Wee Gillis (New York Review Children's Collection) [Hardcover]

Munro Leaf (Author), Robert Lawson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: New York Review Children's Collection

A Caldecott Honor Book by the creators of the beloved Story of Ferdinand

Wee Gillis lives in Scotland. He is an orphan, and he spends half of each year with his mother's people in the lowlands, while the other half finds him in the highlands with his father's kin. Both sides of Gillis's family are eager for him to settle down and adopt their ways. In the lowlands, he is taught to herd cattle, learning how to call them to him in even the heaviest of evening fogs. In the rocky highlands, he stalks stags from outcrop to outcrop, holding his breath so as not to make a sound. Wee Gillis is a quick study, and he soon picks up what his elders can teach him. And yet he is unprepared when the day comes for him to decide, once and for all, whether it will be the lowlands or the highlands that he will call his home.

Robert Lawson and Munro Leaf's classic picture book is a tribute to the powers of the imagination and a triumph of the storyteller's and illustrator's art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lawson's marvelous pen-and-ink drawings of the Scottish relations and their contrasting environments bring the story to exuberant life." –Horn Book Magazine

"Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson are best remembered for their 1936 classic, Story of Ferdinand, about a pacifist bull who's more interested in flowers than bullfighting. Three years later, they won a Caldecott Honor, one of the top prizes in illustrated children's literature, for a story set in Scotland, Wee Gillis. It had fallen out of print but has been resurrected as part of The New York Review Children's Collection, which brings neglected gems back to life. It doesn't show its age. With vivid pen-and-ink drawings in black and white, it's about an orphan with a tough decision to make: whether to live with his mother's relatives in the Lowlands and raise long-haired cows or his father's relatives in the Highlands and stalk stags." –USA Today

"First published in 1939, when it won a Caldecott Honor award, and now back in print with this handsome hardback edition, Wee Gillis relates how a young Scottish boy cleverly finds a middle way between two sets of shaggy, overbearing and cantankerous relations...In Robert Lawson's brilliant black-and-white illustrations, Wee Gillis keeps an amusingly bland expression even as his uncles are leaping about, fulminating and remonstrating...The solution comes (with a hilarious picture) when Wee Gilis suddenly realizes that he can use the respiratory sills he as picked up from both sides of his family...to take up Schotland's noisiest and most musical occupation." –The Wall Street Journal

"Back in print after 20 years, this winsome story details a Scottish lad's road to bagpipe-playing greatness. Ages 4-8" –People Magazine

"This book is one of a number of largely unsung gems reissued by the New York Review Children's Collection imprint...it's a charmer." –The Globe and Mail

“Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson have done it again….[Wee Gillis] has already won the hearts of children and adults. The pictures of the Lowland farms and the craggy Highlands of Scotland have sufficient beauty to make anyone who comes from that lovely country homesick for its hills and heather. Boys and girls from 7 on are deeply interested in the small Scottish lad who called the cows in the Lowlands and stalked the deer in the Highlands, while his lungs meantime grew stronger and stronger until at last he was able to play the largest bagpipes in Scotland and, since he was welcome in Lowlands and Highlands alike, had no further need to choose either one or the other as a permanent home. The drawings of Robert Lawson combine beauty and humor with a reality that makes the reader feel he has taken a trip to Scotland….this is a distinguished volume.” –The New York Times

“A delightful picture book for children, grown-up and otherwise” –The Washington Post

From the Publisher

By the author and illustrator of THE STORY OF FERDINAND, one of the bestselling children's books of all time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: NYR Children's Collection (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159017206X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590172063
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.5 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Munro Leaf is best known for the Story of Ferdinand, first published in 1936 and a bestseller ever since. He died in 1976 at the age of 71.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic of Children's Literature, January 28, 1999

By 

Chris & Rosalie Barton "Chris & Rosalie Barton" (Arbroath, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wee Gillis (Viking Kestrel picture books) (Hardcover)

This book caught our eye because of our Scottish heritage, and we didn't realise what a treat was in store for us.

The pen and ink illustrations are clever and humorous, adding to the delightful story of Wee Gillis, a young Scottish lad who is faced with the choice of where he will live - the Highlands or the Lowlands.

Although the book isn't overly simplistic, our 2 year old son enjoyed it as much as our 9 year old niece, and has requested it be read over and over and over! No problem for us - we enjoy it too.

Find a copy, buy a copy, and you won't regret it!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspitational...especially when read with a Scottish accent!, May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wee Gillis (Picture Puffin books) (Paperback)

What started out as a crazy high school joke, led me to read this Scottish tale, a highlight of my friend's childhood. What I found was a great story about compromise, team work and love....the original black and white illustrations add to the overall quaintness and make this a definite must! My friends and I enjoyed it so much, that we named our team "Wee Gillis" in honor of Gillis' determination.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find your own place in the world, October 25, 2006

By 

P. Grubbs "library lady" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wee Gillis (New York Review Children's Collection) (Hardcover)

Originally published in 1938, this one is a delight to see back in print thanks to New York Review Books. The Scottish setting is charming and the central message, to be who you are, is important. Not content to be a hunter like his father's family or a farmer like his mother's family, Wee Gillis finds his own place in this world as a bagpiper. Baby boomers will be familiar with Robert Lawson's illustrations from such children's classics as Rabbit Hill, Ben And Me and The Story of Ferdinand, also written by Munro Leaf. I adore this book so much I named my dear and very independent Cairn Terrier puppy Wee Gillis.