The Marzipan Pig
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Who but Russell Hoban could weave a tale of life’s pleasures and pain around a candy pig? And who but Quentin Blake could make the most poignant of stories so lighthearted and delightful? In this episodic picture book by an inimitable author-illustrator duo, a fantastic chain of events is triggered by the unacknowledged fall of a marzipan pig behind the sofa. We meet in quick succession a heartsick mouse, a lonely grandfather clock, an owl in love with a taxi meter, a worker bee, a fading hibiscus flower, a mouse who greets the dawn dancing, and finally a boy who guesses at the true relations between things. Appealing to the unsentimental yet sensitive nature of children, The Marzipan Pig is exquisitely attuned to the bittersweet wonder of life and to the sentience of all beings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A marzipan pig, lost behind the sofa, is eaten by a mousewho consequently knows loneliness. The mouse looks to a clock for love, and when she leaves, the clock, in turn, knows emptiness. The owl who has eaten the mouse falls in love with a lit taxi meter, and so on, as each being or object is transformed by its encounter with another. Coming full cycle, a new marzipan pig arrives in the mail and is eaten by the upstairs mouse, who is not eaten by the owl. Instead, she goes dancing all night on the Embankment, wearing a pink hibiscus-petal frock. Exploring the same themes of love and its redeeming power as in The Mouse and His Child, Hoban incorporates humor and adventure in this short, fable-like story. Blake's charcoal-and-ink drawings charmingly illuminate the text. Ages 7-9.
