MANUELO THE PLAYING MANTIS

Book ID/图书代码： 11710410B38965

English Summary/英文概要： One warm summer evening, a lonely praying mantis named Manuelo listens to the music of an outdoor concert. Manuelo wishes that he, too, could make music like the crickets and the katydids. But the instruments he makes don’t play. Then Manuelo meets someone who shows him how to fashion a cello using a walnut shell, a stick, and a special ingredient. Manuelo makes his first true friend and, together, they create the music they both love. Written and illustrated with the gentle humor of Don Freeman’s best work, Manuelo is a story that will take its place on bookshelves beside Dandelion, Beady Bear, and Corduroy.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 螳螂马努埃洛热爱音乐，渴望像其他昆虫一样，能举办自己的音乐会。可它既不能像蟋蟀那样呜叫，也不能像青蛙一样呱呱唱。它做了长笛，却吹不出声音；它做了竖琴，一拉就断了琴弦。昆虫们纷纷嘲笑它，不相信螳螂也能举办音乐会。这时，一个不起眼的朋友走了过来……它是谁？能帮助沮丧的马努埃洛实现梦想 吗？

Awards/获奖情况：K-Gr. 2. Manuelo, a praying mantis, loves to listen to the outdoor concerts near the meadow where he lives. Though he doesn’t have a way of making music with his body, like crickets or katydids, he tries to make a flute from a cattail and a horn from a trumpet flower--unsuccessfully. A cheerful spider offers to help and sends Manuelo to find half a walnut shell and a curlicued stick. She spins strings for him, and Manuelo makes a cello with a bluebird feather for a bow. Freeman died in 1978, but most of the illustrations here are his; several others were finished from his sketches by Jody Wheeler. The art features delicate lines, soft, bright colors, and a certain whimsy: it’s hard not to be charmed by the sight of the mantis playing for an audience of frogs and insects. Friends of Corduroy will want to meet Manuelo, too.---GraceAnne DeCandido, From Booklist

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Though Freeman died in 1978, his love for storytelling and, in particular, his love for music live on through this previously unpublished tale of determination personified in the character of a praying mantis. The lonely insect longs to join other creatures in making music, but lacks the chirp of the crickets or the croak of the frogs. He also fails at building his own instruments, as a reed made into a flute makes no noise, the flower of a trumpet vine does not blow, and his "snippy" claws break the strings of a twig-and-cobweb harp. Finally, an intelligent and observant spider agrees to help him, if he promises not to eat her for dinner. An artistic collaboration is born as Debby Webster spins web and other objects into an instrument that will bring music into Manuelo’s life. The rich pastel illustrations present the world of the resolute Manuelo as the "playing mantis" introduces various instruments to readers. With his stick-thin limbs, the insect makes a graceful figure as he plays his homemade cello. The tiny white spider perfectly reflects the delicate nature of the web she spins. With characters that are empathetic and intrepid, this story makes a good model for encouraging youngsters to persevere when they encounter difficulties. A fine choice for all libraries, this book will be of special interest to young musicians.---Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX, From School Library Journal

About the Author/作者介绍：

Don Freeman was born in San Diego, California, in 1908. At an early age, he received a trumpet as a gift from his father. He practiced obsessively and eventually joined a California danceband. After graduating from high school, he ventured to New York City to study art under the tutelage of Joan Sloan and Harry Wickey at the Art Students? League. He managed to support himself throughout his schooling by playing his trumpet evenings, in nightclubs and at weddings.
Gradually, he eased into making a living sketching impressions of Broadway shows for the New York Times and the Herald Tribune. This shift was helped along, in no small part, by a rather heartbreaking incident; he lost his trumpet. One evening, he was so engrossed in sketching people on the subway, he simply forgot it was sitting on the seat beside him. This new career turned out to be a near-perfect fit for Don, though, as he had always loved the theater.
He was introduced to the world of Childrens? Literature, when William Saroyan asked him to illustrate several books. Soon after, he began to write and illustrate his own books, a career he settled into comfortably and happily. Through his writing, he was able to create his own theater: ?I love the flow of turning the pages, the suspense of what?s next. Ideas just come at me and after me. It?s all so natural. I work all the time, long into the night, and it?s such a pleasure. I don?t know when the time ends. I?ve never been happier in my life!?
Don died in 1978, after a long and successful career. He created many beloved characters in his lifetime, perhaps the most beloved among them a stuffed, overall-wearing bear, named Corduroy.

Format:全彩四色

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

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