Stephen and the Beetle

by Jorge Luján, Chiara Carrer (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)

Overview

When Stephen spots a beetle he takes off his shoe and raises his arm, ready to strike… but then he has second thoughts. He lays his head down on the ground and the beetle walks right up to him. At the last moment the beetle turns aside and each can go on with the day, having avoided the worst.

In this very simple story Jorge Luján presents the kind of deep moral questions that can occur even in the smallest child's day. Chiara Carrer's very original etched and painted illustrations perfectly complement the story, and are in and of themselves beautiful works of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554981922
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	AD630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

JORGE LUJÁN is an author, poet and musician. His body of work, translated into eighteen languages, includes Stephen and the Beetle, illustrated by Chiara Carrer; Doggy Slippers and Numeralia, illustrated by Isol; Colors! ¡Colores!, illustrated by Piet Grobler; and Moví la mano / I Moved My Hand, illustrated by Mandana Sadat. He has won the Premio de Poesía para Niños de ALIJA, and has been nominated for the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award and nominated eight times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Mexico.

Chiara Carrer is one of Italy's best-known children's book illustrators. She lives in Rome.

Visit Chiara Carrer's website:

http://www.chiaracarrer.com/

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

A small backyard encounter becomes the basis for big questions in this striking lesson in compassion. When Stephen sees a horned beetle behind his house, he doesn’t hesitate: “He took off his shoe and raised his arm.” Carrer’s naïf mixed-media illustrations show the boy, drawn in ink-scrawled outline, holding the shoe over his head, a giant stonelike oval hanging off its edge, as if to emphasize the shoe’s transformation into a deadly weapon. Before Stephen does the deed, “suddenly a thought came into his head. Where was the beetle going, anyway?” It’s a turning point, and the more consideration Stephen gives the beetle, the larger and more detailed Carrer (Otto Carrotto) draws it. She highlights its strangeness in scenes that culminate in a frightening black-and-yellow portrait of the beetle that looks like it’s about to attack. It doesn’t, though, and simply continues on its way, as does Stephen. With haunting lines like “The beetle went on about its business. It had no idea what was about to happen,” Luján (Doggy Slippers) hints that, to some larger, greater forces, human lives may be similarly insignificant. Ages 2–5. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Colors! ¡Colores!:
"The imagery in both words and pictures is often richly original . . . A lovely book to share, reflect upon and linger over.” — Kirkus Reviews


A 2012 New York Times Best Illustrated Book

"This simple yet powerful life-or-death drama between the boy and the beetle is vividly captured in Carrer’s striking, highly original acrylic, ink pencil, oil pastel and collage illustrations. Using naive outlines, Expressionistic color washes, open spaces and constantly changing perspectives, she creates tension between the aggressive boy and the passive beetle." —Kirkus, starred review

From the Publisher

Gr 1–2—The illustrations in this book introduce a few moments in time through a series of images done in a variety of mediums-acrylic, ink, pencil, oil pastel, and collage-in a basic palette of gray, black, and yellow. Readers first see Stephen from afar as he enters his garden and notices a rhinoceros beetle, encircled by a mysterious reddish haze that follows it throughout the book. His first instinct is to raise a shoe and clobber the bug, but then he pauses and stretches out on the ground to watch it eye to eye. Page after page, with a range of perspectives, the insect is shown as it makes its way past the boy's sock-clad foot, growing larger and then enormous in Stephen's eyes as he imagines it as "a terrible triceratops that lifted its glistening horns, [and] waved its huge hoofs in the air." Art that presents the beetle with the fascination and imagination of a young child completes the journey with a haze of green lines, a curtain of grass as the beetle makes its way to the "furthest corner of the garden." A simple story enhanced by a brief, thoughtful text with a sophisticated presentation, this book would be most effective as a suspenseful read-aloud, to continue discussion after the reading, spur a bit of beetle research, and encourage readers to see beyond its neutral cover.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

School Library Journal

A small boy's response to a beetle in the garden triggers profound moral questions in this arresting visual tour de force. When Stephen spies a wee beetle in his garden, he instinctively removes his shoe and raises his arm to crush it. Oblivious to its impending demise, the beetle goes "on about its business." Then Stephen pauses and wonders where the beetle is going and what it is doing. He muses, "If I drop my shoe…the day will go on just the same, except for one small thing." Instead of killing the beetle, Stephen lays his head on the ground and observes it. Up close, the beetle resembles a "terrible triceratops" poised for attack. Then the beetle seems to remember something and walks off. This simple yet powerful life-or-death drama between the boy and the beetle is vividly captured in Carrer's striking, highly original acrylic, ink pencil, oil pastel and collage illustrations. Using naive outlines, Expressionistic color washes, open spaces and constantly changing perspectives, she creates tension between the aggressive boy and the passive beetle. Initially Stephen dominates the page, but following the existential moment of choice when he realizes the consequences of his intended action, the beetle becomes the visual focus, eventually assuming gargantuan proportions during their eye-to-eye standoff. A memorable lesson in mindfulness. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews