Jemmy Button

by Jennifer Uman, Valerio Vidali, Jennifer Uman (Illustrator), Valerio Vidali (Illustrator)

Overview

A beautiful collaboration based on a true story.

Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali discovered a mutual interest in this story and overcame language obstacles with the help of translators. Jemmy Button, a native of Tierra del Fuego, was brought to England in the mid-1800s to be “educated and civilized.” The book illustrates Jemmy’s adventures in England, his extraordinary encounters, his homesickness and experiences as an outsider in a strange land, and his return home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763664879
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/26/2013
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jennifer Uman is a self-taught painter and illustrator. Her work has appeared in the New York Times and in publications throughout the world. This is her first illustrated book.

Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator. His work has been published in several countries and has received notable recognition in competitions and exhibitions arround the world

Editorial Reviews

Less a biography than an attempt to represent this alienating experience from Jemmy’s point of view, it is distinguished by lyrical prose-poetry...and intensely creative and beautifully conceived paintings.
—Publishers Weekly

The powerful, spare text contrasts Jemmy’s innocent island life with the isolation he feels in England. His alienation is cleverly reinforced by gauche, oil and collage illustrations using flat patterns and color to compare the island’s verdant vegetation and quiet, starry nights with the sterile, geometric shapes of urban London...The ultimate home-away-home story, beautifully rendered.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the cover where he peeks out through lush greenery, to the vast visions of the night sky over the island, illustrations of Orundellico’s home pop with color. The scenes in England, in contrast, feature muted tones, with people who appear only as silhouettes, emphasizing the boy’s sense of displacement. This treatment brings the story home for young readers and provides an excellent discussion-starter.
—School Library Journal

The story is told in an ingenuous style that is powerfully enhanced by the impressionistic art, replete with obscured adult figures and a melancholy tone. An unusual read-aloud is also a complex, unique offering for independent readers.
—Booklist

... a stunning picture-book collaboration between its illustrators, Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali, and its writer, Alix Barzelay. ... In a striking series of tableaux, we see the boy, very small and red, against jungle and sea; later he is surrounded by hard urban surfaces and engulfed in crowds of men in swallowtail coats and women in full-skirted finery.
—The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

In this true story, an indigenous boy from Tierra del Fuego is transported to London in the early 1800s, where he encounters a vastly different world. Living on a "faraway island" a boy named Orundellico climbs the tallest trees, views the stars, listens to the ocean and wonders what's "on the other side." Strangers arrive in a ship, call him Jemmy Button and invite him to visit their land. Reaching the other side of the ocean, Jemmy finds houses made of rocks "stacked in towers taller than the tallest tree." The people, colors, noises and costumes make him feel "very small indeed." Soon, he's wearing their clothes, attending concerts, and even meeting the king and queen, but he never quite feels at home. When the time comes, he returns to the island, announcing: "My name is Orundellico and I have come home." The powerful, spare text contrasts Jemmy's innocent island life with the isolation he feels in England. His alienation is cleverly reinforced by gauche, oil and collage illustrations using flat patterns and color to compare the island's verdant vegetation and quiet, starry nights with the sterile, geometric shapes of urban London. Diminutive, flesh-colored, bemused Jemmy always stands out in a sea of repetitive, anonymous, faceless silhouettes. The ultimate home-away-home story, beautifully rendered. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews