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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607002859596 | Picture Books | LUJAN | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
From the first page of this unusual and original collaboration between Jorge Luján and Isol, readers will realize that this is not just another counting book. Whether they are discovering that three is for bedtime kisses, or that five is for secret creatures hiding in a glove, children will delight in the poetic and sometimes surreal text. The illustrations by Isol, winner of the 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, depict a world at once familiar and strange, a place where the three musketeers can suddenly become six, and the ugly duckling is not so ugly after all.
This is a book that presents children with the opportunity to go beyond simply learning to count from zero to ten. The book will encourage very young children (and older ones as well) to create their own meanings and make their own connections between the text and the art.
Author Notes
Jorge Luján is an author, poet and musician who has published forty-four books and recorded eight CDs. With many of the world's greatest illustrators, he has created an outstanding body of work -- translated into 15 languages -- including Stephen and the Beetle, illustrated by Chiara Carrer; Doggy Slippers and Numeralia, illustrated by Isol; Colors! ¡Colores!, illustrated by Piet Grobler; Moví la mano / I Moved My Hand, illustrated by Mandana Sadat; and Brunhilda and the Ring, illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber. Jorge has just published his first novel, Salando el río con una cucharita (Salting the River with a Teaspoon). Among other distinctions, he has won the Premio de Poesía para Niños de ALIJA (IBBY Argentina) and has been nominated four times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. See more of his work on Facebook (Jorge Luján. Poesía y Música), on the Jorge Luján YouTube channel, on his Bandcamp page, Soundcloud and jorgelujan.net.
Isol is an Argentine author and illustrator of children's books with a passion for comic book artistry, literature and the visual arts. She has been honored with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her outstanding contribution to children's literature, has twice been selected as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and has won a Golden Apple at the Biennial of Illustration, Bratislava. Isol has also written and illustrated The Menino ; Petit, the Monster ; Beautiful Griselda and Nocturne . To date, her books have been published in over twenty countries and in seventeen languages. Isol lives in Buenos Aires.
SUSAN OURIOU is considered to be one of Québec's finest translators of literary fiction. With Christine Morelli, she has previously translated Fanny Britt's acclaimed novel Hunting Houses for Arachnide.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-In this poem, Lujan reinvents numbers through a fanciful lens. Number one looks like a tiny flag; two is a duck gliding across the water. Isol's borderless, exuberantly scribbled line drawings are well matched with the author's fresh vision. Particularly vivid is the spread depicting number four as "a chair hanging by its legs" on the ceiling. The image of the upside down laughing girl with flying hair sitting on that chair looks like it came straight from a child's imagination. This fanciful title succeeds in that it helps children view numbers in an irreverent, joyful way. However, some metaphors fall flat, and the illustrations do not clarify them. How does the number three resemble a bedtime kiss, for example? The free verse can be opaque, and unfortunately, when it drifts away from visual metaphor, the associations are cliched and literal (e.g., the number seven is likened to Snow White's dwarves). The clever, child-friendly quality of the pictures almost compensate for fuzzy moments in the narrative, although the earth-toned palette seems heavy. Librarians could use this title to launch a creative writing activity in which kids can write stories about their favorite numbers. An uneven work with bright moments.-Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College, Queens, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"1 for the world's smallest flag," writes Lujan in this poetic exploration of the physical shapes of numbers. The numeral does look like a flag, readers will see; Isol contributes a puckish drawing of a disconcerted anteater confronted by an anthill boasting a tiny flag. Throughout, Lujan's verse and Isol's artwork create the same quiet alchemy (they previously collaborated on 2010's Doggy Slippers). Isol's scrawled portraits, in muted pastel hues, almost look like off-register silkscreens, with wandering lines and fields of color that float and drift. "0 for the way an egg stands" appears next to an image of a gigantic egg with a small bird on top of it; its closed eyes make it clear that it's committed to seeing the hatching project through. The number four is "a chair hanging by its legs" and eight is "sand counting out the hours." Inside Isol's hourglass, a boy sits in the top half digging sand while a girl below holds up an umbrella. It's an unexpected way of looking at written characters, but one that will make intuitive sense to children. Ages 3-up. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Excerpts
Excerpts
From the book: 0 for the way an egg will stand. 1 for the world's smallest flag. 2 for a duckling who is not so ugly after all. 3 for bedtime kisses when night falls. Excerpted from Numeralia by Jorge Luján All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.