Hey, Al

Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski - who had previously teamed up on Sid and Sol, Louis the Fish and It Happened in Pinsk - here deliver a fascinating (and very entertaining!) picture-book examination of the idea that sometimes the grass isn't greener on the other side, and that the things for which we long - things that seem to make life easier - aren't all they're cracked up to be. When janitor Al and his dog Eddie, fed up with living in a tiny one-room apartment on New York City's West Side, are offered the opportunity to live on a tropical island in the sky, they jump at the chance. Well, mostly it's Eddie who jumps. What the colorful bird who makes the offer doesn't mention, however, is that this paradise comes with a rather high show more price-tag, in the form of a fundamental change in who Al and Eddie are...

Like Louis the Fish, the only other book by this team that I have (thus far!) read, Hey, Al is surreally entertaining, with plenty of Kafkaesque transformation occurring or almost occurring. The illustrations won Egielski a Caldecott Medal, and its not difficult to see why! Simply gorgeous, they vividly capture the reality of both Al and Eddie's dingy apartment, and the floating island. I enjoyed the story here, I loved the artwork, and I really appreciated the fact that Al is a janitor (just as Louis was a butcher). Think about it... how many children's books really portray people working in everyday, non-glamorous jobs? How many show these everyday working people having rich inner lives, full of beauty and mystery? Not too many these days, I'm afraid. For that alone, Hey, Al would be worth picking up. Happily, it also has a great story, and fabulous artwork! show less

Winner of the 1987 Caldecott Medal. Al and his dog, Eddie, live in a tiny one-room apartment, and Eddie isn't happy. They're led by a large bird to a kind of paradise, but they begin to turn into birds themselves, so they escape and are happy with their old apartment. "Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found."

The art is cleverly fit into rectangles, with bits poking out at the edges. Extremely nice. There's good emotional impact when Al believes he's lost Eddie, too. An altogether very good book.

It is easy to want and wish for things you do not have. Al and his dog Eddie are no different. When a bird enters the couple's liives offering a break from daily hard-work and responsibilities, Al and Eddie jump at the opportunity. While Al is a bit hesitant at first, he soon gets use to the leisurely lifestyle. Their new lives seem like paradise, but they soon learn the grass is not always greener.
I did find the book to have a good message. However, I found the lesson to be a bit strange and underdeveloped. I would imagine children to have amany unansered questions after listening to or reading this book.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the descriptive language used by the author. “Waterfalls cascaded into shimmering pools.” The vivid language helped better create the mental image of paradise Al had longed for. I also liked the theme of the story. It goes along with the saying that sometimes the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. “Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found.” This book teaches us to stay grateful for what we do have.

Arthur Yorinks’ Hey, Al is a humorous fantasy that delivers its moral with a wink and a smile. Al the janitor and his best pal, Eddie the dog, think they have escaped their hum-drum reality when they fly away with a huge toucan-like bird to an island tropical paradise in the sky. Then again, even paradise has its pitfalls as Al and Eddie start transforming into birds. Gaining new found appreciation for their former lives, they fly home and discover that, “Paradise lost is sometimes heaven found.” Richard Egielski’s watercolor illustrations capture the humor of the text with thoughtful detail rendered in bright two page spreads for paradise, and muted one page panels for home. The fantastical birds are captivatingly realistic, show more and the images Al and Eddie in the midst of metamorphosis are hilarious. Hey, Al is a perfect picture book to read to bored and whining kids to engage them in spirited discussions of life and paradise, real and imagined. show less

This is one of these books I read years ago as a child and just remembered I read it. Recently, I came across a list of Caldecott award winners and decided to go through it, to see what I had read, and what books I might be interested in. This book was on the list and it was startling because I had not even THOUGHT of this book in 20 plus years.

It was a weird but really fun book, and the illustrations are gorgeous. The story's a little weird but it can be read in different ways. Overall a pretty solid children's book.

Janitor Al lives in one room on the West Side with his faithful dog, Eddie. He works hard; he and Eddie work together, eat together, watch television together. But Eddie says their one room is a dump; he wants a house. Life is not easy for Al and Eddie.

One day, a bird appears in the window and invites them to be his guest at an island in the sky.

At first, Al and Eddie enjoy the delightful island, populated by birds, filled with lush trees, rolling hills, gorgeous grass. Around them, birds sing. Birds bring them food. Al and Eddie decide that this is ecstasy.

And then one day they realize their eyes are a bit beady, their noses a bit beak-like. Wings and tail feathers began to sprout. Al and Eddie were turning into birds.

What will happen show more to Al and Eddie now?

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The target audience for the book is preschool through third grade, young readers ages four through eight.

Exquisitely detailed illustrations accompany the imaginative, fanciful story in this picture book, winner of the 1987 Caldecott Medal. With a combination of fantasy and reality and a sprinkling of humor, the young reader discovers, like Max in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” it’s important to appreciate what you have. It can serve as a springboard for discussing values, hard work, and gratitude.

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