Down the Back of the Chair [Hardcover]

Margaret Mahy (Author), Polly Dunbar (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

When Dad loses his car keys, little Mary suggests they might be down the back of the chair. Join in the fun as Dad begins the search, finding everything from a hairy string to a diamond ring—and much, much more! Could the solution to all the family’s problems be down the back of the chair?

A lively rhyming text and quirky art come together in this visual explosion of fun and imagination.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–This rollicking, rhyming, rags-to-riches story begins when Dad loses the keys to his beat-up car. As the young female narrator points out, No car, no work! No work, no pay! and so the day begins quite grimly for the family that is growing poorer day by day. But then the narrator's two-year-old sister suggests that her father should do what she does when she loses something: search down the back of the chair. And then the fun really begins. Dad's first reach into the easy chair's recesses yields a bit of hairy string, and then the first sign of reversed fortunes–a diamond ring. From there the seemingly magical armchair produces a seven-inch-long spider, a clown, a string of pearls, two tea-sipping elephants, a pirate with a treasure map,/a dragon trying to take a nap–, and other delights. But when Dad pulls out the long lost will of Uncle Bill and his money hoard, the family's financial woes are over. Dunbar's flower-patterned chair is wonderfully ordinary, and its plainness is in perfect contrast to the zany creatures and objects that spring forth from it. The watercolor and cut-paper illustrations are expressively detailed and whimsical, a superb match for the buoyant and breezy verse as it, too, flies this way and that. A delightfully optimistic, entertaining crowd-pleaser.–Carol L. MacKay, Forestburg School Library, Alberta, Canada
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. Like Shel Silverstein's poetry, Mahy's exuberant rhyme bounces with nonsensical humor and begs for guitar accompaniment. On a bleak day, when money is low and the car keys are lost, a young girl and her siblings console their depressed dad by sharing their own technique for cheering up and finding missing items: see what's under the cushions. Sure enough, a magical storehouse of wonderments emerges from an armchair, and the girl describes the mayhem in infectious rhymes: "Some hairy string and a diamond ring . . . pineapple peel and a conger eel." Children may need help with some of the vocabulary (drake and docket, for example), but the wild assortment of objects, which include a pirate and a "lion with curls," will easily delight, as will the cacophonous, sunny, paint-and-paper collages of tea-drinking creatures, the comically stressed-out dad, and the cheerful kids. Expect lots of chanting along to the marching refrain ("Down the back of the chair") and phrases such as "a skink, a skunk, a skate, a ski." Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; None edition (June 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618693955
• ISBN-13: 978-0618693955
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Mahy lives in New Zealand and is internationally acknowledged as one of the most outstanding children's writers today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children of all ages, two of which have received England's Carnegie Medal and others of which have garnered numerous citations from the American Library Association. She is also the recipient of An Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen can receive. In 2006 she received the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contributions to international children's literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funny fantasy of a simple chair's riches, July 29, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down the Back of the Chair (Hardcover)

Kids ages 4-7 will welcome another Mahy presentation: here a read-aloud story about a father who's lost his car keys. A frantic search leads a child to suggest the back of the chair - from whence all wonderful and amazing lost items are found. A fun rhyming text blends with fine drawings in a funny fantasy of a simple chair's riches.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clever and amusing book!, December 6, 2006

By 

M. McClung (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Down the Back of the Chair (Hardcover)

My family loves this book - it is unique and fun to read. Great pictures and the rhyming text is very clever. I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You never know what might turn up!, August 24, 2006

By 

Vicki W. Moricz "RIF" (Fairplay, Co USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Down the Back of the Chair (Hardcover)

Really fun book for kids (and adults) to read..some far out things are recovered "in the chair"!! Outlandish, but truly interesting book!