Up [Hardcover]

Jim LaMarche (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

Daniel was tired of being little. Mouse! They'd been calling him that since he was born. He hadn't used to mind it, even liked it once, but not anymore. He poked at some crackers on the table. "Someday I'll be so strong," he mumbled. "Someday . . ."

And then it happened. Something so strange, Daniel wasn't sure he could believe his eyes. One little cracker trembled for a second, then lifted up off the table. Not much. Not even an inch. Then, just as suddenly, it dropped right back down. Daniel blinked. Had that really happened? How? Had he done it?

Up is the story of an ordinary boy with an extraordinary talent, a talent no one knows about but him. Can Mouse really lift things off the ground? Or is it enough that he believes he can? Once again Jim LaMarche has mixed the magical with the everyday to create a book that stretches our imaginations and our dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3–Once again, LaMarche laces workaday reality with a little bit of magic. Daniel longs to join his father and older brother on the family fishing boat, but every day they leave him behind to help his mother instead. Between Michael's taunts and the whole family's condescending use of the pet name Mouse, Daniel finds himself in an especially defiant mood during lunch one afternoon. Someday I'll be so strong, he mutters, and, fueled by the sheer force of his will, an oyster cracker hops from the surface of the table in agreement. Delighted and surprised, the boy quietly cultivates his strange new talent, and soon he graduates from bathtub toys and fishbowls to much bigger, heavier objects. Levitation is a neat trick, but Daniel figures it's not really that useful–until the day a whale beaches itself on the shore and he gives it the boost it needs to ease back out to sea. The soft acrylics capture the low light, palpable chill, and blue-gray color scheme of Daniel's fishing village. This is an inspiring and (yes) uplifting title about pursuing one's own talents and possibilities.–Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

LaMarche, the illustrator of Laura Krauss Melmed's Rainbabies (1992) and other books, creates his own magical tale in this beautifully illustrated picture book. Daniel wishes he was bigger and stronger, not just a little boy left behind when his father and his older brother set out in their fishing boat. After discovering that he can lift objects upward just by concentrating, he secretly practices his new skill, gradually lifting larger and heavier things. Still, his secret power seems rather useless until the fishermen discover a beached whale, and Daniel makes it possible to save it. Children will warm to Daniel and appreciate his feelings of inadequacy, his approach to his magical power, and his final acceptance as a fisherman. Drawn in softly shaded colored pencils warmed with watercolor washes, the scenes seem to glow with their own magic. As a small boy who accomplishes a great thing, Daniel lives the dream of many young children. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1st ed edition (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811844455
• ISBN-13: 978-0811844451
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK IS GREAT!, January 29, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Up (Hardcover)

UP IS AN AMAZING BOOK! I LOVE IT! THE PICTURES ARE AMAZING! THEY ARE MAGICAL AND SO REALISTIC! IF THE CHARACTER IS UPSET THE COLORS GET DARKER! IF THE CHARACTER GETS HAPPY THE COLORS GET BRIGHTER! THIS BOOK IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars up is......................GREAT!, January 29, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Up (Hardcover)

This book is great and it really expresses how the character feels! It really makes you want to know what is going to happen! I would recomend reading this book!!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING FANTASY!! Should have one the Caldecott Medal!!!, January 24, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Up (Hardcover)

This book is about a boy who, according to his Dad and brother, is to small to do anything, to help out on the boat, which is what he longs to do. Then he figures out he has a power, a power to lift this. Just up not sideways, backwards or forwards. Then a whale washes up on shore. The boy has to lift it up as all the men push. The whale gets free. This book is WAY better than it sounds. THE PICTURES ARE AMAZING!!! Read it!