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    Madlenka
    Madlenka
    Madlenka
    Ebook49 pages4 minutes

    Madlenka

    By Peter Sís

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A trip around a city block is like a trip around the world!

    Peeking out through a die-cut window on the jacket, Madlenka invites the reader to enter her world. And what a world it is! On the surface, it looks like an ordinary city block, but as we meet Madlenka's neighbors -- the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice-cream man, the Latin American grocer, a retired opera singer from Germany, an African American school friend, and the Asian shopkeeper -- and look through die-cut windows to the images and memories they have carried from old country to new, we can see that Madlenka's block is as richly varied as its inhabitants. And why is Madlenka going around the block, jumping for joy? Her tooth is loose, and she wants everyone to know!

    Madlenka is a 2000 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year. This title has Common Core connections.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJul 15, 2014
    ISBN9781466857674
    Madlenka
    Author

    Peter Sís

    Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. He was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Art in London. Peter is a seven-time winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year, a two-time Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honoree, and has won the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal twice. Peter's books, Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain were all named Caldecott Honor books by the American Library Association. The Wall was also awarded the Robert F. Sibert Medal. In addition, Peter Sís is the first children’s book illustrator to win the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. He was chosen to deliver the 2012 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture for the Association for Library Service to Children. Peter won the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is considered the most prestigious in international children's literature, given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People. Peter Sís lives in the New York City area with his wife and children.

