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Summary
Summary
Avon the snail has never had an adventure. And adventure, he has heard, is the key to a happy life. So with his new friend Edward the ant, Avon sets out on a journey to find the excitement his life has been missing.
The travelers meet all manner of wise, weird, and intriguing creatures--including a dragon!--and it's not long before their adventures begin.
In the tradition of such classics as The Little Prince , Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , and Winnie-the-Pooh , this completely original story--a modern fable for our time--brims with wit, wisdom, and profound insights about the meaning of things . . . great and small.
Author Notes
Avi was born in 1937, in the city of New York and raised in Brooklyn. He began his writing career as a playwright, and didn't start writing childrens books until he had kids of his own.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Newbery medalist Avi (Crispin) returns to animal fantasy with this gently humorous tale about two travelers in search of excitement, an earlier version of which appeared as a beginning reader (Snail Tale: The Adventures of a Rather Small Snail, 1972). Avon the snail wants adventures like the characters he reads about in books. He sets aside caution and heads out, immediately meeting Edward, a cocksure ant who has (mostly wrong) answers for all of Avon's worries. Avi's droll wit spices the rather quiet journey, as when Edward goes to formally greet his new friend: "When he realized Avon did not have hands, he shook one of his own. `Pleased to meet you,' he said." Careful listeners will figure out the travelers' trip consists of the length of a long branch and will enjoy being in the know when Avon and Edward clearly aren't. What qualifies as excitement for this pair may not raise goose bumps on anybody else's skin-they mistake a mouse for a dragon ("good dragons disguise themselves as nice creatures, and bad dragons as nasty ones," Ant explains), and must "battle" an oncoming snail in order to pass one another on the narrow branch. But the bite-size chapters and the clever repartee make this a charming tale, and the occasional, slightly anthropomorphized pencil illustrations show Avon and Edward to be the friendliest of creatures. All ages. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Setting out to seek adventure, Avon the snail and Edward the ant encounter other creatures and gently philosophize about life as they head toward the end of a tree branch+or is it the beginning of the sky? Though at times self-consciously clever, the two friends' repartee has engaging warmth, which is enhanced by Tusa's delicate black-and-white sketches. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 2-4. Avon the Snail is a reader, so he knows that everyone leaves on a journey to find adventure. When he laves on his quest, he takes along Edward the Ant, and the friends find a dragon (in disguise, of course) as they travel from here to there, and discover that the end of the branch they are on is the beginning of the sky. With Tusa's occasional, expressive pencil drawings, this small chapter book seems part warm Frog-and-Toad-type friendship tale and part gentle farce. Young grade-schoolers will enjoy the slapstick with the small creatures; older ones will have fun with the wordplay (Father is stuck at home writing about fast food for Readers Digestion) and the situations (in a letter to his friend Avon writes about what he's doing--writing to his friend). Best of all is the fun with the heroic quest of leaving home to find home. A story that begs to be read aloud; even kindergartners will enjoy it. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2004 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3 Up-A charming modern fable. Avon the snail's voracious reading convinces him that having an adventure is the key to a happy life so he sets out on a journey with his new friend, Edward the ant. In a series of very short chapters, the two travel-at a snail's pace-the length of a branch, meeting another snail, a caterpillar, a worm, a cricket, a salamander, and a mouse (whom Edward and Avon are sure is a dragon in disguise). Many insights unfold: "here" and "there" are not much different; while getting lost is easy, it's finding one's self that's hard; whether rushing or going slowly, one still arrives; and it is important to look at the world with one's heart and not just with one's eyes. The book is full of plays on "beginning" and "end." Until Avon and Edward help the worm, he is unsure which is his front and which is his back, and is doomed to a life without end. When they reach the end of the branch, are they actually at the end of the sky and the beginning of the branch? Avon and Edward turn around and head back, coming to a house that looks magically like Avon's own. The friends decide to live together in this magic castle. And so, true to the book's title, the beginning of their friendship ends. Whimsical pen-and-ink sketches add much to this wise little book. It's perfect for reading and discussing.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Avon, a snail whose reading tastes run to adventure, longs for a real journey of his own. Setting out, he promptly meets his neighbor, an ant named Edward, who offers to accompany Snail on the expedition. Readers who remember the way that Mole sets out with Ratty, or the way Bilbo Baggins leaves home, or even those who remember their first adventures in the neighborhood will recognize these two for small creatures with large spirits. Their friendship is complicated by the little differences that friends discover--and cemented by shared interpretations of the bit of the world they encounter. Though they only reach the end of the branch, they meet some interesting fellow creatures, and their world grows immeasurably bigger, as many explorers and adventurers before them have discovered. Avi has reworked material from his Snail Tale (Pantheon, 1972), and the results have a charming gravity and affectionate tone. The compact, simple text is readable in a large font with great spacing; the small trim size and Tusa's graceful, whimsical black-and-white drawings suit the contents perfectly. (Fiction. 4-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter oneIn Which the Adventure Beginsavon, a rather small snail, read a book every day. He loved to read because books told him all about the things that creatures did when they went on adventures. Now, Avon had noticed that when creatures finished their adventures, and when the stories ended, the creatures were always happy. Because Avon had never had an adventure of his own, the more he read, the sadder he became. It was absolutely necessary, he decided, to have adventures for himself. Only then would he be happy. He sighed. No adventures will ever come my way. A newt who was passing by overheard Avons words. Nay, lad, dont say such things. But dont you see, said Avon, close to tears, the most important thing in the world is having adventures. Not only have I not had any, I dont think I ever will. And if I dont have adventureslike the ones Ive read about in these booksIm bound to be unhappy forever. Then go out and seek some adventures, said the newt. I dont know how, Avon said. Remember, lad, said the newt, if its going to be tomorrow, it might as well be today. And if it is today, it could have been yesterday. If it was yesterday, then youre over and done with it, and can write your own book. Think about that. Avon thought about it for a long moment, and then he said right out loud, Yes, I will do it. Yesterday for sure!Text copyright © 2004 by AviIllustrations copyright © 2004 by Tricia TusaAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be submitted online at www.harcourt.com/contact or mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Excerpted from The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant) by Avi All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
