[GRQ]≫ Read Free The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 9780689837142 Books

The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 9780689837142 Books

Download As PDF : The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 9780689837142 Books

The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 9780689837142 Books

After reading A Great Good Thing, which Santa delivered to my nine-year-old daughter for Christmas, I was not surprised at all to read on the dust jacket that the author is also a poet. Townley has written an engaging tale that plays with the borders of imagination, memory, and fiction; yet the human elements and characters are solid and real. Even though the story is far-fetched, the emotions run true.

Like so many of the best children's books, this story satisfies different audiences at different levels. At one level, it is a tale of adventure and humor and friendship. At another level, it is a study in character, maturation, and personality as guides to one's path in life. It is a story of growing old and of staying young, and a story of love across the generations from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter.

The central "trick" of the A Great Good Thing is that the characters in a book are like actors who actually live out their lives in the story even when the book is closed, and that they then act out the story whenever the book is being read. Princess Sylvie, the protagonist of the story book named "A Great Good Thing," is also the protagonist of Townley's book, also called "A Great Good Thing"! The fate of the characters is thus tied to the fate of the book in which they live; when the book is forgotten or destroyed, the same fate befalls them. But the second "trick" of A Great Good Thing is that people, even fictional people, live on in one's heart and memory. Thus, this is also the story of Claire, Claire's grandmother, and Claire's daughter -- readers of Princess Sylvie's story.

So, you can sit back and enjoy this as a good children's book, full of imagination and storybook elements, suitable for ages 8 - 14. But readers of any age can also enjoy the depth and intelligence of the emotions. Townley's book may not be the greatest book ever, but it is certain a great good thing.


Tags : The Great Good Thing [Roderick Townley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Open the book and let Princess Sylvie enter your world and dreams in this imaginative, intriguing and touching fantasy for children. Sylvie is eternally twelve years old and has been a princess for more than 80 years,Roderick Townley,The Great Good Thing,Simon & Schuster Children's,0689837143,Children's stories - lcsh,Fantasy fiction - lcsh,Princesses - Juvenile fiction,Youthfulness - Juvenile fiction,Children's Teenage fiction: Fantasy & magical realism,Children's Fiction,Fantasy & magical realism (Children's Teenage),Fantasy & magical realism (Children'sYA),Interest age: from c 7 years,Juvenile Fiction Fantasy & Magic,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)

The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 9780689837142 Books Reviews

I bought this as a read-aloud based on the rapturous reviews here, and was ultimately disappointed. The premise is interesting -- the characters in a book carry on with their lives after the Reader closes the book, but as time goes on with no readers, they begin to rust and lose purpose. Sylvie, this storybook's princess, has ventured beyond the book and into her Reader's dreams, which is considered scandalous, but may ultimately save all her book's character's when the Reader dies and she must find another.

The idea is interesting and some parts were quite touching, but the plot was rather plodding and confusing, threads were left dangling, and at the end, we all just thought, hmmmm. Didn't resent the time spent on it, but none of us were enchanted either.
one of the most creative concepts for a book ever - you will always think differently about every book you read afterwards
What happens to the characters in a book when the reader closes the cover? The back-up lighting comes on, and the characters resume their regular lives. They travel through the book, but not beyond those pages... unless they can manage to remain in a reader's memory. This story has a very creative theme and the author seems to be a person who truly loves the English language.

I started reading this one aloud to my children even before I finished reading it to myself, which is something I usually don't do with chapter books. I loved the ending, but I was so glad to find that it's not the end of the story because there is a sequel!
From the opening of this book-- Sylvie lived an intresting life, but she didn't get to live it very often-- the wonderful central subject of what characters in a book do when the book is closed is clearly drawn. I do not think young readers will have any trouble with this concept-- in effect it's no different from wondering what your dolls do when they're not in the room-- and older readers will appreciate the many layers of the book, and the somewhat melancholy depiction of how fast life goes by and how quickly the various Readers age and die, in the "real world." and yet the story is eternal!
I enjoyed this book as a fantasy about Sylvie and her longing for adventure-- I enjoyed the details of having to scramble back into page 3, the rules about not looking UP at the reader, the way the "stage lights" come on when the book is abruptly closed-- the characters who want to behave out of character (the courtly thief, who is far more polite and helpful than he's supposed to be)-- and then, as in the best fantasy, I enjoyed the profound mythic impulse behind it. Claire, the Reader Sylvie first encountered, is desperately trying to save her grandmother. She reopens the book to read it to her grandmother, who was once the "girl with blue eyes" who was the First Reader.
But the exploration of worlds within worlds doesn't stop there. Claire's grandmother does die, but she reappears in Sylvie's world-- beyond the eastern forest-- as the girl with blue eyes. It turns out that beyond the margins of the book is the world of Claire's dreams, and many more characters appear there.
To reveal more would be to lessen the fun for you Readers out there. But I will say finally that the book explores what story means to us, how we see our own realities, how we use stories to connect with our families, and even what it means to Create.
I expected a fun romp with one little gimmick, I got instead a work of philsophy expressed through humor, dialogue and fairy tale-- almost in the tradition of The Little Prince.
Not to be missed by any Reader, of any age.
After reading A Great Good Thing, which Santa delivered to my nine-year-old daughter for Christmas, I was not surprised at all to read on the dust jacket that the author is also a poet. Townley has written an engaging tale that plays with the borders of imagination, memory, and fiction; yet the human elements and characters are solid and real. Even though the story is far-fetched, the emotions run true.

Like so many of the best children's books, this story satisfies different audiences at different levels. At one level, it is a tale of adventure and humor and friendship. At another level, it is a study in character, maturation, and personality as guides to one's path in life. It is a story of growing old and of staying young, and a story of love across the generations from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter.

The central "trick" of the A Great Good Thing is that the characters in a book are like actors who actually live out their lives in the story even when the book is closed, and that they then act out the story whenever the book is being read. Princess Sylvie, the protagonist of the story book named "A Great Good Thing," is also the protagonist of Townley's book, also called "A Great Good Thing"! The fate of the characters is thus tied to the fate of the book in which they live; when the book is forgotten or destroyed, the same fate befalls them. But the second "trick" of A Great Good Thing is that people, even fictional people, live on in one's heart and memory. Thus, this is also the story of Claire, Claire's grandmother, and Claire's daughter -- readers of Princess Sylvie's story.

So, you can sit back and enjoy this as a good children's book, full of imagination and storybook elements, suitable for ages 8 - 14. But readers of any age can also enjoy the depth and intelligence of the emotions. Townley's book may not be the greatest book ever, but it is certain a great good thing.