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Title: The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by Lane Smith, George Saunders ISBN: 0-375-50383-8 Publisher: Villard Pub. Date: 15 August, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (30 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Very Persistent Story
Comment: This book is glorious. I find myself pondering passages at the oddest of times. I've read it aloud to my high school students and to friends over dinner. Saunders's prose is of the highest quality, witty, and exceedingly intelligent. Smith's illustrations are evocative and magical. This world of Frip, with its goats and its gappers and its three leaning shacks by the sea is a wonderful place to explore.
The thinness of the book is deceptive. I have read it literally dozens of times at this point and always delight in some turn of phrase that I didn't fully appreciate before. The images are rich and multi-layered and just as much fun over which to pour.
And then there is the lesson of the story. Never preachy, never saccharine. Though I suppose there are several messages from which you can take your pick. Ask for help when you need it. Don't believe the party line. Be kind to people, even when they don't really enjoy it. And love something that will love you back. No matter what the age of the reader, everyone needs to be reminded of those things sometimes.
I would recommend this book to children and adults who are not boxed in by what they think adults whould read. Too many grown ups are scared of books with pictures. Read this aloud to friends and family and to yourself.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Very Persistent Excellent Read
Comment: My sister gave me this book recently as a birthday present. Immediately I was struck by the bold, yet somewhat disturbing illustrations (the voodoo doll) that accompanied Saunders slight moral tale.
"The Very Persistent Gapper of Frip" tells the tale of the extremely small town of Frip, three families to be exact, who make their living raising goats and protecting their beloved economy from the gappers - bright orange shrieking creatures who love goats. If left to their own devices, the gappers will completely cover a goat and soon he will stop giving milk, therefore putting a halt to any sort of income for the three families. The children of the three families are responsible for brushing the numerous gappers from their goats at any given time of the day. The less-than-bright gappers settle their sights on the main character, Capable's goats. She has lost her mother and her father refuses to change (or to eat anything that isn't white) and so she is left alone to handle all the gappers of Frip since her neighbors believe her to be cursed. Seemingly alone, Capable must teach herself, her father, and her neighbors the true meaning of community (as well as how to overcome the persistent gappers).
"The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip," is a delightful and quick read even if it has a somewhat apparent purpose and moral. The illustrations by Lane Smith truly elevate this slight tale to an instant classic.
Rating: 3
Summary: Silly, fun, wonderfully illustrated.
Comment: George Saunders, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (Villard, 2000)
Saunders (Pastoralia) and illustrator Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man, James and the Giant Peach) team up to deliver this cautionary tale about helping your neighbors out of a jam. And while the story wears its moral far too plain on its face, the story itself, and the wonderfully twisted illustrations that accompany it, make it worth a read.
Capable and her father live in the very small town of Frip. It's so small, in fact, it only has three houses. Frip's whole economy is based on goat's milk. Which is all well and good, except for these odd little amphibians called gappers, who love goats, and shriek with joy when they see a goat. The shrieking makes the goats nervous, and causes them to stop giving milk. So life in Frip is a constant battle of keeping the gappers away from the goats.
Things get nasty when the gappers realize that Capable's house is the closest to the sea, and so they should all lavish their affections on Capable's herd. Which makes her neighbors very happy, since their goats are no longer plagued. They refuse to help her with her gappers, and thus the conflict at the center of the book is born.
This is exceptionally fun stuff. Perhaps having the Lane Smith illustrations put me more in mind of the late Roald Dahl than I otherwise would have been, but there is certainly a Dahl-esque feeling to Saunders' writing. Dahl was usually better at concealing his morals within the context of his stories (overly-moralizing oompah-loompahs excepted, of course), and so I have a hard time ranking Saunders with the best of Dahl's work. But it is a fine thing, and quite worth your time. ***
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Title: Half Magic by Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker ISBN: 0152020683 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 31 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: Civilwarland in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella by George Saunders ISBN: 1573225797 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: February, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Pastoralia: Stories by George Saunders ISBN: 1573228729 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith ISBN: 0670035696 Publisher: Viking Childrens Books Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: The Age of Wire and String: Stories by Ben Marcus ISBN: 1564781968 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Pr Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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