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Summary
Summary
The wizard, watchful, waits alone within his tower of cold gray stone and ponders in his wicked way what evil deeds he'll do this day.
What do you think the wizard is planning to do? Conjure a magic spell? Turn a frog into a flea? Fill a cauldron with bubbling brew?
You may think you know . . . but watch out. Because if the wizard is bored, he may come looking for you!
Author Notes
Jack Prelutsky, born on September 8, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, is primarily known as a poet for children but he is also a gifted musician, actor, photographer, sculptor and potter. Prelutsky studied at Hunter College for two years. He proposed to his future wife, Carolynn, on the day they met; she accepted the next day.
While growing up in Brooklyn, Prelutsky studied voice at The High School of Music and Art in New York and first planned to be an opera singer. However, he decided he did not have the drive to sing opera, and he became a folk singer. Later he tried his hand at drawing. For fun, he wrote some short poems and made some drawings, which became his first publication. He has since published numerous books of illustrated poetry and also provided illustrations for books by other writers, including many in translation.
Prelutsky never condescends to his young readers. He deals in verse with many imaginative creatures, but he also writes about people and problems such bullies, school, and fear of the dark. He is aware of the sound of his words and likes to perform his poetry to the accompaniment of the guitar. He visits schools and libraries to perform his work.
Jack Prelutsky is the recipient of numerous awards. In 1977 The Children's Book Council honored him for Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep. His other award-winners are The Mean Old Mean Hyena, The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight, and The New Kid on the Block. In 2006, the Poetry Foundation named Prelutsky the inaugural winner of the Children's Poet Laureate award. His book Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems (illustrated by Carin Berger) won the 2007 Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award of the Washington State Book Awards in the Picture Book category.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-A creepy tower looms at the end of an ordinary neighborhood street; inside, a wicked and bored wizard is pondering "what evil deeds he'll do this day." He amuses himself by turning a bullfrog into a flea, which turns into two mice "that dive into a bubbling brew/emerging as one cockatoo." He continues his circular transforming spells until at last the bullfrog appears. The poem, adapted from "The Wizard" in Prelutsky's Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (HarperCollins, 1976), ends with a sinister warning: "He may pluck someone off the spot/and turn him into-who knows what?" Just whom he spots from his tower window is revealed through Dorman's vivid illustration: an unfortunate skateboarding kid who is zapped into a lizard. The digitally created spreads are spectacular, featuring a variety of perspectives from a close-up of the wizard's disgusting fingernails to a panoramic view from the tower. Readers will be fascinated by the rich details-the peculiar items on the shelves and in the rest of the wicked wizard's abode. There is much about this book for kids to love.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
On a seemingly normal suburban cul-de-sac, one house is definitely out of character-the looming tower that's home to the title character. Dressed in a green robe and peaked hat decorated with stars and moons, "He's tall and thin with wrinkled skin," writes Prelutsky, "a tangled beard hangs from his chin." (The verse originally appeared in the 1976 collection Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep.) As he "ponders in his wicked way/ what evil deed he'll do this day," the wizard decides to gives his powers a workout on a hapless frog. The poor amphibian is transformed into a flea, a pair of mice, a cockatoo, a piece of chalk and silver bell before being returned to his original shape. Mightily pleased with himself, the wizard gazes down upon the children playing in the street below and debates his next move: "He may pluck someone off the spot/ and turn him into... who knows what?" The poem isn't one of Prelutsky's most memorable works, but it is pretext enough for an impressive picture book by Dorman. The illustrator's digital artwork has all the burnished lushness and radiance of oil paintings. Whether immersing readers in the delicious gloominess of the wizard's workroom or zooming in for a close-up of the enchanter's knobby fingers and menacing nails, Dorman proves his mettle as a marvelous visual storyteller. Ages 5-10. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Lit with a greenish glow, elaborately detailed digital paintings give a properly eerie setting to this shortened version of a poem originally published in Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976). In a book-strewn workroom atop a stone tower that looms crookedly over an otherwise ordinary modern suburban neighborhood, a Saruman-ish wizard with long black nails idly transforms a passing bullfrog into a flea, a pair of mice, a cockatoo and other shapes. Then he leans out of his window to select his next victim (maybe you) from among the ant-like figures on the street below. Closing with a ground-level view of a surprised-looking chameleon clinging to a skateboard and the suggestion that "Should you encounter a toad or lizard, look closely . . . / it may be the work of a wizard," Dorman's debut makes an atmospheric opener for any magic-themed storytime. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In a spooky tower on a cozy suburban cul-de-sac lives a wizard pondering evil deeds. He uses elemental sorcery to turn a bullfrog into a flea, which becomes a pair of mice, which emerge as a cockatoo, and so on, until the wizard brings back the frog and banishes it. Contemplating his next trick, the magician peers from his tower window to the street below, where children play: He may pluck someone off the spot / and turn them into . . . who knows what? Prelutsky's rhyming text, adapted from a poem originally published in Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976), combines well with Dorman's sumptuous, full-page digital art, featuring a grandfatherly wizard tall and thin with wrinkled skin, a tangled beard hangs from his chin. Children will particularly like the way the wizard's spells glow and splash across the pages, and the creepy feeling that evil may lurk even on their own street. Consider this somewhat eerie, but not over-the-top scary.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2007 Booklist
