Clay Boy (Hardcover)

by Mirra Ginsburg (Author), Jos. A. Smith (Illustrator) "In the village where I was born, there lived, a long, long time ago, and old man and old woman-Grandpa and Grandma..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2. A retelling of a traditional Russian folktale. An older couple whose children have grown and gone away yearn for the company of a child. Grandpa fashions a boy out of a piece of clay, and as the boy dries out by the fire, Clay Boy comes to life saying, "I am here! I am hungry!" The two old peasants feed him all they have and watch him in astonishment as he quickly grows to gargantuan proportions. But Clay Boy's appetite cannot be satisfied so he goes outside and eats the chickens, geese, cat, dog, then Grandma and Grandpa (yikes!), and all the other inhabitants of this rural Old World village. The last living being is a little white goat who saves the day by destroying Clay Boy and rescuing all held captive within him. Children will be engaged by the fast pace of events and simplicity of character and outcome. However, the visual interpretation of this tale is potentially frightening. While Smith's watercolors masterfully portray all of the characters and scenes, his rendition of the boy made of clay is at times so grotesquely distorted that it could cause nightmares.?Amelia Kalin, Valley Cottage Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker
Children will be engaged by the fast pace of events and simplicity of character and outcome...

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1st edition (May 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688144098
• ISBN-13: 978-0688144098
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #794,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EAT LIKE A HORSE AND MAKE A GOAT OF YOURSELF, July 4, 2001

By	david hurburgh (Flinders VIC Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clay Boy (Library Binding)

.

What is it about most traditional East European folk tales? They nearly always have a sinister, sometimes scary story line. "Clay Boy" is no exception.

The concept of a clay boy that comes to life is very reminiscent of Pinocchio. An elderly couple known as Grandpa and Grandma are lonely now that their children have grown up. The clay boy is to become their child substitute.

There is one big problem when he comes alive. He is insatiably hungry. He eats and eats, and he grows and grows until he ate all the food in the house. "More More" he cries.

Now things get a little macabre. He's seen gulping down whole live chickens, and then the geese, cat and dog are consumed. Then it's Grandma and Grandpa's turn to be on the menu.

By now, Clay Boy is of giant proportions. In one bite, he eats a man, a wagon, a horse and a load of hay. GULP!

He is still unsatisfied, after swallowing everybody in the village.

But then, he meets his match.

A very cunning goat (check out the face on this Billy) offers to jump straight into Clay Boy's mouth, but on one condition: Clay Boy has to close his eyes.

The goat took a great leap straight at the big fat belly. Clay Boy broke into a hundred pieces and all the people and animals that he had swallowed tumbled out. The goat was the hero of the village and had his horns painted gold. Such rejoicing!

No explicit moral is given in this story. But what does this folk tale tell us? Will insatiable greed and endless consumption lead only to annihilation?

There is also a modern message here. Now that most of us live far removed from our parent's homes, perhaps we should spend more time with our folks so they don't get lonely. And for Grandma and Grandpa, they should accept that their children have grown up, and should not try to find substitutes for this loss.

The last page brings this home. The role of Grandparents is to instil and pass on their wisdom to their grandchildren. The best way to do this is to be a story- teller for the young ones and ideally, pass on the stories that you heard from your parents and grandparents.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book NOT for very young children, December 20, 2000

By	Ilene Appel Marker (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

My friend was given this book as a gift for her daughters, aged 2 1/2. Since she's in constant motion with her twins, she asked me to post this review. One of the girls was rather uninterested, and unaffected, by the story, but the second one was nothing short of traumatized by the images depicted in this story, particularly of the Clay Boy devouring a horse, with its rider and cart. She has had nightmares ever since and constantly asks her mother "Is the Clay Boy outside our house?" and "Will the horse be OK?" The illustrations are wonderfully done, but they are a bit too lifelike for those too young to understand. I think this book is much more appropriate for children who are at least four or five.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another gingerbread man story!!, September 13, 2002

By	"luv2teachpk" (Marshall, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

Clayboy is a favorite of mine and the children in my early childhood special education classroom. Clay Boy comes to life saying "I'm here! I'm hungry!" The story concludes with the raveneous boy getting his "just desserts"! Mirra does a wonderful job of finding just the right word to go with the actions. Read with expression, this book is sure to please even those children who find books and stories "boring"!