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The Playgrounds of Babel
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Summary
The book is richly illustrated by Piet Grobler, contrasting monochrome scenes of the playground with vibrant, colourful depictions of the tale. Incomprehensible languages appear in hand-drawn speech balloons, enhancing the story's theme of communication across differences. An author's note reveals the inspiration behind this thought-provoking picture book.
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Format: Hardback
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The Playgrounds of Babel
$3999
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This picture book suits children and early readers interested in imaginative, multicultural stories about language and communication. It also fits well in educational settings exploring storytelling, language diversity, and cultural comparison, correlating with English Language Arts standards for identifying narrators and comparing story versions.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
From the international best-selling author of Sidewalk Flowers and a world-renowned illustrator, this picture book is about the power of song, inspired by the story of the Tower of Babel.
This unusual, thought-provoking story begins with an old woman telling a tale to a group of children in a playground. One of the boys can't understand what she is saying, so another offers to translate. The old woman's tale is inspired by the Tower of Babel story: In the days when everyone spoke the same language, the people built a tower to reach God. But God was annoyed and sent a dragon to destroy the tower, then created new languages for everyone so that they couldn't understand each other. Fortunately, two little girls find a way to communicate through song.
Told entirely through dialogue, moving back and forth between the old woman's tale and the exchange between the two boys, this original, sometimes funny story raises questions about what divides us and what brings us together, in spite of all our differences—it is the power of song in this case, which ultimately brings hope.
Piet Grobler brings a masterful visual interpretation to this layered story, rendering the old woman and children in the playground in monochromatic tones and the characters in the old woman's tale in a naive style with vibrant colour, complete with incomprehensible languages in hand-drawn speech balloons. An author's note explains JonArno Lawson's inspiration for the story.
Key Text Features
Author's note
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6
Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.9
Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781773060361
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd ,Canada
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 12 September 2019
Country: Canada
Imprint: Groundwood Books Ltd ,Canada
Illustration: Full color throughout
Contributors:
- Illustrated by Piet Grobler
Audience: Children
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 6.0mm
Width: 215.0mm
Height: 254.0mm
Weight: 381g
Pages: 32
About the Author
JONARNO LAWSON is the author of numerous books for children and adults, including The Playgrounds of Babel, illustrated by Piet Grobler, and Leap!, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon. He has also collaborated on books with Nelson Ball, Alec Dempster, Nahid Kazemi, Amjad Jaimoukha, Qin Leng, Daniel Ratthei and Sherwin Tjia. His most recent book is Wise Up! Wise Down!, a collaboration with the poet John Agard, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. JonArno lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his family. PIET GROBLER is a world-renowned South African illustrator of children’s books. He has illustrated ninety five books, which have been published in many languages, and he has won a number of awards, including two silver medals at the Noma Concours (Japan), the Octogone de Chêne (France) and a Golden Apple at the Biennial of Illustration in Bratislava. He lives in Portugal and is the visiting Professor in Illustration at the University of Worcester, in the United Kingdom.
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