Mr. Stink (Italian edition)

by David Walliams

Overview

Mr Stink, come dice il suo nome, puzza. Una puzza cosmica, puzzolente, stratosferica. E come potrebbe essere altrimenti visto che il signor Puzza è un barbone e vive su una panchina nel parco insieme al suo cane, Duchessa, zozzo e puzzolente almeno quanto lui? Tutti in città lo evitano eccetto la giovane Chloe che, benché un po' spaventata da lui, ne è anche incuriosita e, diventata sua amica scopre che il barbone ha modi stranamente signorili. Quale può essere il suo passato? Sarà stato una spia internazionale, un ladro di gioielli, un grande avventuriero? Chissà quale sarà la verità... Titolo originale: Mr Stink (2009).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788809765641
Publisher:	Giunti Junior
Publication date:	02/11/2011
Sold by:	Giunti
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years
Language:	Italian

About the Author

Quentin Blake is a well-known artist whose work has made him popular on both sides of the Atlantic. He has illustrated most of Roald Dahl's children's books as well as many others. He lives in London, where he teaches illustration at the Royal College of Art.

Editorial Reviews

Twelve-year-old Chloe does not fit in at her “posh” all-girls school or at home with her withdrawn father, social-climbing mother, and sickeningly perfect sister. Chloe befriends Mr. Stink (a homeless “tramp” named for his powerful smell) and his dog, Duchess, because he appears to be full of stories and to understand being misunderstood (“She wasn’t homeless like him, but she felt homeless in her heart”). Mr. Stink fancies himself a “wanderer,” and his lack of concern with society’s judgments gives Chloe confidence. But when she invites him to move into her shed, she is not prepared for the complications. As in Walliams’s The Boy in the Dress, Blake provides his trademark scrawly artwork; his images are as caricatured as the author’s over-the-top characterizations, particularly Chloe’s mother and Britain’s prime minister, who both try to take advantage of Mr. Stink. Walliams relies heavily on gross-out humor (the references to Mr. Stink’s stench are numerous) and Britishisms, which nearly overwhelm an already heavy-handed theme that everyone has secrets, flaws, idiosyncrasies, and a unique history that is of value. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3–6—A lonely 12-year-old girl and a local tramp hit it off, and thus begins this delightful tale. Perhaps Chloe would not need to turn to Mr. Stink (he bathes once a year) if her overbearing mother accepted her for who she is and did not seem to prefer her sister. Chloe, however, is very good at taking people for who they are. She provides Mr. Stink with shelter, food, and friendship, and in the process unburdens herself to him and learns his secrets. This British import is reminiscent of Roald Dahl's books in its silly, exaggerated storytelling, and while some words may be unfamiliar to American readers and the ending is a bit melodramatic, the characters are appealing, the situations are hilarious, and the plot moves quickly. Blake's charming illustrations appear throughout.—Mariela Siegert, Westfield Middle School, Bloomingdale, IL

School Library Journal

A reeking vagrant instills homey togetherness in a family ruled by a domineering mother in this uneven production from the team behind The Boy in the Dress (2009). Sure that Mr. Stink's intriguing combination of gentle, refined speech and eye-watering personal hygiene signals a tragic past (which it actually does, as it turns out), 12-year-old Chloe secretly invites him to move into the shed behind her home. This touches off a series of events that lead to Chloe's pretentious mother becoming a public laughingstock on national television, provide a chance for Chloe to meet and be rude ("stick it up your fat bum!") to the oily Prime Minister and finally induce sudden, radical transformations in both of her parents as well as her villainous little sister just in time for Christmas. Refusing to change himself, Mr. Stink thereupon rambles off into the night. The funny bits, including Blake's occasional spot sketches, are really funny, but the rest of the trite tale comes off as no more than a convenient framework on which to hang them and a set of typecast characters. (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews