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Summary
Summary
A good-hearted fellow who lives by the sea in a paper house and makes paper boats for the village children comes up against the devil in a life or death situation which can be salvaged only by his skill with paper folding. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Summary
Paper John moves to a little town by the edge of the sea and makes his living folding beautiful paper flowers, birds, and boats. HE is so skilled he even makes a paper house to live in. And he is so gentle and good-natured that the townsfolk all agree he could get along with the devil himself. But when a devil comes to town, Paper John's skill and patience is put to the test as he does battle with the devil and his one devilish trick. Lively full-color paintings add to all the fun. David Small is the illustrator of many books for children, including Anna and the Seven Swans, a Booklist Editor's Choice and a School Library Journal Best Book for 1984. His most recent book, Imogene's Antlers, is a 1986 Reading Rainbow Feature Selection. This is his first book with Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Mr. Small lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Author Notes
David Small was born on February 12, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan. He studied art and English at Wayne State University, and went on to complete graduate studies in art at Yale. After receiving his MFA degree, he taught drawing and printmaking at the State University of New York, Fredonia College, Kalamazoo College, and the University of Michigan. He also created editorial cartoons for publications such as the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. In the 1980s, he lost his teaching job due to cutbacks. It was then that he committed himself to combining his loves of writing and art.
His first picture book, Eulalie and the Hopping Head, was published in 1981. He earned a 1997 Caldecott Honor and The Christopher Medal for The Gardener, written by his wife, Sarah Stewart. In 2001, he received the Caldecott Medal for his artwork in So, You Want To Be President? by Judith St. George. His editorial drawings regularly appear in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, and The Washington Post.
(Bowker Author Biography)
David Small was born on February 12, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan. He studied art and English at Wayne State University, and went on to complete graduate studies in art at Yale. After receiving his MFA degree, he taught drawing and printmaking at the State University of New York, Fredonia College, Kalamazoo College, and the University of Michigan. He also created editorial cartoons for publications such as the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. In the 1980s, he lost his teaching job due to cutbacks. It was then that he committed himself to combining his loves of writing and art.
His first picture book, Eulalie and the Hopping Head, was published in 1981. He earned a 1997 Caldecott Honor and The Christopher Medal for The Gardener, written by his wife, Sarah Stewart. In 2001, he received the Caldecott Medal for his artwork in So, You Want To Be President? by Judith St. George. His editorial drawings regularly appear in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, and The Washington Post.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (8)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3 Young John makes his living selling paper toys, flowers, kites, and favors. He wears a paper hat, sleeps in a paper bed, even his house is made of paperand a good thing, too, for when an angry imp has the whole town blown out to sea, John refolds his house into a boat and sails to the rescue. Readers who enjoyed Small's Imogene's Antlers (Crown, 1985) will find the same sort of witty, slightly antique-looking illustrations here. John wears baggy 19th-Century clothes and a genial expression; the diminutive devil, all in gray, scowls his way ferociously through the story; and Small scatters cats, children, and accurately-rendered paper objects all about. Besides being a terrific, imaginative story, this is a natural for use with origami; there is a feasible progression from one model to another (no step-by-step directions, though), and the transformation of house to boat, which occurs over several pages, captures paperfolding's creative magic perfectly. John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A paper-folding man by the name of John becomes hero to an entire town in Small's inventive and funny tale. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The imaginative creator of Imogene's Antlers and Eulalie and the Hopping Head presents a benevolent character who can make anything he needs from paper, in a parable concerning the triumph of the creative imagination over the mean-spirited. John, who resembles Leslie Brooke's Simple Simon, comes to a seaside, cobble. stoned. Victorian town where he sells paper flowers and builds a lacquered paper house adorned with pinwheels and other fanciful paper constructions. He folds boats for the children, and is so good-natured that people say he could even get along with the devil. But when John catches a little gray devil instead of a fish, the ungrateful devil demands food and lodging, and then picks pockets in the market square before escaping via John's golden sunburst kite. After John sends a paper falcon to puncture the kite, the devil invokes the four winds to destroy the town, but John rescues everyone by quickly refolding his house into a ship, and the winds blow the devil back wherever he came from. Small's illustrations--full of entrancing detail including not only his cut and folded confections but a multitude of animals and the bulbously stupid-looking winds--are as good as he's done. A good choice for sharing aloud or for children to read on their own. