Red Ranger Came Calling - Softcover

Breathed, Berkeley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316102490 ISBN 13: 9780316102490

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 1997

Synopsis

Using glowing, hypnotic images and a funny, provocative text, the narrator relives his father's most amazing childhood Christmas. A moody young boy living with his aunt on an island, "Red" Breathed sees himself as the "Red Ranger from Mars", his hero from the movie serials, and cannot picture life without the gift of a Red Ranger bicycle. Red is far too "swanky a human being" to believe in Santa Claus, but nevertheless he pays a visit to the aged island hermit, Lord Sander Clos, rumored to be the legendary man himself, now living in lonely, joyless retirement. This meeting triggers an emotional response within the self-absorbed Red and leads to the most remarkable bicycle ever delivered on Christmas morning. This book represents Berkeley Breathed at the top of his form.

About this title

About the Author:

Berkeley Breathed is a cartoonist, novelist, director, and screenwriter, best known for the popular comic strip "Bloom County." He has written and/or illustrated many books for young readers, including Red Ranger Came Calling, The Last Basselope, Goodnight Opus, and A Wish for Wings That Worked.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Breathed, creator of the popular ``Bloom County'' comic strip, writes of the transformation of a sour-faced little boy (Breathed's father) during the Depression. In 1939, Red Breathed is a nine-year-old cynic who has been disappointed too many times by the adults in his life to take them seriously. When he meets a retired, aging Santa Claus, he has no expectations. But Santa gains Red's conditional trust with a small miracle only to fail him in a big one--getting Red an Official Buck Tweed Two-Speed Crime-Stopper Star- Hopper bicycle. When he doesn't find his bicycle on Christmas morning, Red goes to bawl out Santa but finds that he can't disappoint the old man by telling him the truth. He ends up comforting him instead, and when Red goes home he discovers that Santa had come through for him--in a way- -after all. Breathed's drawings are at their comic best. If the final plot twist hinges on a bad pun, all is forgiven after the last surprise picture. (Picture book. All ages) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0316102490
• ISBN 13: 9780316102490
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32