Description
Very Good dust jacket with illustration of 5 people and a boy holding a cat. A mylar dust jacket has been added. Dust jacket has some wear at edges, chipping at spine. The Very Good+ binding is orange cloth over boards, illustrated with black line drawing and black lettering, spine with black lettering. Color illustrations throughout by Guilo Maestro. The pages are clean and the binding is tight. The book measures 11.3″ tall x 8.7″ wide.
About the book (from the dust jacket)
Michael’s plant started out small. But overnight it grew faster than any plant in the city.
Mrs. Zelnick, from downstairs in Michael’s apartment house, was the first to start yelling about it. She could not see he humor in the situation. A11 she could see were roots in her ceiling.
Mr. Rotondo from next door only saw branches in his breakfast. It took Michael to see what a bit of green can bring to a lot of people in a city: fun.
About the author/illustrator (from the dust jacket)
Giulio Maestra is the author /illustrator of The Tortoise’s Tug of War
“Based on a South American folktale, ‘Which was Stronger, the Tortoise, the Tapir, or the Whale?’, a nicely told variant of the familiar story of the small animal who tricks two large ones….The illustrations have a verdant charm, and sly humor in the animal characters.”‘ -Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Maestro uses hues of blue, pink and purple in the whale’s habitat opposing the pungent yellows, browns and greens of the tapir’s and tortoise’s to achieve an unusual gradation of color. .. . The distinctive illustrations recommend this variation.”
-School Library Journal
In addition to The Tortoise’s Tug of War, Mr. Maestro has illustrated another book for children, Rudyard Kipling’s The Beginning of the Armadillos.
Mr. Maestro studied painting, commercial art and printmaking at the Cooper Union Art School. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
