Argyle - Softcover

Barbara Brooks Wallace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0687017246 ISBN 13: 9780687017249

Publisher: Abingdon Press, 1987

Synopsis

A Scottish sheep's unusual diet causes him to produce multicolored wool, which changes his life and the fortunes of his owners.

About this title

About the Author:

Barbara Brooks Wallace is the author of a number of books for young readers, including Peppermints in the Parlor, Ghosts in the Gallery, and Cousins in the Castle. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

John Sandford has illustrated many books, including Down Buttermilk Lane by Barbara Mitchell, Moonstick: The Seasons of the Sioux by Eve Bunting, and The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers by Caroline Arnold. He lives in Grand Haven, Michigan.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3 A sheep named Argyle is appropriately featured in this comic-satiric fable about the blessing of anonymity and the pitfalls of fame. Argyle finds comfort in belonging but also requires time away from the flock. After devouring some delicious flowers, Argyle is magically transformed into a colorful, striped sheep. His enterprising owners use his unique fleece to not only create Scotland's first pair of plaid socks, but also to establish a prosperous business. But fame is fleeting. Deprived of the enchanted flowers, a miserable Argyle loses not only his colors, but his fickle following, too. He happily returns to the comforts of the fold. Sandford is an illustrator to watch. Bold greens and blues that reflect the Scottish countryside dominate the primitive and expressionist style chalk drawings that exhibit a skillful handling of perspective and pattern. And jokes abound for the keen-eyed. The book has the brevity, simple style, and layered meanings of the classic fables, but there's no celebration of peasant virtues here. The McDougals are rewarded financially for their exploitation of the sheep, whose suffering goes unrequited. At its most sophisticated, this is a clever and original commentary on capitalism. All told, a natural for reading aloud. Julie Corsaro, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0687017246
• ISBN 13: 9780687017249
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: John Sandford