Graven Images

by Paul Fleischman Narrated by Paul Michael, Susan Denaker, Lincoln Hoppe

Overview

Paul Fleischman spins three engrossing stories about the unexpected ways an artist's creations reveal truths - tales whose intriguing plots and many moods will entertain readers and inspire future writers.

Can wood, copper, or marble communicate? They can if they are the graven images in Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman's trio of eerie, beguiling short stories. If you whisper a secret into a wooden statue's ear, will anyone find out? Can a wobbly weathervane bearing the image of Saint Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, steer a love-struck apprentice toward the girl of his dreams? And if a ghost hires a sculptor to carve a likeness of him holding a drink to a baby's lips, what ghastly crime might lie behind his request? And, in a brand-new afterword, the acclaimed storyteller reveals how he found his own author's voice.

Editorial Reviews

AUG/SEP 06 - AudioFile

Three short stories revolve around a quirky theme: the role of a statue in delivering a person's inevitable reckoning. The first and last stories are dark and even a bit spooky, describing the wooden statue that survived a mysterious shipboard disaster and a desperate Italian marble sculptor who takes on a questionable assignment. In contrast, the middle story, which incorporates a weathervane, enjoys more whimsy. A different narrator for each story provides suitable separation and diversity in the compilation. The author's brief afterward explains his inspiration and provides insight for young aspiring writers but would have been more meaningful if read by the author. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

Older readers will be delighted with the return to print of Newbery Honor book Graven Images: Three Stories (1982) by Paul Fleischman, with haunting new acrylic gouache illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline, evoking the spinetingling aspects of this trio of tales about statues that seem to know and communicate secrets and desires. Via a new afterword, the author explains the stories' inspiration and describes this book's significance early in his career. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Three tales of the supernatural are rejuvenated in this spellbinding performance of Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman's 1982 novel that is now back in print (Candlewick, 2006). The voices of actors Paul Michael, Susan Denaker, and Lincoln Hoppe provide a cushioning effect for these eerie stories about the secret lives of statues. Hoppe nails the youthful voice of a love-struck boy in "Saint Crispin's Follower," and Denaker's narration of "The Binnacle Boy" gently introduces listeners to the hidden knowledge of a shipboard statue. Michael has an uncanny ability to dramatically change his voice and switch easily between accents. He presents an especially compelling performance as a sculptor and his model in the final story, "The Man of Influence." The rich and mysterious lives of graven images are detailed further in the production's closing remarks as Fleischman divulges what inspired him to write his short stories. Older readers who have moved beyond Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories will find more than enough spooky thrills in this fascinating audio production.-Celeste Steward, Alameda County Library, Fremont, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

AUG/ SEP 06 - AudioFile

Three short stories revolve around a quirky theme: the role of a statue in delivering a person's inevitable reckoning. The first and last stories are dark and even a bit spooky, describing the wooden statue that survived a mysterious shipboard disaster and a desperate Italian marble sculptor who takes on a questionable assignment. In contrast, the middle story, which incorporates a weathervane, enjoys more whimsy. A different narrator for each story provides suitable separation and diversity in the compilation. The author's brief afterward explains his inspiration and provides insight for young aspiring writers but would have been more meaningful if read by the author. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172018985
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	02/14/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

When the brig Orion, three weeks out from Havana, appeared off her home port of New Bethany, Maine, Miss Evangeline Frye was just parting her bed curtains, formally banishing night.

While those who'd chanced to spy the sails wondered why the ship hadn't fired a salute, Miss Frye was combing her coarse, gray hair. While the Orion drifted unexpectedly about, at last presenting her stem to the harbor, Miss Frye was blowing the hearth fire into being. And while the harbor pilot's drowsy son rowed his father out to the ship, to return in a frenzy, eyes wide and hands trembling, Miss Frye was stationed at her parlor window, awaiting the sight of Sarah Peel.

She peered down the length of Bartholomew Street. Straight-spined as a mast and so tall that her gaze was aimed out through the top row of windowpanes, Miss Frye eyed the clock on the town hall next door. It was eight fifteen. The girt was late-and plenty of scrubbing and spinning to be done.

She pursed her lips, lowered her eyes, and looked out upon her flower garden. It was nearly Independence Day-tansy was thriving, pinks were in bloom, marigolds were budding on schedule. But the poppy seeds she'd bought from a rogue of a peddler, and gullibly planted with care, still hadn't sent up a single shoot. And probably never would, she reflected. In memory, she heard her mother's voice: "Girls take after their mothers, Evangeline. Men take after the Devil." She regarded the bare stretch of soil below, sneering at this latest confirmation.

The door knocker sounded. Miss Frye opened up and was surprised to find not Sarah Peel, but her ten-year-old younger sister, Tekoa.

"I'vecome to do chores, ma'am."

Miss Frye cocked her head. "But where is Sarah?"

"In bed, ma'am. Taken ill." The girl spoke softly, tucking a strand of straw-blond hair under her kerchief.

"Well then." Miss Frye motioned her in and closed the door behind her. "I suppose you've had practice scouring pewter."

Tekoa stood in the hallway, silent.

Miss Frye blinked her eyes. Was this some impertinence? Then at once she recalled what Sarah had told her-that the girl had been left deaf by a fever and was able to listen only with her eyes, by reading the words on others' lips.

Miss Frye passed Tekoa, then turned to face her.

"You can begin with the pewter."

"Yes, ma'am," said the girl.

Miss Frye led her down the hall to the kitchen. "And what manner of illness has seized poor Sarah?"

"Her jaws," said Tekoa. "They won't come open."

Miss Frye appeared startled. "And when did this happen?"

"This morning, just after the news of the Orion."

Miss Frye's eyebrows jerked. "The Orion? What news?" Among the crew of New Bethany boys was Miss Frye's adopted son, Ethan.

"She appeared offshore this morning, ma'am," Tekoa calmly replied.

At once Miss Frye rushed to the window.

"All of the crew were found to be dead."

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