|
|
Homer Price (PMC) (Puffin Modern Classics) (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Robert McCloskey (Illustrator)
| Category:
Story, Classics, Aged 9-12, Children's books |
| Market price: ¥ 98.00
MSL price:
¥ 88.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Six episodes in the life of Homer Price including one in which he and his pet skunk capture four bandits and another about a donut machine on the rampage. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
Detail |
Author |
Description |
Excerpt |
Reviews |
|
|
|
Author: Robert McCloskey (Illustrator)
Publisher: Puffin; Reissue edition
Pub. in: December, 2005
ISBN: 0142404152
Pages: 160
Measurements: 6.8 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00358
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0142404157
|
|
Rate this product:
|
|
- MSL Picks -
Robert McCloskey's Homer Price (1943) is a collection of six short stories about all-American boy Homer Price of Centerburg, U.S.A. Probably a product of McCloskey's own nostalgia for small town life, the book may remind readers of Elizabeth Enright's Thimble Summer (1939), in which young girl protagonist Garnet Linden discovers the adventures of every day life in the rural Midwest.
Homer Price is a quietly confident, unbefuddled, and laconic boy around whom a series of somewhat unusual events occur. In the most memorable episode, Homer tends his progress-seeking but work-shy uncle's lunch counter while its newfangled automatic donut machine, short a piece of its machinery, turns out thousands and thousands of donuts as crowds gather to watch. In other stories, Homer captures a team of robbers with the help of pet skunk Aroma, participates in the winding of what is thought to be the largest ball of string in existence, and helps the sheriff discover the identity of the mysterious stranger that has come to town.
Homer's hobby is building radios, which is significant, as the book's world is a pre-television landscape where simple pleasures such as getting a haircut at the local barber shop, pitching horseshoes, or reading the latest issue of Super-Duper comic book at the soda fountain are the highlights of the day, and the autumn county fair the highlight of the year. Throughout, McCloskey subtly weaves the idea of inevitable change, represented not only by the unstoppable donut machine, but by the 100-house suburb of identical, prefabricated houses (each has 'a print of Whistler's Mother over the fireplace') that sprouts up within a week on historical Centerburg land. But McCloskey honors the past while accepting the present and anticipating the future: there are as many mildly progressive citizens of Centerburg as there are mildly traditional ones.
All the pieces are charming, light, funny, and pleasant. While there are no heavy-handed messages, good manners, strength of character, and acceptance of eccentricity and difference are stressed. McCloskey also quietly and humorously comments on courting and marriage rituals, politics, and the role of boredom and gossip in small town life. Though the focus is on Homer, the book is in fact about all of the citizens of Centerburg, with Homer really only one of the crowd.
Adults will enjoy rediscovering Homer Price and sharing it with children, who may see some merit in Price's unhurried sense of wonder about life, the world, and the simple things around him.
(quote from J. E. Barnes )
Target readers:
Kids aged up 8
|
|
- Better with -
Better with
A Light in the Attic
:
|
|
Customers who bought this product also bought:
 |
A Light in the Attic (Hardcover)
by Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)
Funny observations, hopes and dreams, love, forgiveness - this is truly a book that can stand the test of time. |
 |
Life of Pi (Hardcover)
by Yann Martel
A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction and its human creators. |
 |
Number the Stars (Laurel Leaf Books) (Mass Market Paperback) (Paperback)
by Lois Lowry
During the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis. |
 |
Because of Winn-Dixie (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Kate DiCamillo
An unforgettable first novel about coming of age one sweet summer-and learning to love what you have.
|
 |
Walk Two Moons (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Sharon Creech
The Newbery Award winning Walk Two Moons is a combination of beautifully written stories that unite to provide readers with insights into their own lives and the lives of others with regard to adolescence and grief. |
|
|
Robert McCloskey's books were written in the 1940's and 50's. At that time a lot of color in illustrations made a book very expensive. His books are drawn with strong lines and shading of the same color. Sometimes black, sometimes blue. His entire book Blueberries For Sal looks like it was illustrated with blueberry juice.
His books are famous around the world. This sculpture by Nancy Schon is dedicated to Mr. McCloskey and his book Make Way For Ducklings. Another set just like it was given to the children in Russia as a gift of friendship.
If you would like to know more about ducks and preserving their habitat visit Puddler.
Mr. McCloskey and his family often spent summers on a small island off the coast of Maine. Much of the scenery in his books looks like the New England area.
|
|
Welcome to Centerburg! Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and a pet skunk. The comic genius of Robert McCloskey and his wry look at small-town America has kept readers in stitches for generations!
|
| View all 5 comments |
Joseph Chung (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-12 00:00>
My book review is about a boy named Homer Price. He lives in a small town two miles out of Centerburg with his friends and relatives. The story starts with Homer discovering a skunk in his kitchen drinking his Tabby cat's milk. When Homer decides to keep him as a pet, they start to go on great adventures to solve the case of the stolen case of money and shaving acessories. The two also run into Homer and his best friend Freddy's comic hero, the Super Duper. When the boys are in enough mess already, their doughnut machine goes bonkers and makes millions of doughnuts. At the same month an annual yarn tournament was held with people from all over the town with yarn balls as tall as houses. This book is great because it goes on and on with other hilarious stories. Like the mouse man and the area with all identical houses.
In my opinion I really enjoy this book because it's very humorous and I've read it before when I was 10. This book also brings a lot of memories and cracks me up just thinking about it. This book is so entertaining that I wish my city was just like Homer's. I also admire the entertaining mysteries Homer and his friends solve with the friendly aid of Homer's skunk Aroma. Homer Price is truly one of the best books I've read and still is. I can't wait to recommend it to a friend.
In this book, it was hard to choose a favorite part, butI have to say when the doughnut machine didn't turn off. Thats because everybody started to eat then panic with a million more doughnuts left. Then They started to sell two doughnuts for 5 cents.Until a wealthy woman claims that her bracelet is in one of the doughnuts, so they make a $100 reward for it. When the word went out the doughnuts started to sell, there was no luck. Until, a poor hoboe boy found the bracelet.
|
A kid (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-12 00:00>
Centerburg. Homer Price. This is the place where the most Preposterous things seem to happen. The world that the kid, Homer Price lives in is a world of mystery and a world of humor. From giant ragweed to a continuous donut-making machine, from giant balls of yarn to Grandpa Hercules stories, Homer Price seems to be at the middle of everything. These stories of Homer Price are interesting, humorous, and a bit mysterious. In any way, this is a real book for jokers and ideal for people that enjoys the comedy.
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-12 00:00>
Homer Price offers a funny and refreshing alternative to the current fiction that relentlessly confronts children with contemporary social problems. Now and then it's good for kids to read a book that makes them laugh out loud. Homer's smart and sincere ideas inevitably produce hilarious results. Robert McCloskey's amusing illustrations - Norman Rockwell-style line drawings - add to the pleasure of this book about a bright boy in a small American town.
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-12 00:00>
Homer is bassically a mystery solver.He does a lot of things to help others.He is very nice and understanding.My favorite part is when he goes to his uncles restaurantand helps fix the doughnut machine.A lady comes in and wants some doughnuts but he has'nt made the mix yet.She helps him with it.She uses her own recipe.The doughnutsstart making and won't stop.The lady comes back .She'slost her diamond bracelet! If you want to know the rest read the book.I like this book because he's not only doing one thing in the story.There are all different stories in the book.I was so into this book I read it in one night.
|
View all 5 comments |
|
|
|
|
