this international city.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“This brief story captures all of Sís’s most distinguished qualities of dreamlike mystery while remaining accessible to younger children. The book is meticulously designed . . . The exquisite double-page spreads invite close inspection . . . Undeniably clever, well-intentioned, and beautiful.”—Kirkus Reviews
“In Sís’s hands, this is a journey filled with mystical creatures and magical symbols, as the child is greeted by an international panoply of merchants and neighbors. . . . The stark white background around the child contrasts effectively with the dark ink-and-watercolor scenes once the threshold has been crossed. Groups will be captivated by the concept and the drama provided by the die-cuts and the fantastic settings. Individuals will pore over the many details, delighting in the emergence of forms and meaning provided by close inspection. An odyssey made all the more wondrous by pairing a big moment in a small child’s life with the happenings in the cosmos.”—School Library Journal
Publishers Weekly -
Incorporating many of the visually astonishing methods of Tibet Through the Red Box, S s chronicles the adventures of a New York City girl (based on S s's own daughter) whose loose tooth occasions a one-of-a-kind round-the-world tour. S s reels readers into Madlenka's neighborhood using meticulous cross-hatch drawings with a pale blue-gray wash: a distant view of the earth, then a continent, then an island--all with tiny red dots--lead up to the title page, which zeroes in on Madlenka's building on her block on Manhattan's Lower East Side. At last, the red dot becomes distinguishable as Madlenka's blouse as she stands in the window on the fourth floor. Discovering her tooth loose, the girl runs down the three flights of stairs to spread the news. The moment Madlenka makes her announcement, "Hey, everyone my tooth is loose!" her block breaks out of its box-like shape and transforms into a round carousel bursting with color. Here S s sets the rhythm for the balance of the book. Madlenka's first stop is the French bakery. A silhouette image of the heroine appears at the left of the spread, as she calls out to the baker, "Hello, Mr. Gaston. My tooth is loose!" S s frames her image with a scaled-down version of the city block and a border that highlights the bakery's yields. On the right-hand side of the spread, Mr. Gaston enters his p tisserie carrying baguettes ("Bonjour, Madeleine. Let's celebrate"); through a die-cut view of a tapestry in his shop window, readers see the Eiffel Tower flying the French flag. A turn of the page reveals a spread of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by not only Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe, but also Bemelmans's Madeline and Saint-Exup ry's Little Prince. Her visit to Mr. Singh's newsstand ("Sathsariakal, Madela") offers a glimpse of India; a stop at Mr. Ciao's ice cream truck ("Buon giorno, Maddalena"), a taste of Italy. Each of her visits sparks similar exchanges and other distant destinations, but thanks to S s's careful buildup, the shops and their keepers retain a cozy proximity. As he did with Tibet Through the Red Box, S s takes readers to exotic lands, yet continues to bring them back to the comfort of what they know. In Tibet, it was the father's study; here, it is Madlenka's block. When Madlenka returns home and tells her parents that she "went all around the world," readers will feel that they, too, have been armchair travelers, delivered safely home in S s's capable hands. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|Children's Literature
For Madlenka a trip around the world is as close as her own neighborhood. Delighted with her wobbly tooth, she sets off to announce to everyone, "my tooth is loose." Monsieur Gaston, the baker, welcomes her with a bonjour and a step inside his shop is a virtual tour of France. So it is with Mr. Singh at his newsstand, Mr. Ciao in his ice cream truck, Mr. Eduardo, the green grocer, Magda, the very cool Cleopatra, and Mrs. Kham in her shop of Asian delights. Upon her return to her own apartment when her frantic parents inquire as to her whereabouts, Madlenka proudly proclaims that she has been around the world and she has lost a tooth. The incredible artistry of Peter Sis knows no bounds in the visually appealing and immensely accessible picture book. Zooming in from outer space, the eye follows a tiny red dot to the planet, a continent, a busy New York city block, finally to an apartment window where Madlenka stands. Color is used sparingly but dramatically to draw attention to small details. Diecut storefront windows reveal a rich visual of each owner's country of origin. Always, there is the delightful Madlenka in her yellow boots and umbrella. Typeface changes, text runs around the edges or under the illustrations in the hurried fashion of this whirlwind tour. When at last the reader reaches the end, he or she cannot help but want to go back and start all over again, so captivating is this book. A solid winner. 2000, Farrar, Ages 5 to 10, $17.00. Reviewer: Beverley FaheyFrom The Critics
The book itself is square, like the New York City block where the story is set. But just as the book represents the block, this city block represents the world. In Madlenka, author/illustrator Peter Sis follows his young heroine around her block as she spreads glad tidings: "Hey, everyone . . . my tooth is loose!" She tells her friends: the French baker, the Indian newsstand owner, the Italian food vendor, the German storyteller, the Latin American grocer, and the Asian shopkeeper. As Madlenka sets out, her colorful figure is centered in a black-and-white map of her block. Her path is shown by which buildings are shaded: only those she has stopped at or passed are filled in. On the outermost edges of the map, captioned cartoons tell of Madlenka's friends. As she greets Mr. Gaston, the border shows samples of treats he bakes and French landmarks like the Arche d'Triomphe. The pastries are identified. The landmarks are not. The map is on a left-hand page. On the facing, right-hand page, Mr. Gaston's shop has a die-cut window. We see a bit of his world, the Eiffel Tower, peek through. And when we turn the page to see more, the window falls neatly over Madlenka's form, so that she is now peering into her friend's world. She is surrounded by his stories, shown as tiny, wordless pictures, in fine navy lines on a blue-gray background. Children left to their own devices may just enjoy finding the almost-hidden pictures. They may recognize some: the two-page spread symbolizing France shows Bemelman's Madeleine, famous mime Marcel Marceau, Puss In Boots, de Saint Exupery's Little Prince, a Tour de France rider, Napoleon, and more. (Look for Babar in vain: the closest imagehere is of Cyrano.) Adults may or may not be able to identify every symbol for this or the other countries visited in like style. This makes the book a wonderful conversation-starter, ideal for lap-reading or beginning readers. The pictures are surely too minute for story-hour sharing. Sis's signature cross-hatch renderings are laid over rain-puddly watercolor washes when Madlenka is "in" New York. When she "travels," his meticulous background use evocative, folkloric colors: gentle sunset tones for India, reds and golds for China. In all, Sis's Madlenka is a comforting introduction to the great, wide world—which turns, after all, because of huge, intimate events. Like losing a tooth. 2000, Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux, $17.00. Ages 4 to 7. Reviewer: Diana Star Helmer — The Five Owls, January/February 2001 (Vol. 15 No. 3)School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 4-A little girl joyfully skips around her New York City block to proclaim the news that her tooth is loose. In S's's hands, this is a journey filled with mystical creatures and magical symbols, as the child is greeted by an international panoply of merchants and neighbors. The tale unfolds as Madlenka first gives a realistic description of what she enjoys at each location, followed by a fanciful dreamscape of what she encounters in each world. She visits an Indian news vendor, an Italian ice-cream seller, a Latin greengrocer, among others, before returning home and explaining to her worried parents where's she's been. "Well-I went around the world. And I lost my tooth!" The opening pages depict increasingly focused aerial views, starting with a red dot on the globe on the endpapers and moving to a dizzying child's perspective of surrounding skyscrapers. Centered square or circular die-cuts frame the little blonde figure clad in pink on the left, offering glimpses into exotic lands on the right. The stark white background around the child contrasts effectively with the dark ink-and-watercolor scenes once the threshold has been crossed. Groups will be captivated by the concept and the drama provided by the die-cuts and the fantastic settings. Individuals will pore over the many details, delighting in the emergence of forms and meaning provided by close inspection. An odyssey made all the more wondrous by pairing a big moment in a small child's life with the happenings in the cosmos.-Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Karen Carden
Sis, who was born in Czechoslovakia, showcases many of the world's cultures residing side by side in New York. He incorporates simple and telling details—real and imaginary—into his rich and sophisticated art, Illustrations are intricate, providing plenty to see on every turn of the page. Several ingenious cut-outs provide literal peeks into this international city.—The Christian Science Monitor