Boy on the Brink [Hardcover]

David McPhail (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

That night there was a storm. Thunder shook the boy's bed and sent it flying . . . and when it landed, the bed was transformed into a world of mountains and valleys, with a river that spilled over a waterfall into a vast green sea.

A little boy is always the hero in his adventurous dreams...

After a fun-filled day of fishing, playing on the beach, and riding ponies at a carnival, a young boy goes to sleep and dreams of adventures inspired by the day's events. The boy rescues a yellow-haired girl from the castle guards, patches a crack in the dam, and saves a giant ship from falling off the edge of a waterfall, always managing to escape from the brink of disaster.

Award-winning author and illustrator David McPhail's distinctive artwork casts nighttime dreaming in a new light.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 1 A story that is less logical than psychological. Readers are skipped like a stone across a quick series of events in the day of an unnamed boy. The unifying factor is the constant reminder that there are uncontrollable, scary things out there (trains, heights, sharks). While the child sleeps, a squall arises; italics and shimmering scenes from his subconscious mind alert readers to the second part of the book his dream. All the things he was taught to fear, and more, rise to confront him and be conquered, also in rapid succession. It's a sophisticated and elemental notion and is only partially successful. The language is too choppy to take passengers from thought to thought. The sentences have no grace, no poetry, and no fun. But McPhail is known mainly for his artwork, and this story really shows his astonishing range of talent. One page looks like an Asian landscape, another like a Totem pole. Yet they're all watercolor and ink, and all unmistakably McPhail. Some pictures might be a little unsettling, and the prose is certainly bumpy. But there's a lot to look at here. Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. The cover art of this book, which shows a boy standing on the business end of a shark, throwing his pajama top to the winds, intimates that inside there's a story about a kid who glories in living on the edge. But the first part of the book contrasts sharply with the image, as the boy goes through a day of ordinary adventures: fishing, swimming, going to a carnival. In each case, adults warn him of possible dangers. Then comes night--and adventure begins. The bedclothes become mountains and valleys, and the boy must rescue a golden-haired girl from a castle, stop a train from derailing, and prevent a ship from plunging over a waterfall. McPhail's signature watercolor-and-ink paintings beautifully capture the juxtaposition of tame country life (represented in pastels and cozy, 1940s-style countryside scenes) with the surreal images of the child's wild, heroic dreams. The book comes full circle when the boy sits down to breakfast with his family the next morning. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805076182
• ISBN-13: 978-0805076189
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,140,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DAVID McPHAIL is the creator of dozens of wonderful books, including Big Brown Bear's Up and Down Day; Sisters; Mole Music, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year; and several recent Green Light Readers for Harcourt. He lives in New Hampshire.