The Wizard's Tears
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A lonely wizard moves to a new town in this charming children's story by renowned American poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, now in print again for the first time in decades.
Everything is going wrong in the town of Drocknock until the new wizard arrives. He is very young, and he is lonely, and very nervous too; but he knows just where to find the right spells to stop the chicken pox epidemic and bring back the twenty cows that had disappeared. The drought is the town's most important problem, however. The new wizard needs five of his own tears to bring rain, but he is so happy in Drocknock he cannnot cry!
"Peel an onion," the old wizard advises. "But," he warns, "beware, beware...a wizard's tears are powerful. They can make strange magic.".....
The Wizard's Tears, first published in 1975, is moving and kind and funny in its intimate and modest way, yet strong and full of renewed life with stunning new illustrations from Keren Katz. Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin had been friends for several years--having met at and carpooled to a Boston poetry workshop--when they began writing books together for younger readers. The creativity and versatility required for children's books offered the two poets the opportunity to experiment and play with language in new, unexpected ways, to connect world and words with humble, powerful, childlike imagery--"not unlike writing a poem where compression acts to intensify feelings," as Maxine reckoned.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Comic fairy tales are tricky to pull off, but this one, originally published in 1975 by poets Kumin and Sexton, hits no false notes. Drought and attendant curses have beset the town of Drocknock "Twenty cows had disappeared from farmer Macadoo's pasture without a trace" and a new young wizard ("The ink was hardly dry on his diploma") is summoned to replace the old one. Fresh illustrations in brilliant golds and blues by Israeli artist Katz (The Academic Hour) create a different kind of fairy tale atmosphere. Elongated figures, clothed in elegantly patterned garments, display graceful choreography rather than antic action. The communicative value of human facial expression, usually so central to picture book artwork, takes a backseat to abstract shape and rhythm. The young wizard cures the drought and the pox but discovers that his own tears work even more powerful magic. Chaos ensues: Drocknock's inhabitants turn into frogs, chocolate cake appears for the wizard's breakfast, and the story takes a "Sorcerer's Apprentice" turn as he works out how to undo the damage. Fans of Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks will rejoice. A poignant afterword by Kumin remembers her collaboration with Sexton. Ages 5 9. (May)
