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Tibet Through
the Red Box
Full-color
illustrations by the author
Ages 10 up / 64
pages
ISBN: 0-374-37552-6
/ $25.00
Frances Foster Books
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Caldecott Honor
Book
ALA Notable Book
Boston Globe -- Horn Book Award,
Special Citation
"The
Red Box is now yours," his father's letter
said.
For
most of his childhood, the old lacquered box
had been beyond his reach in his father's study.
Now he was being summoned home to discover its
carefully guarded secrets.
Opening
the red box, Peter Sís finds the diary
his father kept when he was lost in Tibet in
the mid-1950s. As he turns the brittle pages,
covered with faded handwriting and fine drawings,
and examines the small treasures that were hidden
with the diary, Sís becomes the accidental
traveler trekking through Tibet. At the same
time he remembers the small boy who longed for
his father to come back and recalls the fantastic
stories his father told him on his return --
stories that seemed more like fairy tales than
real life. Bit by bit, the mystery of his father's
journey is revealed; in reliving it, Sís
finds the man who had been taken from him many
years before and the magical place that held
him hostage.
In
this very personal book, Peter Sís has
given us a kaleidoscopic fusion of truth, dreams,
and memory. It is an unforgettable work of rare
imagination.
Reviews:
"This
is not a book that's easy to describe. Each
element folds into the other and blends, then
changing shape, like a kaleidoscope. Impeccably
designed and beautifully made, the book has
a dreamlike quality that will keep readers of
many ages coming back to find more in its pages."
--Booklist
"A
gauzy, translucent jacket printed with a faint,
seductive map covers a full-color painting of
a maze with a mountainous city at its heart.
An apt invitation indeed to this mystical, mysterious
picture book, which tells of the artist's father's
journey to Tibet in the 1950's, the stories
he told upon his return, and the adult Peter's
response to his father's diaries of the trip."
--Horn Book
"The
luminous colors of the artwork, the panoramas
of Tibetan topography and the meticulous intermingling
of captivating details and the mystical aspects
of Tibetan culture make this an extraordinary
volume that will appeal to readers of all ages."
--Publishers Weekly
"Adults
will see the book as a way to introduce children
to the geography, culture, and religion of Tibet.
Attentive young people will be drawn to puzzle
out the meaning of the stories and pictures.
Art-conscious readers of all ages will appreciate
the author's groundbreaking, creative use of
the picture-book format in ways that challenge
both eye and mind."
--School Library Journal
"Priceless,
extraordinary work. I had no idea there was
such an exquisite thing as this that existed
on earth." --Robert Thurman, author of
Inner Revolution
"A
book full of miracles. My eight-year-old son
and I read it together and I cannot say who
liked it more. We were both riveted and astonished,
eagerly turning page after page with increasing
admiration. Tibet came pouring off the pages
at us, a cascade of color, magic and mystery
that ran straight to our hearts. 'Let's
read it again, Daddy,' my son cried when
we finished. This is a book we'll be reading
together for a long time, and one I hope he
will read with his own children all the more."
--Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Thoughts Without
a Thinker
For more
information, visit
www.petersistibet.com
Copyright © 2002-2004
Peter Sís
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