Philip Ardagh

Wie kommt man nur auf solche Ideen :-) ????
117 Seiten völliger Nonsense, Wortspielereien, Klamauk auf hohem Niveau und dazu noch die genialen Zeichnungen von David Roberts - man bekommt die Mundwinkel gar nicht mehr nach unten. Doch Achtung! Leserinnen und Leser, die ein Mindestmaß an Sinn in einer Geschichte brauchen um diese genießen zu können, sollten die Finger davon lassen. Hier zählt nichts außer der Freude am Erzählen - und zwar völlig sinnfrei.
Die Geschichte ist schnell show more wiedergegeben: Edmund, genannt Eddie oder Jonathan oder auch Simon, je nachdem ob seiner Mutter gerade sein Name oder Kosename nicht einfällt, muss eine Zeitlang zu seinem Großonkel, dem Wahnsinnigen Jack, da seine Eltern an einer abscheulichen, sehr ansteckenden Krankheit leiden, von der man gelb und an den Rändern (welchen???) etwas wellig wird sowie nach alten Wärmflaschen riecht. Auf der Reise nach 'Schlimmes Ende', dem Haus seines Großonkels, zusammen mit dem 'Wahnsinnigen Jack', der 'Wahnsinnigen Maud' (seiner Großtante) und dem ausgestopften Wiesel das Sally bzw. Malcolm, aber vielleicht auch Cornelius oder Edna heißt, begegnet er merkwürdigen Gestalten und landet unter obskuren Umständen im Waisenhaus 'Sankt-Fürchterlich-Heim für dankbare Waisen' bei der schrecklichen Frau Direktor Grausam-Unsäglich.
Ardagh liebt es, überall noch weitere kleine Geschichten einzubauen, die eine skurriler als die andere (wie sich beispielsweise der Theaterdirektor auf seine Rolle als Lachs in dem Stück 'Wir kleinen Fische' vorbereitete. Er verbrachte einen ganzen Monat in der Badewanne und ernährte sich ausschließlich von Wattwürmern und Ameiseneiern.). Dazu die in jeder Hinsicht spitzen Zeichnungen von David Robert: Figuren mit den spitzesten Nasen die man sich vorstellen kann, spitzen Fingern, spitzen Beinen, Ellbogen, Schulten, Füße - es ist eine wahre Freude sich beim Durchlesen diese herrlichen Bilder anzuschauen.
Harry Rowohlt hat hier sicherlich eine erstklassige Übersetzung geliefert (ich kenne das Original nicht). Wie kommt man nur auf Wörter wie 'Augenbrauenaufrauer' oder 'berühmtergeneralsförmiger Eiswürfel'? Sowas findet doch man nicht im Wäörterbuch - oder doch :-) ?
Also: Unbedingt Lesen!! show less

Everywhere these bunnies go, fun and giggles are sure to follow.

The bunnies are underway again, and it just so happens to be the same day that the panda-astronauts are launching into space. Excitement runs high as the pandas head to the rocket, give their interviews, and board...well, almost board the rocket. The bunnies have arrived and beat the pandas to the ladder and rocket's hatch. Before anyone realizes what's happening, the bunnies press the launch button, and it's off to space they show more go. With these bunnies, that means chaos and adventure pure with a big dose of silliness, too.

These bunch of bunnies always put a smile on the face, and this latest adventure isn't any different. It's the artwork which carries this read with tons of details to make gazing at each scene a delight. The bunnies are hyper-active, curious, adventurous, and full of ideas. This causes all sorts of activity with quite a bit to explore. While the bunnies handle everything with over-active-enthusiasm, this latest adventure takes a little scifi twist with adorable fantasy, and this invites to a little dreaming and imagination.

The text is kept short and lets the adventure flow forwards at a nice pace. It's written in rhyme, which flows better some times than others. It fits the age group and creates a nice read-aloud, but listeners will be captivated more by the illustrations than story. After all, that's where the humor and action is.

It's another fun book for patient and reluctant listeners alike. show less

Chaos and silliness hit with adorable bunnies and tons of energy.

The streets of Sunny Town are definitely not safe, not when the bunnies are on the bus. Each one is a ball of energy, and there are quite a few of them on the journey to the train. The bus zips down the road, swerving, speeding, and causing all sorts of trouble and near mishaps. When the bus finally stops and the bunnies get off, the town can release a sigh of relief. But that was only the first leg of the journey. Next, comes show more the train, and no one knows what chaos will ensue now.

This is a book with the sole purpose to bring giggles and create smiles. These bunnies are very excited and can't sit still. But they aren't mean in any way. It's the bus driver, racing through the streets and creating all sorts of near misses, which is causing the biggest issue. It's hard not to gasp and giggle with wide eyes at every turn of the page.

The rhyme flows almost like a children's song, making it a lovely read-aloud, which with a few readings, will have young listeners joining in themselves. The illustrations are what creates the silliness, though. These hold many details, which invites readers to flip through them and search every scene again and again. show less

After my negative response to Philip Ardagh's North American Myths & Legends - another entry in his eight-book World Book Myths & Legends Series - I was pretty sure that this title devoted to the myths and legends of South America would also prove unsatisfactory. Still, I don't come across that many collections of South American folklore, so I hoped that I would be proven wrong. Yes, 64 pages (40, excluding introductions and appendices) is completely insufficient to adequately introduce the show more traditions of an entire continent, but I knew that this would be a limited anthology going in. The selections themselves are engaging, although Ardagh - as with all his other titles in the series - does not specify his sources. The tales include:

How the Stars Came, a Bororo tale in which a group of naughty children escape their elders by climbing into the sky on a creeper, eventually becoming the stars...

Fire and the Jaguar, a Kayapó myth which explains how people gained fire, and how jaguar lost it...

A World of Endless Skies, a Carajá story about how humans came to live on top of the earth, rather than underneath it...

Earth, Fire, and Flood, a Tupinambá flood myth, in which the vengeful god Monan destroys his creation with fire, save for one man, and then sends the rains to heal the world...

The Inca - Chosen People of the Sun, which follows the story of the founding of the Inca Empire, through the leadership of four brothers and four sisters: Ayar Manco, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Auca, Ayar Uchu, Mama Ocllo, Mama Raua, Mama Huaco, and Mama Cora. Assuming that this tale is an authentic Inca tale, it certainly demonstrates that the human impulse to conquer other peoples and steal their land is widespread: "The Inca are the chosen people of the Sun. They need this land to grow their crops. Those already here must be made to give it up to them."

The Voyage of the Poppykettle, another Inca tale, concerning seven gnomes who flee the Spanish conquerors, aided by the agents of El Nino.

And finally, Asare and the Alligators, a Sherente myth concerning seven brothers, whose adventures help shape the world...

I was rather surprised, after Ardagh's laudable decision in North American Myths & Legends to include tales from Native, European, and African-American traditions, that this collection of tales from South America was exclusively devoted to the indigenous traditions of the continent. Surely one or two tales of Spanish or Portuguese origin would have been appropriate in an anthology meant to represent a continent so heavily influenced (for both good and ill) by Spanish or Portuguese culture? What about the tales that Africans brought to South America as slaves? I've come to the conclusion that these continent-wide anthologies are inherently flawed, but it still strikes me as odd that Ardagh's approach would have been so much more inclusive for North America, than it was for South America. show less