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Thing-Thing was neither a Teddy bear nor a rabbit; not a stuffed dog or cat. It was something like each of those, and nothing at all you could name. But it had something special. It had the hope that one day it would find a child to love it and talk to it and make it tea parties and take it to bed. A child it could love back.
Certainly Archibald Crimp was not that child. He had just thrown Thing-Thing out the open sixth-floor window of the Excelsior Hotel.
Oh, dear, thought Thing-Thing to itself. This is bad, this is very bad.
Cary Fagan and Nicolas Debon have created a story so rich in words and images that, despite taking place in a matter of seconds, Thing-Thing will be remembered as vividly as a child’s favorite toy....
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Young Randolph has two favorite pastimes — hockey and collecting. He collects both the ordinary (beer bottle caps) and the esoteric (new words). After his father loses his job, Randolph is horrified to learn the family must take in Mr. Karp, a boarder. Even worse, Mr. Karp is a collector too. He receives large wooden crates marked “Fragile” and “Perishable” and subscribes to a curious newsletter called The Drip. As it happens, Mr. Karp collects water — he keeps samples in glass containers, each carefully labeled: "Pitcher used by Benito Mussolini to throw water in face of army private during tantrum, 1941." Randolph is astonished to learn there are many other water collectors, with websites, conventions, and a central association that oversees the authenticity of samples. This hobby, Randolph discovers, is so cut-throat that Mr. Karp will do anything to beat out a rival named Mr. Ravelson for a unique sample of melted snow taken from the upturned hat of Napoleon during the Russian Campaign. What will happen if Mr. Karp doesn’t get his precious sample? Even Randolph is surprised at the consequences! Fagan’s wonderfully whimsical prose and Selçuk Demirel’s breezy line drawings make Mr. Karp's Last Glass — now in paperback — an unforgettable read. ...
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The synagogue was once a busy, bustling place, but now only ten old men come to tend it and pray each day. Then one day, a little scritch-scratch betrays the first new member in years: a tiny mouse who has taken up residence among the holy books. Of course, a trap must be set, but who will do it? Al volunteers, but in the morning the mouse is still there, and is just a little more appealing than he was before.
Day after day, the men become more engaged, until the mouse has a bed, pictures on the wall, and a little carpet, not to mention all the treats the men bring. Then comes the biggest surprise of all. He is a she, giving the ten old men reason to celebrate with peach schnapps — and to plan a trip to the country where they find the perfect place to release their numerous charges. Back at the synagogue, fall turns to winter. The ten old men miss their mice until a little scritch-scratch….
Full of gentle humor and witty truisms, Cary Fagan’s Ten Old Men and a Mouse will delight both the young and old. Illustrations by Gary Clement heighten the fun....
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