| "Orbiting
Steig's world with Gorky is an experience I recommend to
everyone." --The New Yorker
"The language is
intoxicating and the illustrations are a feast." --The New
York Times
"Steig has created a
story and painting of incomparable color, action, imagination, and
humor." --Publishers Weekly
"One summer morning when
his parents aren't about, frog Gorky sets up a laboratory in the
kitchen and concocts a potion . . . His wondrous flight is described in
language that bubbles with magical phrases, and the illustrations
bloom with Steig's luminous art."
--*Starred/School Library
Journal
Awards
New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the
Year
New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the
Year
New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
Reviews
School Library Journal -
*starred review
One summer morning when his parents aren't about, frog Gorky sets up
a laboratory in the kitchen and concocts a potion. His
preparations are a curious blend of science, sensuality and magic as
he carefully measures his ingredients, then "ravished by the
scent of roses," dumps in half a bottle of perfume. He
stretches out on the grass and his "slumbering body [rises] in
the air." His wondrous flight is described in
language that bubbles with magical phrases and the
illustrations, particularly those of Gorky "suspended in the
heavens like a coat on a hanger," bloom with Steig's luminous
art. Underlying the story is absurd humor; Gorky has created
something he cannot control. He rises heavenward as in a
common childhood fantasy, his progress drawing the eyes of the
toilers, the players, the schemers, the hunters and the hunted,
their wonder sustaining his flight. |
Gorky
Rises