The Several Lives of Orphan Jack
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award
For young Jack, life is tough at the Opportunities School for Orphans. But Jack is good at staying out of trouble. He has skipped over trouble, danced around trouble, slid under trouble, melted away from trouble, talked his way out of trouble and slipped between two close troubles like a cat through a picket fence.
When Jack turns twelve, he is given the biggest opportunity of all, but suddenly his life is nothing but trouble. Still, he is a clever and resilient boy, and eventually he makes his way into the big world. Jack is rich in ideas, and soon he finds there is a place for an enterprising boy who has whims, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions and fancies to spare.
In the tradition of Natalie Babbitt, Sarah Ellis brings her quirky sense of humor and imagination to bear in this witty, warm fable. Bruno St-Aubin's evocative black-and-white illustrations capture perfectly the dreadful Schoolmaster Bane, the crowlike accountant Mr. Ledger, Lou the skinny bun merchant, and Christabel, the miller's little daughter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Told with the outsize zest of a tall tale, this vibrant, well-crafted novel starts strong and gets even better. Raised in the Opportunities School for Orphans, the plucky and resilient Jack gets a chance to prove himself as he turns 12, when he is outfitted with an apprenticeship (and his first pair of long pants). First, though, in this tale's characteristic balance of wit and poignancy, he trains the new scullery boy to avoid beatings from the cook ("The secret is to make Cook go sad.... He cries. Huge big tears.... Then he sits in his chair and goes to sleep"). But when Jack's job with a bookkeeper disappoints (he imagines he'll be "sitting at the door in a tidy uniform, keeping the books safe, dry and warm"), he decides to take his luck on the road, armed with little more than his ragged, incomplete dictionary ("A sunrise was better when you knew the word sublime," he believes). In a clever twist, Jack sets himself up at a town fair as a vendor of "thoughts, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions and fancies," and bored villagers snap up his product. Ellis (Out of the Blue) sends a timeless message about the values of believing in one's own visions, of a positive outlook and similar and the details she uses are fresh and fun, her language supple and refined. Readers will want to tag along with Jack on his several adventures. Final artwork not seen by PW. Ages 7-10.
