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Overview / 简介: |
Abel’s place in his familiar, mouse world has always been secure; he had an allowance from his mother, a comfortable home, and a lovely wife, Amanda. But one stormy August day, furious flood water carry him off and dump him on an uninhabited island. Despite his determination and stubborn resourcefulness—he tried crossing the river with boats and ropes and even on stepping-stones—Abel can’t find a way to get back home.
Days, then weeks and months, pass. Slowly, his soft habits disappear as he forages for food, fashions a warm nest in a hollow log, models clay statues of his family for company, and continues to brood on the problem of how to get across the river—and home.
Abel’s time on the island brings him a new understanding of the world he’s separated from. Faced with the daily adventure of survival in his solitary, somewhat hostile domain, he is moved to reexamine the easy way of life he had always accepted and discovers skills and talents in himself that hold promise of a more meaningful life, if and when he should finally return to Mossville and his dear Amanda again.
Abel's Island is a 1976 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year, and a 1977 Newbery Honor Book. |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| One summer day, newlywed mice Abel and Amanda are out for a picnic in the woods when they are caught in a sudden storm--a "full-fledged, screaming hurricane" to be precise. As they take refuge in a cave, a wind scoops up Amanda's scarf, and Abel foolishly lunges from safety to retrieve it. So begins William Steig's Newbery Honor Book Abel's Island, the ensuing adventures of this rather foppish mouse as he comes head to head with nature. Amazingly, Abel is swept up in a stream, then a river, then eventually marooned on an island (about 12,000 tails long). He is sure that his rescue is imminent: "It's certainly gotten around that Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, of the Mossville Flints, is missing," the society mouse speculates. But he is not so lucky. What will this intelligent, imaginative rodent do to get off the island and back to his beloved Amanda? He busies himself with finding ways to get to shore (including bridges, boats, catapults, stepping stones, and gliders); figuring out what he should eat (everything from mulberries to roasted seeds); and investigating where he should take shelter (in a rotten log). As the weeks and months go by, he misses his books, his paintings, his comfortable stuffed chair, his stylish clothes (now damp, torn, and lumpy), but above all his precious wife Amanda, whom he thinks about constantly. As the mouse faces his new life Robinson Crusoe-style, Abel discovers what it's like to be in tune with the natural world as well as his true nature, and what it's like to return, fortified, to his real home and to the arms of the one he loves. Along the way, readers can't help but rediscover the joys of being alive. (Ages 8 and older, but an engaging read-aloud for younger children, too) --Karin Snelson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| I read this to my Grade 4 students at the beginning of every school year, and they are totally entranced by it. Even though Abel is a newly married adult mouse, it is a very much a story geared to the growing independence of 8 to 10 year olds. Stranded on an island for a year, the snobby, cultured Abel, who dearly loves champagne and caviar, must learn to eat wild foods and fend for himself.
William Steig's books are always surprisingly complex once you delve a little beneath the surface. Abel discovers a new part of his true mouse self, a base, wild creature who survives on seeds and nuts and can gnaw his way through wood. But he also develops his artistic talents as a sculptor and thus needn't depend on Mommy's wealth any more when he finally returns to society. There is delightful interplay here between seemingly contradicting messages: Must one learn to accept one's true nature? Or must we go through trials and challenges to develop our "civilized" talents?
An aspect of Steig's writing that never fails to captivate children is that he doesn't write "down" to them. He challenges them to new levels of sophistication, and children respond wholeheartedly to this. He uses lots of very big, fancy words, which never slow the story down or make it too difficult, but intrigue children more and more about language.
A great "while reading" strategy is to make a chart to record the problem, the solutions tried, and the results. The main problem is that Abel is stranded on an island. He tries many, many solutions, and they all fail until the very last one. Having this on a chart makes clear to kids that one must often try over and over until one succeeds, but NEVER GIVE UP TRYING! And, maybe even enjoy the meantime!
I would highly recommend this as a book to read and discuss with children, however, it makes a wonderful book to read independently as it is short and has great pictures. |
About the Author / 作者介绍: |
| William Steig (1907-2003) published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968, and received the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (978-1416902065) in 1970. His works also include The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book, and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books. His most recent books published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux are Shrek! (released by DreamWorks as a major motion picture) and Wizzil, illustrated by Quentin Blake. School Library Journal named Shrek! a Best Book of 1990 and said of it, "Steig's inimitable wit and artistic dash have never been sharper or more expertly blended." |
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