The Little Island [Library Binding]

Margaret Wise Brown (Author), Leonard Weisgard (Illustrator)

Book Description

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

There is a little island in the ocean—and this book is about how it is on that little island, how the seasons and the storm and the day and night change it, how the lobsters and seals and gulls and everything else live on it, and what the kitten who comes to visit finds out about it.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

There is a little island in the ocean?and this book is about how it is on that little island, how the seasons and the storm and the day and night change it, how the lobsters and seals and gulls and everything else live on it, and what the kitten who comes to visit finds out about it. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown, who also wrote under the pseudonym of Golden MacDonald, published more than 100 books for children.

Leonard Weisgard illustrated more than 100 children’s books. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Library Binding: 48 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers; Reissue edition (September 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385908725
• ISBN-13: 978-0385908726
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,170,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommon subject with gorgeous illustrations!, July 4, 2006

By 

Sydelle Jones "searchin' for all the best" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Island (Hardcover)

When I first bought the book, my 20 month old son was not interested! He didn't get the idea of an island. I loved the little story, so I persisted in reading it to him. When the winds blew on the island, I blew in his face. When the spiders spun their webs, I gave him little spider bites. When it showed the "tickly smelling pear tree" I tickled him. When the lobsters came, so did my claws! We barked like seals when they came to the island, and we fed each other strawberries fresh off the page when spring came! When the seagull lay her eggs, I dared him to try to get them and then I protected them as if I was the mama seagull. Of course, he knows them as the "my, my" birds. The fish jumped, the crow cawed, the cat came and so did the storms. The louder I boomed like thunder and splatted like lightening, the more my little boy loved it!! This treasure of a book is more suitable for older children who can digest the moral of this story, but my 20 month old son now loves it too, thanks to a little physical interaction while reading it! Might I say, Ms. Brown's prose is beautifully descriptive as well as the illustrations!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonder and discovery - the world through a new set of eyes, April 14, 2011

By 

M. Hayman (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Island (Hardcover)

None of the reviews here seem to "get" the aspect of the book that struck me the most. We just received The Little Island as a gift for our two-year-old daughter's birthday. I had never heard of the book before, but Margaret Wise Brown is one of my favorite children's authors. My daughter is still too young for this book, but when I read it myself for the first time I was struck with wonder at how different, beautiful, and magical is was, and it made me cry.

Other reviewers have noted the descriptions of plants and wildlife, and yes, these aspects are beautiful. But the "meat" of the book is when a cat comes to the island with its people on a boat, and learns that the island is much more than it seems. The pages describing the cat's journey to knowledge are magical. The cat thinks that the island doesn't matter much, because it's not connected to the world around it. 'Yes I am', says the island; 'ask the fish'. The cat catches a fish and demands to know how the island is part of the bigger land. 'Come with me', says the fish. 'I cannot swim', says the cat. 'Then you will have to take it on faith', says the fish. 'What is that - faith?' asks the cat. "Faith is to believe what I tell you about what you don't know", says the fish. (That line almost knocked me over; what a wonderful piece of writing!) "All lands are one land under the sea", says the fish. The cat realizes he has learned a great truth, and his eyes "were shining with the secret of it, and because he loved secrets, he let the fish go". Then the cat leaves the island, and the island settles back into the timeless cycle of the seasons.

Like Margaret Wise Brown's other books, this one looks at the world with a sense of wonder and discovery, and maybe makes both parent and child see things with a new set of eyes. (I think of the last line of Brown's "My World" - "My tree; the bird's tree - how many stripes on a bumblebee?") I look forward to sharing this book with my daughter when she's a little older.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it as a kid, February 20, 2006

By 

Will (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Island (Hardcover)

As a child, I loved reading this book. The wonderful pictures were a pleasure to look at, and the simple but clever story was fun and informative for a little kid (it accomplished more in a few pages than Whinny the Pooh ever could). I'm a little old for it now, but I'll never forget this good book.