Nick Ribbeck of Ribbeck of Havelland - Hardcover

Theodor Fontane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887081495 ISBN 13: 9780887081491

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1991

Synopsis

Nick Ribbeck was a simple soul whose chief delight was to watch his garden and his fruit trees through the seasons, and especially his favorite pear tree. For in the fall of the year, he filled his coat pockets with ripe pears, and gave one to every boy or girl he happened to meet. But he grew old, and knew that his end was near. His last request was that a ripe pear be buried in his grave. When he died, he was mourned by his friends, but he was missed more by the children. Nick Ribbeck’s son and heir was a stingy, narrow-faced little man who never let the children into the garden, and never shared the glowing fruit, preferring to see it fall to the ground rather than given away. But in a few years’ time, there in the churchyard grew a wonderful pear tree above Nick Ribbeck’s grave, giving its golden fruit freely to every passing child.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-3-- A short narrative poem by the 19th-century German writer. Nick Ribbeck is a friendly, generous man who shares the pears from his tree with the local children. He suspects, correctly, that his son will not be as generous, so when he is dying he asks that a pear be buried with him in his grave. From its seeds grows a new pear tree, its abundant fruit available to all. The translation reads well enough but the fuzzy watercolor drawings are only partially successful. It is doubtful the book will find a wide audience. --Ann Stell, The Smithtown Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0887081495
• ISBN 13: 9780887081491
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 26
• Illustrator: Marta Koci