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PINOCCHIO: THE BOY
Smith, Lane
2002 19944 Lane Smith -- crackerjack illustrator of The Stinky Cheese Man and creator of The Happy Hocky Family -- tickles us with his retro '50s take on what happened to Pinocchio after he became a real-live boy. In Collodi City (the name's a nod to the original author), the Blue Fairy has "turned the wooden puppet Pinocchio into a real boy." The trouble is, he's asleep so he doesn't know it. After he sees that Geppetto has taken ill, Pinocchio sets out to find chicken soup and soon realizes he's out of moolah. Looking for quick cash, the boy tries out for a job as a store mannequin (the shopkeeper sees him as a big "smart aleck"), can't hock his ultra-long hankie (sized for a growing nose) to a local pawnbroker, and even gets booed out of "the puppet theater where just last week he was a Big Sensation." Fortunately, though, Pinocchio meets an advice-giving girl along the way, who happens to know the Blue Fairy firsthand, and through a media surprise, they both wind up back at Geppetto's, where everything is set right. Adding his comical off-the-wall slant, Smith combines cool 1950s-style illustrations with a zippy story line. Vivid, mainly non-primary colors and eye-catching patterns are set magically against the snowy Collodi City backdrop, while dramatic angles and perspectives give us the scope of Pinocchio's feelings. Storytime audiences will sit awestruck over this puppet-turned-boy tale, and Smith fans -- along with lovers of picture books that take artwork to the next level -- will be ga-ga over his new creation. A treasured fairy tale with a wacky new twist! Matt Warner From the Publisher Everyone in town knows Pinocchio, the puppet, but what about Pinocchio, the boy? From Lane Smith comes the story of what happens to Pinocchio on the very first day after his wish to be a real boy comes true. But there's one problem: Pinocchio was asleep at the time and he doesn't realize that he's now a boy! No one else in town recognizes him, either-not his talking cricket, not the audience in the puppet theater, and not even his father, Geppetto. Set in a town that's a winter wonderland, this stunningly illustrated sequel to a classic tale will appeal to children and adults alike. Author Biography: Lane Smith is the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and the author/illustrator of The Happy Hocky Family! From The Critics Publishers Weekly Consummate jester Smith (Baloney [Henry P.]) revisits the classic tale of a misbehaving puppet, and needless to say, this ain't 19th-century Italy. Smith summarizes all of the Pinocchio story in two pages of 50s-retro cartoons, then zooms in for a gauzy close-up of the Blue Fairy changing the marionette into a flesh-and-blood boy. There's one minor glitch: "That nutty fairy had changed him while he was asleep," and Pinocchio doesn't look in the mirror when he wakes up. He's too preoccupied with poor Geppetto, who's "sick and wet from that fish's belly," and he needs to buy some chicken soup in Collodi City (a dense comic-book metropolis and a subtle reference to the original author, Carlo Collodi). Smith's playful subtitle begins to make sense. As a real boy, Pinocchio is persona non grata to his friend Cricket and gets booed offstage at "the puppet theater where just last week he was a Big Sensation." Luckily, he finds one friend, a bratty urchin with a surprise connection with his magical benefactor. In addition to providing a sumptuous visual presentation of the events, Smith's artwork places the adventures in an edgy modern space of steep angles and flat geometric planes, chockablock with shop signs, laser-sharp beams of light and cascading snowflakes and polka-dots. Pinocchio heads for home after hearing Geppetto's all-points-bulletin on TV, and eventually his father recognizes him without the wood-grain finish. Smith sidesteps the novel's moralizing and the movie's heartstring-pulling in this airbrush-sleek, sharply designed comic sequel. Viking 0670035858 / 9780670035854
Hardcover Very Good Condition [New York]
Price:
16.66 USD
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