Anna the Bookbinder [Hardcover]

Andrea Cheng (Author), Ted Rand (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

Anna loves to sit in the corner of her father's workshop watching his skillful hands as they lovingly repair books. She understands what other people do not: Though the new large binderies that are stealing her father's business can bind books faster, their work will not endure as long.

To many customers though, speed matters more than skill. Her father's most important client threatens to pull his business unless his latest order of books is rebound in three days. Anna's father works long hours struggling to complete the order, but all seems lost when Anna's pregnant mother goes into labor the night before the order is due. Determined not to let her father fail, Anna decides to take the fate of the family business into her own hands.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Anna, the young narrator of this quiet picture book, loves to help her father in his bookbindery. She shares his concern that customers are using cheaper, large-volume operations that glue bindings rather than carefully stitching them by hand. When a special rush job needs stitching just as Anna's mother goes into labor, the girl decides to do the work herself. Her father is surprised and delighted to find the job done and done well when he comes to tell her of her new brother's birth. Rand's luminous watercolor illustrations of an early-1900s home and business beautifully re-create the era, and his characterization is exact. Papa is the essence of a worried, hardworking, but caring father. Longhaired Anna, with her wire-rimmed glasses and blue pinafore dress, is the picture of Edwardian girlhood. Their motivations are clearly delineated, and it is easy to believe that this serious and determined child could have completed the difficult task on her own.
Louise L. Sherman, formerly at Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. Anna and her parents live upstairs from her father's bindery, and she loves the smell of paper and leather and glue. Papa's biggest client wants him to finish a set of books in three days, but Papa is working hard, and Mama is waiting for the new baby to be born. When Anna's baby brother finally does make his appearance, it is Anna who finds a way to finish the books on time. Papa has a bookish surprise for Anna in return. Warm watercolors limn an early-twentieth-century home and shop of beautifully rendered accoutrements and equipment. Anna sews the signatures of a book that is not in a sewing frame and is still in its leather boards--possible, but highly unusual in terms of technique. The story of craft passed from father to daughter, the welcoming of a new sibling, and good work well done are lessons that shine here. A similar story, in a different historical period, with technique far more clearly delineated is Bruce Robertson's beautiful Marguerite Makes a Book (1999). GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802788327
• ISBN-13: 978-0802788320
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,338,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anna and the string, April 9, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anna the Bookbinder (Hardcover)

You can write a children's picture book about almost anything these days, but this was the first bookbinding item I'd yet seen. In this simple tale, Anna is the daughter of a bookbinder. Her father is slowly loosing his business to the new competitive binderies, and her mother is pregnant with their second child. When the unexpected birth coincides poorly with an urgent binding order, it's up to Anna to practice the family art and save the day.

First of all, I'd just like to say what a relief it is to have a heroine in a picture book wearing glasses. Usually if a girl is in a book and there are glasses on her head, the ENTIRE storyline concentrates on her acceptance of the glasses or she is a computer/science/math genius. In this story, no mention is made of them, so well done there. The plot and setting of the story, however, are a bit unclear. It appears that this tale takes place somewhere in Europe, possibly before World War Two. Anna and her family could well be Jewish, but if so the author's not telling. The plot is intricately tied to the classic Aesop tale of the Tortoise and the Hare, with the motto "Slow and steady wins the race" (Anna's mantra). Just to be facetious, I'll point out that though the book rails against binding books with glue, "glue will get hard and the books' spines will crack", this book itself is glue bound. But all in all, it's a fine story. Not particularly thrilling or different, but nice. If you've a kid into book binding, I couldn't think of a better choice (mixed praise, I know).

5.0 out of 5 stars Anna the Bookbinder, March 19, 2011

By 

Suze (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anna the Bookbinder (Hardcover)

The seller sent the book promptly. It was very carefully wrapped and was as the seller's description. I would buy from this seller again.