Jim at the Corner

by Eleanor Farjeon, Edward Ardizzone (Illustrator)

Overview

These seafaring tales begin on a street corner where Jim, a retired sailor, spends his days, passing the time telling a curious boy named Derry about life aboard his ship, the Rockinghorse. In the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses and Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, Farjeon’s tales of talking sea serpents and stew-eating chimpanzees bring the far near and turn ordinary weather into an astronomical adventure. With pen-and-ink illustrations by the maritime master artist Edward Ardizzone, Jim at the Corner is an old-fashioned adventure for the eyes and the ears.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681371658
Publisher:	New York Review Books
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965) grew up in England in a house filled with books, and she and her brothers enjoyed reading stories to one another and writing their own. In America, Farjeon’s best-known work may be the hymn Morning Has Broken,” later recorded by Cat Stevens, but in her native country she is beloved as the author of Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep and Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard. Farjeon was pleased when her story collection, The Little Bookroom won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, but she turned down another honor—Dame of the British Empire—explaining that she “did not wish to become different from the milkman.” At her death, the Children’s Book Circle established the Eleanor Farjeon Award in her honor.

Edward Ardizzone (1900–1979) was born in French Indochina (now Vietnam) and moved to England when he was five years old. In addition to his illustrations for works by Eleanor Farjeon, Dylan Thomas, and Robert Louis Stevenson, Ardizzone wrote and illustrated his own books, including the celebrated Little Tim series, which was inspired in part by his dreams of escape from boarding school.

Editorial Reviews

In paperback for the first time, this endearing tale by two celebrated collaborators concerns 80-year-old Jim, who has enthralled young Derry with tall tales of the sea--without ever leaving his street corner. Ages 7-10. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"No one can tell stories like Eleanor Farjeon, and these do not disappoint...the book culminates in a satisfying final chapter that sees Derry surprising Jim with the perfect eightieth-birthday present. Imagination, adventure, and a host of animal encounters, humor, suspense, not to mention Ardizzone's scene-setting pen-and-ink vignette illustrations—this little book, first published in 1934, has oceans of appeal." —Martha V. Parravano, The Horn Book Magazine

"Like the award-winning The Little Bookroom, Eleanor Farjeon’s Jim at the Corner is a collection of loosely related stories, perfect for reading aloud. This is a good book for grandfathers—in fact for any relatives of youngsters whose constant plea is, “Tell us a story.”. . . Jim is an old-fashioned character with a repertoire of gentle humorous fantasies, and youngsters are likely to be back as regularly as Derry for more of these tales of magic islands in the fog and of rooks with a taste for Little Boy Pie."
—The New York Times

"It is certain that when the history of children’s literature in our day is written Eleanor Farjeon will be one of its most important figures." —Eileen H. Colwell

“[An] endearing tale by two celebrated collaborators.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

07/01/2017
Gr 2–5—First published in 1934, this reissue features eight tall tales of ocean adventure, neatly framed as conversations between a boy named Derry and Jim, the former first mate of the good ship Rocking Horse. Jim's stories are delightfully far-fetched, with whimsical surprises to keep readers guessing. All are prompted by his interactions with young Derry, who meets Jim on the corner as often as he can. When Derry talks about a recent snowfall, Jim launches into a humorous narrative about an amorous and loyal penguin he met at the South Pole. After the boy gets a new kitten, Jim shares his underwater adventure with the Queen of the Catfish. The introductions are casual and straightforward and smoothly transition to Jim's more folksy storyteller's voice for the fanciful exploits at sea. Derry and Jim's fondness for each other is evident, making the final chapter, in which Derry and his family bring Jim to the seaside for his birthday, especially satisfying. Ardizzone's black-and-white drawings are a perfect match for the text. A scene of Derry and Jim on the street opens each chapter, and further renderings depict the action that Jim narrates. There's an appropriately old-fashioned feel to this collection, but the individual entries and the book as a whole hold up quite well. VERDICT A welcome reissue and an excellent read-aloud choice.—Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR

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