Arthur – Rhoda Levine and Everett Aison
Arthur by Rhoda Levine, illustrated by Everett Aison / ISBN 9781590179352 / 48-page hardcover reprint, 10 x 9.25 inches, from the New York Review Children’s Collection
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“This gem of a Manhattan tale from the early 1960s should be better known, especially given Aison’s astounding charcoal and watercolor art, so simple and bold in black, smudgy gray and a perfect dark green.”—The New York Times Book Review
“If I could have only one of these books for myself this is one I would pick … One of the best children’s books ever”
—Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
After a fine, green summer in Central Park, all the birds are preparing to fly south. Except for Arthur, that is. Arthur is off playing, gazing into a lake, dreaming of wider seas. And so Arthur is left behind. It begins to get cold. The trees are losing their leaves. Arthur feels uneasy and lonely, especially after his nest is scattered to the winds. Arthur must find a new home, and after he does—he settles down in a statue’s open book—he discovers a new city, where he can play hide-and-seek in the steam from a manhole cover and feast with the pigeons on crumbs, and which soon brings other delightful surprises (and challenges): icicles, a great big sweet-smelling evergreen tree that is all lit up with people gathered around it to sing “Gloria” in the cold night, and snow—a whole winter wonderland! And then the trees begin to bud; the birds come back….
With Arthur as their guide through the city, children will find new poetry and beauty on every corner.