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    Reviews for Madlenka

    4/5

    68 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is very similar to "The Red Book" by Barbara Lehman, except this book has words. It shows the world from a far away and close perspective. A great book to introduce other cultures to the classroom, but I would not recommend for a read aloud, the story is written in a very choppy way.
    • 5/5
      Madlenka by Peter Sis is the story of a young girl who lives in New York City, possibly on the same block as St. John's Park. She has awoken to her first wiggly tooth and decides to share her news with all her neighbors.As Madlenka walks around the block to greet her neighbors her imagination transports her to magical places based somewhat on her actual location. Being a kid in New York, she has an ethnically diverse set of neighbors. They are from places like India, Tibet, South America, Germany, and so forth. Each neighbor gives a chance for Sis to introduce facts about another part of the world.The artwork that accompanies the text is magical. It's not realistic by any sense but it captures Madlenka's enthusiasm and imagination perfectly. There are also pages with cutouts to allow part of the next page's artwork to show through. Also, there are some larger pages to unfold revealing panoramas during some of the dream sequences.
    • 3/5
      Madlenka is from New York City. For Madlenka and many others living in the city, that means experiencing all types of cultures. Everyone on Madlenka's block knows her and is her friend, but they are also from all over the world. For example, the baker is from France and others are from India, Italy, etc. Each person from the different countries gives little facts about each country. I really enjoyed this book and would be interested in reading more books about Madlenka by Peter Sis. I would use this book in my classroom while learning about other cultures and diversity.
    • 5/5
      Summary: This book is about a girl who has a lose tooth. So she decides to go "around the world" to tell all her friends. By the time she gets back home she finds out she lost her tooth.My view:I really like this book. it would be great to teach children the many different types of culture in the world.class projects:1> we could talk about how the people in our class are different but yet the same.2> bring in little snacks form the different culture in our classroom.
    • 3/5
      This book was pretty cute! I appreciated Madlenka's excitement for losing her first tooth, and I enjoyed the multiculturalism of the story.
    • 3/5
      Young Madlenka sets out to share the good news - she has a loose tooth! - in this engaging picture-book from the talented Peter Sis, visiting all of her many neighbors in the diverse New York City neighborhood she calls home. From Mr. Gaston, the French baker, to Mr. Singh, the Indian newspaper seller, from Mr. Eduardo, the greengrocer, to Mrs. Kham the shopkeeper, Madlenka moves from friend to friend, and from culture to culture, receiving congratulations and good wishes from all, and becoming Madeleine, Madela, Magdalena and Mandala in turn, until, returning home, she is Madlenka again.As a celebration of diversity, Madelenka is immensely appealing, highlighting the many cultures to be found on one small block in the city of New York. I did wonder a bit (as I see, have other reviewers) at Sis' decision to describe some of Madlenka's neighbors by their national affiliation (India, Germany, France) and others by their regional one (Latin America, Asia), as I think this is rather confusing. Mrs. Kham is clearly meant to be Tibetan, for instance, so why is she described as "Asian," when Mr. Singh is described as "Indian?" Leaving this inconsistency aside, I enjoyed Madlenka's "world tour," and the idea, implicit in the story, that knowing people from different cultures can enrich one's life. The artwork is, as can be expected, this being Peter Sis, outstanding! Fine etching-like details, sometimes dizzying perspectives, and exciting cut-outs all combine, creating pages that young children will enjoy turning, and poring over. Highly recommended to anyone looking for good children's stories set in New York City, or to fan of Peter Sis!
    • 4/5
      Madlenka is the story of a little girl who is about to loose a tooth. She walks around the block visiting her very diverse neighbors and telling them the news. By the time she reaches home, her tooth is gone. This is a nice picture book with a gentle message about the diversity in her small world. Being a resident of New York now, Sís captures the neighborhood feeling that exists even in the midst of a large city. The most interesting aspect of the book, however, is the perspective. Drawn from a child's height, the apartment buildings loom around Madlenka in a way that reminds me of a bird's eye perspective reversed, or like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Otherwise, there is little to hold an adult's attention.
    • 5/5
      The cover art and short synopsis in no way prepared me for the astounding quality of the work found in this book. Madlenka is a little girl living in the heart of New York City, and one of her teeth is coming loose. She's so excited about this sign of her growing to be a big girl that she rushes out to inform all the various shopkeepers around her block of the exciting news. These shopkeepers are from all corners of the world, from the French pâtissier, to the Italian ice-cream truck man, to the Indian newsstand vendor and so on. As she meets with each of the shopkeepers, she learns about their different cultures. There are two illustration styles, with Madlenka rendered in pastel colours in what appears to also be a pastel medium, and each of the double page illustrations describing what each culture has to offer in a richly detailed and gorgeously deeply coloured etching approach. This makes for quite an astounding contrast and shows a high level of sophistication. Excellent.
    • 5/5
      “Madlenka” is about a girl with a loose tooth. She goes all around the block that she lives on in New York and tells her friends, who are from all over the world. The story starts by zooming in on the Earth from outer space, to Manhattan, to a neighborhood, to a block, and finally to Madlenka. This begins the interesting perspectives that are used throughout the book. Most pages have text going all the way around the edges, and many have cutouts with views into the origins of her neighbors. Young children will relate to the excitement of a loose tooth and will love the way the book is structured. Parents will like that their children are learning about other cultures. K – 2nd grade. 
    • 3/5
      This is the most unique, and one of the most interesting children's book that I have come across! It follows Madlenka, a young girl eager to share the news of her loose tooth, around her diverse neighborhood. Characters from different continents are featured, exposing children to a few brief (and random) cultural facts about each region. Children will enjoy the cut-outs in the pages that feature Madlenka in different beautifully illustrated scenes. However, this book is a poor choice for children learning to read, or for a read aloud. Young children may find the alternative format and text patterns confusing.
    • 5/5
      A visual treasure, this book takes the reader on a journey with Madlenka around her neighborhood block on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. On her trip to show off her loose tooth, Madlenka enjoys sharing the news with the French Baker, Asian shopkeeper, German storyteller, Indian news vendor and more. One gets a taste of city living, the thrill of sharing with friends and the excitement of a loose tooth. Sis' illustrations are charming and surprising. In order to take it all in, the reader needs to read close and sping the book in a circle. Definitely not a natural read-aloud. Better to share with a single friend.
    • 3/5
      First, the other reviewer (on Amazon) is correct when stating that there's something wrong about carefully distinguishing between Italy, Germany, and France... but then having one person from "Latin America" and another from "Asia". These are continents, not countries - continents with diverse ethnic groups and cultures, and, of course, many different nations.I also found the format of the book, while visually interesting, to be difficult and frustrating to read. It's hard to manage as a read-aloud... and it may also be too complicated for some young readers.

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    Madlenka - Peter Sís

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