The Palace of Stars - Hardcover

Lakin, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688111769 ISBN 13: 9780688111762

Publisher: Tambourine, 1993

Synopsis

After many Saturday outings at the expense of Great Uncle Max, Amanda takes him for a surprise treat to what she calls the palace of stars

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-4-This loving tribute to an elderly uncle, glowingly illustrated in colors reminiscent of Edward Hopper's work, captures a slower time when theatres with names like the Roxy, the Palace, or the Rialto were found in most big cities. On their Saturday outings, great-uncle Max and Amanda go special places. Three Saturdays into the story, Amanda declares that this day will be her special treat; they will go by trolley to a mansion filled with velvet and gold, candy, magical things, and stars. Great-uncle Max, in his too-large 1940s-style suit, is the perfect gentleman companion as he listens attentively to Amanda or stands quietly while the independent little girl proudly pays the trolley fare. While the story may be a nostalgic return to another era for grandparents, some children may have been in an old, elegant theater now restored to its former glory. And most children are familiar with the magic of the movies, the candy counter, and the moment when the lights go off. Root's watercolors, some neatly framed in the gaudy architectural motifs decorating so many grand old theaters of the 1930s and 1940s, evoke a time when the place was a part of the event and not just a thin-walled room in some mall movie multiplex.
Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Moving far beyond nostalgia despite her 1950s setting, Lakin brings wit and verve to this intergenerational tale, spinning period details into the stuff of wonder. Amanda and her great-uncle Max enjoy their regular Saturday outings to the zoo: "When he came to call, they walked arm in arm all the way to their trolley stop. 'I'm paying for two,' he told the conductor, and tossed their fare into the box." After he alters their routine and buys Amanda the Scottie purse she admires in a shop window, she saves up "for weeks" in order to reciprocate. She plans a surprise, a trip to "a mansion filled with velvet and gold . . . the palace of stars," which turns out to be a spectacular movie theater. Though the ceiling that is supposed to glow "with twinkling stars and soft clouds that floated through space" is an anticlimax visually, Root's muted tones mostly suit the text. As in Hugh Can Do , small narrative spots stitch together full-page images with looming perspectives and art deco borders. Lakin ( Jet Black Pickup Truck ) describes this book as "a love letter" to the movie theater of her childhood Saturday afternoons, and the romance of her story lingers like a fine perfume. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tambourine
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0688111769
• ISBN 13: 9780688111762
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1
• Illustrator: Root Kimberly Bulcken