The Cartoonist (Puffin story books) [Paperback]

Betsy Byars (Author), Richard Cuffari (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Series: Puffin story books

Alfie is a compulsive cartoonist, and sees life always in terms of the strip-cartoon he draws in his private place, the attic. When his mother announces that Bubba and his wife are coming home, Alfie is appalled because they will have his attic to live in, so he barricades himself in.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A saucily told, sparely written story of a boy who finds his only refuge in the attic, where he can spend hours drawing. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 119 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (October 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140323090
• ISBN-13: 978-0140323092
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,941,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Betsy Byars began her writing career rather late in life First, she married and started a family. The writing career didn't emerge until she was 28, a mother of two children, and living in a small place she called the barracks apartment, in Urbana, Illinois. She and her husband, Ed, had moved there in 1956 so he could attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. She was bored, had no friends, and so turned to writing to fill her time. Byars started writing articles for The Saturday Evening Post, Look,and other magazines. As her family grew and her children started to read, she began to write books for young people and, fortunately for her readers, discovered that there was more to being a writer than sitting in front of a typewriter. "Once a wanderer came by my house and showed me how to brush my teeth with a cherry twig; that went in The House of WingsThe Summer of the Swans." Since that time, Byars has written more than 45 books for young readers and has won numerous awards, including The American Book Award, which she received in 1981 for The Night Swimmers. The humor, compassion, and insight Byars brings to each of her books won her a large audience of admirers both in the United States and abroad. Six of her novels were presented on national television, and her books are translated into nine languages. Six of Byars' novels have been named ALA Notable Books, and in 1971, The Summer of the Swans -- a story about a 14-year-old girl and her mentally retarded brother -- won the Newbery Award as the most distinguished contribution to literature for children in the year of its publication. Byars was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 7, 1928. Unlike many of the characters in her books, Byars grew up in a normal, loving family. Her father was an engineer and worked as a bookkeeper in a cotton mill. He was stern and hardworking and had a strong sense of humor. Her mother was a lively woman who loved acting and music. Byars's sister, Nancy, two years older, was sometimes an inspiration and sometimes an evil nemesis. Byars has always been adventurous and never allows a few setbacks to prevent her from doing things she wants to experience, like petting a blacksnake and flying planes. The snake was named Moon and became the subject of her 1991 autobiography, The Moon and I. Betsy Byars and her husband live on an air strip in South Carolina, and have traveled widely throughout the United States in pursuit of their interest in gliding and antique airplanes. They have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is Great!, March 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cartoonist (Puffin story books) (Paperback)

This book is really good. It's about a boy who loves to draw cartoons but his mother doesn't. He stays up in the attic drawing all the time. One day he finds out his older brother, who he dislikes, is moving in with them. Also he will be staying in the attic. Read the book to find out how Alfie defends his attic

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Children's Book, October 11, 2000

By 

delta (Memphis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cartoonist (Puffin story books) (Paperback)

This is a great example of what children's literature should be about. It tells a lot in a very few pages about how sad a child's life can be when the adults are less responsible than the children. We see Alfie's grim world through his eyes.

Alfie lives with his mother, grandfather and sister. Alfie's only interest in life is to draw cartoons. He draws at night, at school and any other time he can manage to sneak away. In the evening, he climbs up to the attic and closes the world of his loud abusive obnoxious mother behind so he can draw and dream about a better life.

Betsy Byars does a wonderful job of realistically portraying a grim world with an alcoholic mother and grandfather who do nothing but argue and watch television without beating the reader over the head with the harshness of it all. I felt real hope in Alfie as he tried to control his little world and keep it out of the hands of the irritating mother who fails to understand his artistic interests.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cartoonist, April 19, 2007

By 

Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cartoonist (A Dell Yearling Book) (Paperback)

ISBN 0440410460 - Betsy Byars always does a good job with the various worlds of her young characters, and The Cartoonist is a great, if somewhat disturbing, example.

Alfie isn't just the youngest in his family, he is also the least. His mother loves her oldest son, Bubba, almost to the exclusion of her other two children. His grandfather, who also lives with them, rails against the government and has begun to feel useless, a feeling Alfie's mother reinforces often. Alma, Alfie's sister, is really the only adult in the house and through the book she slowly becomes vocal about Alfie's, and her own, dislike of their older brother, Bubba.

Alfie's family has moved many times, but this time they're in a house with an attic and Alfie has laid claim to it as his own retreat. Alma understands, but no one else seems to. Upstairs, Alfie draws cartoons, which he believes are works of art. Other things take a backseat to his interest in drawing, even school. His drawing and the attic are the most important things to him, so when Alma tells him that Bubba will be moving home, and bringing his wife, and that the couple will be living in the attic, the single thing Alfie has to call his own is threatened. His art isn't impressing people the way he thought it would, and now Bubba's going to take away Alfie's private space unless Alfie can find a way to stop him!

It's interesting that Alfie chooses humorous cartoons as his outlet, when throughout the book, he feels badly about himself that, unlike Bubba, he cannot make his mother laugh - worse, the only time he HAS made her laugh was by telling her a story about Bubba, but Alfie doesn't seem to realize that. Other than Alma, Alfie lives amongst people who don't seem capable of thinking of anyone but themselves. This Byars book is well worth reading, as usual. Richard Cuffari's illustrations are few but perfect.

- AnnaLovesBooks