Fog Island
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
No one has ever returned from the mysterious Fog Island, but when Finn and Cara get castaway on its murky shores, they discover things are not quite as they expect... Will anyone ever believe them?
Winner of the 2013 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Awards, Fog Island is an imaginative tale of mystery and fear of the unknown by one of the world’s most acclaimed children’s books authors, Tomi Ungerer. Described by Tomi Ungerer as his personal ‘homage to Ireland’ (where the writer and illustrator now lives) Fog Island features 24 colour illustrations that capture the atmosphere of each scene of adventure. In the depiction of the skies, tradition is mixed with fantasy as the children travel between their hometown and Fog Island. It is a timeless story that reminds us of the traditional values of community life and a lifestyle lived close to nature. It recognises the courage in the siblings Finn and Cara and through this, teaches children to be brave in the face of the unknown in more ways than one.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Any new book from Ungerer is a cause for celebration, and this one offers a particularly enticing blend of mystery and magic. Siblings Finn and Cara live "by the sea in the back of beyond" with their parents, and the book's early scenes offer homey details of the family's poor but happy life in what is presumably Ireland (to which the book is dedicated). The children's father makes them a small boat, a curragh, warning them to steer clear of Fog Island, "a doomed and evil place." Of course, that's exactly where the children end up. Surreal, mist-shrouded images build a sense of strangeness and tension. Tall anthropomorphic rocks flank a winding staircase, peering at the children suspiciously, and green skeletal arms cling to the door at the top of the stairs, where the children are greeted by a "wizened old man," who shares some of the island's secrets while leaving them with new questions. It's the kind of classic adventure that allows children to triumph over convention and common sense, threaded with peculiar imagery and unknowable mysteries that linger in the imagination. Ages 4 8.
