Publisher Description
"Kim" is the story of Kim (Kimball) O'Hara, the orphaned son of a British soldier. Set against the backdrop of "The Great Game" a political conflict between Russia and Great Britain in central Asia, the novel traces the life of the title character from begging and errand running on the streets of Lahore to his schooling at a top English school in Lucknow, where he is trained in espionage, and ultimately to a government appointment where he himself gets to play in "The Great Game." A classic novel of espionage and adventure, "Kim" is one of Rudyard Kipling's finest works.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kipling's inspirational poem the one that begins, "If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs" describes how to preserve one's honor by the principled avoidance of political and moral pitfalls. Italian artist Manna imagines the "you" of the poem as a boy journeying through a series of watercolor landscapes: fields under billowing clouds, misty nights, craggy mountaintops. To accompany the poem's first line, Manna paints the boy watching from a great green meadow as storm clouds approach; he stands and watches with a cool head, rather than running in fear. For "If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew/ To serve your turn long after they are gone," Manna shows the boy climbing a rocky pitch, the peaks of other mountains poking through the clouds below. Flying kites represent temptation, and dull-eyed marionettes represent allies who can't be trusted ("If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken/ Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools"). Though young readers may not fathom the poem's complexities, the grandeur of Manna's scenes conveys the loftiness of Kipling's sentiments. Ages 6 8.
