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For Jack, life is tough at the Opportunities School for Orphans and Foundlings, where he has to avoid trouble with the wrathful Schoolmaster Bane and Edwin, the school bully. But when he turns twelve, trouble finds him. Apprenticed to a bookkeeper, he believes he has the job of his dreams. He loves the idea of taking care of books. What could be better for a boy whose most treasured possession is a grubby, torn dictionary that he received from the Benevolent Ladies Auxiliary one year for Christmas? But when Jack learns that bookkeeping does not involve keeping books safe, he realizes he cannot stay. Traveling to the market town of Aberbog, the he becomes an ideas peddler, selling whims, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions, and fancies, eventually winning the town's heart. Will Jack settle down in Aberbog or continue his hardscrabble life on the road? Bruno St. Aubin's illustrations vividly capture the strong personalities drawn by the gifted and acclaimed author Sarah Ellis.
About the author
SARAH ELLIS is a celebrated author, teacher and children's literature expert. She has written more than twenty books across the genres, and her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Japanese. She has won the Governor General's Literary Award (
Pick-Up Sticks) and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (
Odd Man Out). Sarah is a masthead reviewer for the Horn Book Magazine, and she is a former faculty member of Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Summary
Winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award
For young Jack, life is tough at the Opportunities School for Orphans. But Jack is good at staying out of trouble. He has skipped over trouble, danced around trouble, slid under trouble, melted away from trouble, talked his way out of trouble and slipped between two close troubles like a cat through a picket fence.
When Jack turns twelve, he is given the biggest opportunity of all, but suddenly his life is nothing but trouble. Still, he is a clever and resilient boy, and eventually he makes his way into the big world. Jack is rich in ideas, and soon he finds there is a place for an enterprising boy who has whims, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions and fancies to spare.
In the tradition of Natalie Babbitt, Sarah Ellis brings her quirky sense of humor and imagination to bear in this witty, warm fable. Bruno St-Aubin's evocative black-and-white illustrations capture perfectly the dreadful Schoolmaster Bane, the crowlike accountant Mr. Ledger, Lou the skinny bun merchant, and Christabel, the miller's little daughter.
