How the Whale Became: And Other Stories - Hardcover

Hughes, Ted

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531303039 ISBN 13: 9780531303030

Publisher: Orchard Books, 2000

Synopsis

First published in England in 1963, a collection of animal stories depicts a world of long ago in which all animals looked alike and considers how some, including the huge sea-dwelling whale, came to resemble their modern-day descendants.

About this title

About the Author:

Ted Hughes was born on 17 August 1930 in Mytholmroyd, a small mill town in West Yorkshire. His father made portable wooden buildings. The family moved to Mexborough, a coal-mining town in South Yorkshire, when Hughes was seven. His parents took over a newsagent and tobacconist shop, and eventually he went to the local grammar school.In 1948 Hughes won an Open Exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge. Before going there, he served two years National Service in the Royal Air Force. Between leaving Cambridge and becoming a teacher, he worked at various jobs, finally as a script-reader for Rank at their Pinewood Studios.In 1956 Hughes married the American poet Sylvia Plath, who died in 1963, and they had two children. He remarried in 1970. He was awarded the OBE in 1977, created Poet Laureate in December 1984 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1998. He died in October 1998.Ted Hughes's first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published by Fabe

From Booklist:

Ages 4-8. First published in 1964, Hughes' creation fables await discovery by a new generation in this beautiful edition. From his lyrical introduction, describing the brand new world ("the flowers jumped up and stared around, astonished. Then . . . creatures began to appear"), Hughes moves on to tell his classic stories about how individual creatures came to be: the whale that began as a garden plant; the power-hungry owl ostracized by its peers; the handsome, clever cat, lazy but talented; and so on. Hughes balances these fantastic stories with a notion children will find inspiring: despite the fantastic stories, some animals became what they wanted to be simply by will and hard work ("Some wanted to become finches, some wanted to become lions, some wanted to become other things. The ones that wanted to become lions practiced at being lions--and by and by, sure enough, they began to turn into lions"). Hughes' prose, both comical and elegantly spare, finds a worthy match in Morris' lavish, detailed watercolors. Stunning spreads and border illustrations celebrate each animal's beauty, endowing the creatures with irresistible personalities (don't miss the lounging cat playing the violin), and extending the stories' comedy and soaring fancy. A volume to treasure. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0531303039
• ISBN 13: 9780531303030
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 94
• Illustrator: Morris Jackie