Features
ISBN Number: 9780316102490
Author: Breathed, Berkeley
Publisher: Libri
Author: Breathed, Berkeley
Location: Boston :
Subject: Children's 4-8, Picturebooks
Subject: Holidays & Festivals, Christmas
Subject: Christmas
Subject: Humorous Stories
Subject: Santa claus
Subject: Holidays & Celebrations, Christmas
Subject: Holidays & Celebrations, Christmas & Advent
Copyright: 1997
Edition Number: 1st paperback ed.
Publication Date: September 1997
Cover Type: Paperback
Written in: English
Illustrations: Yes
Number of Pages: 32
Book Size: 11.50x8.43x.19 in. .65 lbs.
Age Level: 04-08
This unique story of one boy's Christmas wish begins and ends with a bicycle. Using glowing images and a funny, provocative text, the author relives his father's most amazing childhood Christmas. A moody young boy living with his aunt on an island in the Pacific Northwest, "Red" Breathed sees himself as the "Red Ranger from Mars," his hero from the movie serials, and cannot picture life without the gift of a Red Ranger bicycle. Red is far too "swanky a human being" to believe in Santa Claus, but nevertheless he pays a visit to the aged island hermit Lord Sander Clos, rumored to be the legendary man himself now living in lonely, joyless retirement. This strange and bittersweet meeting triggers an emotional response within the self-absorbed Red. It also leads to the most remarkable bicycle ever delivered on a Christmas morning: one neatly and permanently stuck inside a tree. The book ends with a photograph of the amazing tree fifty years later — still holding the bicycle of a boy who grew up happy without it.
This book represents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Berkeley Breathed at the top of his form. It combines hypnotic imagery and richly textured language to create a powerful, unforgettable Christmas story.
Review:
"Reaffirming a reader's belief in the spirit that is Santa, this could become a perennial seller." Publisher Weekly
Review:
"A most original Christmas book." Booklist
Review:
"The author/illustrator's shadowy, often grotesque scenes evoke an atmosphere of pervasive disillusionment....Middle-schoolers too tough for Santa stories will be drawn to Breathed's looming images and cynically edged humor." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Synopsis:
Using glowing, hypnotic images and a funny, provocative text, the narrator relives his father's most amazing childhood Christmas. A moody young boy living with his aunt on an island, "Red" Breathed sees himself as the "Red Ranger from Mars", his hero from the movie serials, and cannot picture life without the gift of a Red Ranger bicycle. Red is far too "swanky a human being" to believe in Santa Claus, but nevertheless he pays a visit to the aged island hermit, Lord Sander Clos, rumored to be the legendary man himself, now living in lonely, joyless retirement. This meeting triggers an emotional response within the self-absorbed Red and leads to the most remarkable bicycle ever delivered on Christmas morning. This book represents Berkeley Breathed at the top of his form.
Synopsis:
While spending Christmas in 1939 with a well-meaning aunt, a young boy who does not believe in Santa Claus has an unusual experience that changes his thinking.
