Description
Winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award
For young Jack, life is tough at the Opportunities School for Orphans. But Jack is good at staying out of trouble. He has skipped over trouble, danced around trouble, slid under trouble, melted away from trouble, talked his way out of trouble and slipped between two close troubles like a cat through a picket fence.
When Jack turns twelve, he is given the biggest opportunity of all, but suddenly his life is nothing but trouble. Still, he is a clever and resilient boy, and eventually he makes his way into the big world. Jack is rich in ideas, and soon he finds there is a place for an enterprising boy who has whims, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions and fancies to spare.
In the tradition of Natalie Babbitt, Sarah Ellis brings her quirky sense of humor and imagination to bear in this witty, warm fable. Bruno St-Aubin's evocative black-and-white illustrations capture perfectly the dreadful Schoolmaster Bane, the crowlike accountant Mr. Ledger, Lou the skinny bun merchant, and Christabel, the miller's little daughter.
Author Bio
SARAH ELLIS is a celebrated author, teacher and children’s literature expert. She has written more than twenty books across the genres, and her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Japanese. She has won the Governor General’s Literary Award (Pick-Up Sticks) and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award (Odd Man Out). Sarah is a masthead reviewer for the Horn Book Magazine, and she is a former faculty member of Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Prizes
- Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature PrizeLong-listed 2004
- IODE Violet Downey Book AwardWinner 2004
- Mr. Christie's Book AwardWinner 2004
- Governor General's Literary Awards: TextShort-listed 2003
- Chocolate Lily AwardLong-listed 2004
- CLA Book of the Year for Children AwardShort-listed 2004
- Cooperative Children's Book Center ChoiceCommended 2004
- Hackmatack AwardShort-listed 2005
- CCBC Our Choice (Starred Selection)Commended 2004
- Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz AwardLong-listed 2004
Review Quotes
