Argyle - Hardcover

Barbara Wallace is the author of many books for young people, including Ghosts in the Gallery, which was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

John Sandford has illustrated numerous books, including Down Buttermilk Lane by Barbara Mitchell, published by Boyds Mills Press. He lives in Grand Haven, Michigan.

Kindergarten-Grade 3 A sheep named Argyle is appropriately featured in this comic-satiric fable about the blessing of anonymity and the pitfalls of fame. Argyle finds comfort in belonging but also requires time away from the flock. After devouring some delicious flowers, Argyle is magically transformed into a colorful, striped sheep. His enterprising owners use his unique fleece to not only create Scotland's first pair of plaid socks, but also to establish a prosperous business. But fame is fleeting. Deprived of the enchanted flowers, a miserable Argyle loses not only his colors, but his fickle following, too. He happily returns to the comforts of the fold. Sandford is an illustrator to watch. Bold greens and blues that reflect the Scottish countryside dominate the primitive and expressionist style chalk drawings that exhibit a skillful handling of perspective and pattern. And jokes abound for the keen-eyed. The book has the brevity, simple style, and layered meanings of the classic fables, but there's no celebration of peasant virtues here. The McDougals are rewarded financially for their exploitation of the sheep, whose suffering goes unrequited. At its most sophisticated, this is a clever and original commentary on capitalism. All told, a natural for reading aloud. Julie Corsaro, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.