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4-7. Paper John is a gentle soul who arrives in the village and delights children and adults with his origami. Paper flowers, masks, and birds are among his creations; he even makes a paper house for himself lacquered to keep the water out. John's kindness is well known, so not surprisingly, when he sees a crabby gray-colored man tangled in his fishing line, he pulls him out and gives him shelter and food. But this little man is no ordinary fellow. A devil in the true sense of the word, he repays John's kindness by stealing the villagers' money and escaping in John's magnificent paper kite. When the wicked one is shot down by one of John's paper falcons, he uses his mastery over the wind to destroy the village. But in performing its evil deed, the gusty wind also turns on the devil, blowing him back to where he came from. John, in his paper boat, saves the townsfolk, who want to reward him by appointing him mayor. John declines, however, content to live his simple life, surrounded by his friends and paper creations. Small is one of the most inventive illustrators around today. His work, filled with charm and nuance, has a certain quaintness that is uniquely his own. The candy-color palette he uses to depict the village life contrasts well with the nasty little gray devil and the leaden sky that is home to the multiheaded wind. Naturally, paper figures and shapes are strewn liberally throughout the pictures, and young eyes will want a second and third look at the rows of paper dolls, angels, and snowflakes that adorn John's one-room house. IC. Origami Fiction / Devil Fiction 86-45361
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3 Young John makes his living selling paper toys, flowers, kites, and favors. He wears a paper hat, sleeps in a paper bed, even his house is made of paperand a good thing, too, for when an angry imp has the whole town blown out to sea, John refolds his house into a boat and sails to the rescue. Readers who enjoyed Small's Imogene's Antlers (Crown, 1985) will find the same sort of witty, slightly antique-looking illustrations here. John wears baggy 19th-Century clothes and a genial expression; the diminutive devil, all in gray, scowls his way ferociously through the story; and Small scatters cats, children, and accurately-rendered paper objects all about. Besides being a terrific, imaginative story, this is a natural for use with origami; there is a feasible progression from one model to another (no step-by-step directions, though), and the transformation of house to boat, which occurs over several pages, captures paperfolding's creative magic perfectly. John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A paper-folding man by the name of John becomes hero to an entire town in Small's inventive and funny tale. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The imaginative creator of Imogene's Antlers and Eulalie and the Hopping Head presents a benevolent character who can make anything he needs from paper, in a parable concerning the triumph of the creative imagination over the mean-spirited. John, who resembles Leslie Brooke's Simple Simon, comes to a seaside, cobble. stoned. Victorian town where he sells paper flowers and builds a lacquered paper house adorned with pinwheels and other fanciful paper constructions. He folds boats for the children, and is so good-natured that people say he could even get along with the devil. But when John catches a little gray devil instead of a fish, the ungrateful devil demands food and lodging, and then picks pockets in the market square before escaping via John's golden sunburst kite. After John sends a paper falcon to puncture the kite, the devil invokes the four winds to destroy the town, but John rescues everyone by quickly refolding his house into a ship, and the winds blow the devil back wherever he came from. Small's illustrations--full of entrancing detail including not only his cut and folded confections but a multitude of animals and the bulbously stupid-looking winds--are as good as he's done. A good choice for sharing aloud or for children to read on their own. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4-7. Paper John is a gentle soul who arrives in the village and delights children and adults with his origami. Paper flowers, masks, and birds are among his creations; he even makes a paper house for himself lacquered to keep the water out. John's kindness is well known, so not surprisingly, when he sees a crabby gray-colored man tangled in his fishing line, he pulls him out and gives him shelter and food. But this little man is no ordinary fellow. A devil in the true sense of the word, he repays John's kindness by stealing the villagers' money and escaping in John's magnificent paper kite. When the wicked one is shot down by one of John's paper falcons, he uses his mastery over the wind to destroy the village. But in performing its evil deed, the gusty wind also turns on the devil, blowing him back to where he came from. John, in his paper boat, saves the townsfolk, who want to reward him by appointing him mayor. John declines, however, content to live his simple life, surrounded by his friends and paper creations. Small is one of the most inventive illustrators around today. His work, filled with charm and nuance, has a certain quaintness that is uniquely his own. The candy-color palette he uses to depict the village life contrasts well with the nasty little gray devil and the leaden sky that is home to the multiheaded wind. Naturally, paper figures and shapes are strewn liberally throughout the pictures, and young eyes will want a second and third look at the rows of paper dolls, angels, and snowflakes that adorn John's one-room house. IC. Origami Fiction / Devil Fiction 86-45361