Stephen and the Beetle
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
When Stephen spots a beetle he takes off his shoe and raises his arm, ready to strike… but then he has second thoughts. He lays his head down on the ground and the beetle walks right up to him. At the last moment the beetle turns aside and each can go on with the day, having avoided the worst.
In this very simple story Jorge Luján presents the kind of deep moral questions that can occur even in the smallest child's day. Chiara Carrer's very original etched and painted illustrations perfectly complement the story, and are in and of themselves beautiful works of art.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A small backyard encounter becomes the basis for big questions in this striking lesson in compassion. When Stephen sees a horned beetle behind his house, he doesn't hesitate: "He took off his shoe and raised his arm." Carrer's na f mixed-media illustrations show the boy, drawn in ink-scrawled outline, holding the shoe over his head, a giant stonelike oval hanging off its edge, as if to emphasize the shoe's transformation into a deadly weapon. Before Stephen does the deed, "suddenly a thought came into his head. Where was the beetle going, anyway?" It's a turning point, and the more consideration Stephen gives the beetle, the larger and more detailed Carrer (Otto Carrotto) draws it. She highlights its strangeness in scenes that culminate in a frightening black-and-yellow portrait of the beetle that looks like it's about to attack. It doesn't, though, and simply continues on its way, as does Stephen. With haunting lines like "The beetle went on about its business. It had no idea what was about to happen," Luj n (Doggy Slippers) hints that, to some larger, greater forces, human lives may be similarly insignificant. Ages 2 5.
