Down the Back of the Chair

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Overview

When Dad loses his car keys, little Mary suggests they might be down the back of the chair. Join in the fun as Dad begins the search, finding everything from a hairy string to a diamond ring—and much, much more! Could the solution to all the family’s problems be down the back of the chair?

A lively rhyming text and quirky art come together in this visual explosion of fun and imagination.

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Down the Back of the Chair

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More About This Book

Overview

When Dad loses his car keys, little Mary suggests they might be down the back of the chair. Join in the fun as Dad begins the search, finding everything from a hairy string to a diamond ring—and much, much more! Could the solution to all the family’s problems be down the back of the chair?

A lively rhyming text and quirky art come together in this visual explosion of fun and imagination.

Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"An inspired flight of fancy." Publishers Weekly, Starred

"[A] rollicking, rhyming treat from the uniquely talented Mahy, winner of the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Award." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"Like Shel Silverstein's poetry, Mahy's exuberant rhyme bounces with nonsensical humor and begs for guitar accompaniment." Booklist, ALA

"A delightfully optimistic, entertaining crowd-pleaser." School Library Journal

"Illustrations as zany as the chair's bounty accompany this giddy rhyming tale." Horn Book Guide

Publishers Weekly
When the kids suggest Dad look for his lost car keys in the depths of their wingback chair, the family's fortunes take a dramatic and deliciously silly turn for the better. Mahy's crisp rhyming quatrains, in the voice of a precocious girl, start the action at a comic pitch that escalates with every page. "We're facing rack and ruin./ No car, no work! No work, no pay!/ We're growing poorer by the day." Sticking his hand "down the back of the chair"-a phrase that refers to both a universe under the seat cushion and also the book's refrain-Dad turns up much more than keys or loose change. There's precious jewelry, a menagerie ranging from a conger eel to a pair of tea-drinking elephants plus "a missing twin" and a pirate with a treasure map. Dunbar's (Dog Blue) watercolor and cut-paper illustrations goose the giddiness of the text without sacrificing a visual equilibrium. She creates a tantalizing contrast as Dad grows ga-ga from the magical goings-on while his children maintain a cool sense of delight. The car keys never surface, but a rich uncle's long lost will and treasure do. It's an inspired flight of fancy-and certain to turn "Down the back of the chair" into a rallying cry in many households. Ages 4-7. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Children's Literature
This family's plight is a sad one. Not only is the car in bad shape, but Dad has lost the keys. "No car, no work! No work, no pay!" They face "rack and ruin." Young Mary suggests they search down the back of the chair, where she sometimes finds "a few..." And the rhyming fun begins. To the astonishment of all, one after another a series of incredible items begins to emerge from the chair; "A packet of pins and one of the twins;" "A cake, a drake, a smiling snake." And at last, "Oh bliss! Oh bliss!" out comes "the long lost will of Uncle Bill...His money box all crammed with cash," and in the fantastic chair they have found the answer to their dreams. The jacket/cover illustration of the chair and a few characters barely suggests the accumulated nonsense inside. Dunbar's zany watercolor drawings and lots of cut up patterned pieces of paper combine with the text, which plays visual games with them to create visual mayhem. Each double-page scene increases in complexity as the odd bits of this and that are discovered and displayed. As each page is turned fresh details demand inspection. Both author and illustrator have provided great fun to read and re-read both orally and visually. 2006, Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin, Ages 4 to 8.
—Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal
K-Gr 3-This rollicking, rhyming, rags-to-riches story begins when Dad loses the keys to his beat-up car. As the young female narrator points out, "No car, no work! No work, no pay!" and so the day begins quite grimly for the family that is "growing poorer day by day." But then the narrator's two-year-old sister suggests that her father should do what she does when she loses something: search "down the back of the chair." And then the fun really begins. Dad's first reach into the easy chair's recesses yields a bit of hairy string, and then the first sign of reversed fortunes-a diamond ring. From there the seemingly magical armchair produces a seven-inch-long spider, a clown, a string of pearls, two tea-sipping elephants, "a pirate with a treasure map,/a dragon trying to take a nap-," and other delights. But when Dad pulls out the "long lost will of Uncle Bill" and his money hoard, the family's financial woes are over. Dunbar's flower-patterned chair is wonderfully ordinary, and its plainness is in perfect contrast to the zany creatures and objects that spring forth from it. The watercolor and cut-paper illustrations are expressively detailed and whimsical, a superb match for the buoyant and breezy verse as it, too, flies this way and that. A delightfully optimistic, entertaining crowd-pleaser.-Carol L. MacKay, Forestburg School Library, Alberta, Canada Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A comfy armchair upholstered in a brightly flowered print is the hiding place for a fantastic range of surprises in this rollicking, rhyming treat from the uniquely talented Mahy, winner of the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Award. "Down the back of the chair" is the repeated refrain as a father and his children search for some missing keys, uncovering all sorts of animals, artifacts and leftovers in the mysterious depths of the seemingly enchanted chair. They find missing household items (including one of their infant twins) and a whole menagerie of creatures, from a smiling snake to a pair of blue elephants drinking tea. The enumeration of hidden items ends with the discovery of an uncle's long-long will as well as his piggy bank, assuring the family's financial future. Dunbar's delightfully loose illustrations in watercolor and cut paper provide a satisfying complement to Mahy's poem, with whimsical creatures, juicy colors and lots of motion to match the kinetic energy of the text. (Picture book. 3-6)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780618693955
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 6/12/2006
  • Edition description: None
  • Pages: 32
  • Age range: 4 - 8 Years
  • Product dimensions: 9.60 (w) x 11.00 (h) x 0.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Margaret Mahy lived in New Zealand and was internationally acknowledged as one of the most outstanding children’s writers of her day. She was the author of more than two hundred books for children of all ages, two of which received England's Carnegie Medal and others of which have garnered numerous citations from the American Library Association. She was also the recipient of an Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen can receive. In 2006 she receivd the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contributions to international children's literature.


Polly Dunbar is the author and illustrator of Penguin, Dog Blue, and Flyaway Katie (all published by Candlewick). She is also the illustrator of Margaret Mahy's Down the Back of the Chair. She studied illustration at Bright Art School and now lives and works in Brighton, England.

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