I
received a hard-cover ARC copy of this book, along with its accompanying cd
consisting of the book’s text with its incidental music between chapters, from
the publisher; and the following is my honest opinion, which I’ve broken down
into several segments.
This
is the first book I’ve read which has been translated from its original German
text. The reason I’m mentioning this is that German had been my secondary major
to my primary one of Sociology. Given the intended age group for this book of 8
– 12, I figured the original German should be easy enough for me to translate,
which is what I did. When I listened to the audio for the text for the book’s
first paragraph, I found much to my delight that the translator, Matthew O.
Anderson, didn’t merely translate the book into English, he endeavored to
capture the nuances of language which the author wanted to communicate to his
readers.
I
know I could have easily read this book, however I wanted to experience the
impact having the book read to me for a change would feel like. Needless to say,
I found the experience to be quite satisfying, especially when you include the
carefully selected classical music segments heard between each segment
[chapter] which added a delightful embellishment to the entire reading experience.
Ms.
Palmtag, the book’s illustrator, has done a marvelous in pairing her
illustrations to the words of the book which further heighten the story itself.
As
for the storyline itself, you’ve got the love the coupling of the innocence
along with the love for his grandfather Max exhibited when he decided to kidnap
him out of the nursing home so he could keep his grandfather close and not lose
him. Not knowing anything about dementia Max thought he’s doing something good,
but when he saw people from the home and his mother chasing everyone; including
Ms. Schneider, another resident of the nursing home who came along for the
ride, Max knew he had to stop and give up.
If
you’ve got any doubt that this endeavor had to be a labor of love for the
author, instead of being just another children’s book, read the interview with
the author and illustrator at the end of the book. Considering all this, you
can see why I’ve given this book the 5 STARS it so richly deserves.
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