Customer Reviews

Tough Boris

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mem Fox's _Tough Boris_ is a picture book about Boris Von Der Borch and his gang of pirates. The text is very simple. Basically, it simply states "Boris was greedy." for one pair of pages, and then "All pirates are greedy." on the next pair, and then substitutes other words for greedy, like "massive," and "scruffy," etc.

The pictures tell the story, though. Boris and his group find a treasure chest, filled with treasure and a violin. The crew drags the treasure chest aboard the ship, and divvies up the loot. A boy steals the violin from Boris's room, and Boris seeks the boy out for punishment. The boy plays the violin so well, however, that Boris has him spared. Next, Boris' pet parrot dies, and gets a solemn and appropriate burial at sea, in the violin case. Boris and all the pirates are very sad, and, as the text states, "all pirates cry."

This book required repeated readings with my 3-year old to get the whole story. The simple text says so little, but in the end the text complements the illustrations well.

Kathryn Brown's illustrations are wonderful. The colors are bright, and the renderings of the pirates are fantastic. They are the best pirates I've seen in over a dozen pirate picture books. While I'm at it, I'll salute the author and illustrator together for creating a pirate picture book which doesn't include any battles, swordplay, cannons, or gunplay.

I give _Tough Boris_ 5 stars.

ken32

Tough Boris is a wonderful story which students love to read along with. The words such as scary, tough, and massive are rich with expression and children enjoy speaking those words. There is also a wonderful subplot which complements the main plot very well.

This is a wonderful story about a pirate who's rough and tough on the outside, but has a soft side too. Death is treated matter-of-factly with no philosophical overtones (you fill in the blanks when they ask, "why did the parrot die", or "what happened when the parrot died?") and children identify with Boris about their self-concepts and reactions to conflict and fears in their life. In the end, Boris teaches children that it's okay to be a nice guy and still be tough, and that it's okay to be sad and cry sometimes. I recommend this book to children over the age of 4 (mainly because of the slightly scary pirate scenes involving angry faces, swords and scuffling-nothing gorry)- all the way through adulthood!

My mom found this book for my three year old "tough pirate" daughter and gave it to her in preparation for the death of her little brother. It was such good medicine! She asked to have it read to her many times a day for months - and we still read it almost daily. This book was so much better for her than books that attempt to help children understand death and deal with the subject more directly, and it didn't insult the intelligence and insight that she and all young children have. It allowed her to enjoy a great story - in words and pictures - and process the meaning in her own way.

Tough Boris is a book I would recommend reading to children. The writer and illustrator do a good job working together and portraying how Tough Boris is tough but not heartless. This book would also teaches a good lesson to the readers, that is not all people that look tough, fearless, scary, and greedy are heartless.

All of the other reviews focus on this book describing a pirate who has feelings besides just being tough. But this book is MUCH more! It lets children know that death/saddness happens to everyone and it is ok to be sad and cry about it, that crying is a good way to express yourself. It is a good book to prep children for the inevitable things that happen in life...it should be read often...before something inevitable happens. I read this book often in my preschool class and found that the girls enjoyed the story just as much as the boys.

Tough Boris by Mem Fox is a must read-aloud selection for any elementary school to middle school classroom. It is a wonderful teaching tool for exploring characterizatioin and loss. The understated language juxtiposed with sensitively drawn illustrations allows children of all ages to explore their own feelings about losing someone or something you love and how people handle loss. The book gives children, especially boys, permission to reveal their emotions, letting them know that it is indeed normal to cry and express grief, and that we must look beyond superficial appearances and stereotypes to see into another person's heart. It is a beautiful and touching story and I have yet to read it to my students without shedding a tear or two myself.

I used this book in my classroom to teach how illustrations support text. Your imagination and illustrations allow many hours of conversation. I also used it to teach inferences, questioning, and text to self connections. My students always loved pirates as well.

This book is excellent for teaching children about emotions. It is especially useful with boys.

This book is simple enough for two-year-olds, but complex enough for much older children, or even adults.

The trick is that the words (only a sentence or so per page, and mostly of the format "Boris was ADJECTIVE. All pirates are ADJECTIVE") only barely sketch out the story - the rest is in the illustrations, or else has to be guessed at.

At the end of the book, we find that when Boris' parrot died "He cried and cried. All pirates cry. And so do I", a line that echoes in the mind.

Don't pass this one by.