The Animal Hedge - Softcover

Fleischman, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0763638420 ISBN 13: 9780763638429

Publisher: Candlewick, 2008

Synopsis

"The versatile Fleischman presents a delightful tale of following one’s dreams. . . . Joyous, peaceful, and lovely." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

No one loves animals more than the farmer. But when a drought befalls the land, and he must sell his livestock and move to a cottage with only a hedge around it, he and his three sons discover something remarkable about their hedge — and something unique about each person who trims its branches. A testament to vision, passion, and destiny, matched by Bagram Ibatoulline’s virtuoso paintings.

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From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-There are no surprises in this gentle story, but there is ample assurance that following the dictates of one's heart is the surest path to personal fulfillment. In classic folkloric tradition, Fleischman tells of a happy farmer and his three sons who sing merrily as they go about their chores. When they fall on hard times, they are forced to sell their livestock and move to a small cottage surrounded by a hedge. While trimming it, the farmer begins to see shapes of animals within it and adjusts his clipping so that they become visible to all. As the boys become old enough to set out into the world, he cuts the hedge down. Each young man watches it grow and trims it, finding the shape of his own dreams: a carriage and team of horses, a sailing vessel, a fiddler playing for dancers. Thus, each is pointed toward his true vocation. In a conclusion that seems as inevitable as it is satisfying, the sons pitch in to buy their father the livestock he needs to return to the animal husbandry that is his soul's delight. Ibatoulline's watercolor-and-gouache illustrations, inspired by 19th-century American folk-art paintings, are the perfect complement to this simple allegory. Simply lovely.
Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0763638420
• ISBN 13: 9780763638429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Ibatoulline Bagram