Old Jake's Skirts - Hardcover

Scott, Anne C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0873586158 ISBN 13: 9780873586153

Publisher: Cooper Square Publishing Llc, 1998

Synopsis

An old man finds happiness when he discovers a trunk of skirts

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

In this amiable if rambling picture book, a debut for both Scott and Slonim, an unlikely catalyst rejuvenates a pessimistic old loner of a farmer. Traveling into town for his monthly shopping trip, Old Jake discovers a trunk in the road; months later, when no one claims it, he opens it to discover stacks of calico skirts. The spring rains have come, so he uses the skirts to "drink up" the water that's leaked into his house. He then takes pieces of the skirts to clothe his scarecrow, patch his overalls and make neckerchiefs for himself and his hound, until Jake's farm looks "downright merry" and his spirits lift. By the time the trunk's rightful owner appears, Old Jake has thawed enough to welcome both neighbors and strangers. Lightly turned, authentic-sounding dialect recommends this story as a read-aloud to children who may be put off by the text-heavy pages and leisurely pacing. The thickly textured oil paintings, also folksy in feeling and essentially realistic in their renderings, reward readers with quietly comic flourishes: Old Jake tips his hat to the refurbished scarecrow; one of a troupe of visiting church ladies accidentally steps out of a high-heeled white pump. But such inviting details don't emerge until the story is well under wayApatience is required for the verbal and visual engines to kick in. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

As oddball a character as you're likely to meet between picture-book covers is Old Jake, a reclusive pumpkin farmer, who finds a beat-up old steamer trunk that unexpectedly changes his life. Jake and his hound dog Shoestring become as real as next door neighbors in David Slonim's deeply felt oil paintings, and author Scott's sympathetic portrait of her scruffy hero, and his hardscrabble existence on the West Texas plains, creates a character and milieu young listeners won't soon forget. How a trunk full of cotton calico skirts transforms a hermit into a genial neighbor adds up to a suspenseful, unusual tale. -- From Parents' Choice®

About this edition

• Publisher: Cooper Square Publishing Llc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0873586158
• ISBN 13: 9780873586153
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 36