The eyes & the impossible

Title:

Author:

Eggers, Dave, author, illustrator.

Personal Author:

Eggers, Dave, author, illustrator.

ISBN:

9781524764203

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

249 pages : color illustrations ; 21 cm

Abstract:

Free dog Johannes' job is to observe everything that happens in his urban park and report back to the park's three bison elders, but changes are afoot, including more humans, a new building, a boatload of goats, and a shocking revelation that changes his view of the world.

Reading Level:

Ages 8-12. Alfred A. Knopf.

Grades 4-6. Alfred A. Knopf.

Subject Term:

Dogs -- Fiction.

Animals -- Fiction.

Parks -- Fiction.

City and town life -- Fiction.

Friendship -- Fiction.

Dogs -- Juvenile fiction.

Animals -- Juvenile fiction.

Parks -- Juvenile fiction.

City and town life -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Animal fiction.

Novels.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Belmont	Book	JUV FICTION EGGERS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Main Library	Book	JUV FICTION EGGERS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... West End	Book	JUV FICTION EGGERS	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER * #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An enthralling middle-grade novel by award-winning author Dave Eggers, told from the perspective of one uniquely endearing dog-- featuring beautiful color artwork with illustrations by Caldecott honoree Shawn Harris.

"Johannes is a highly engaging narrator whose exuberance and good nature run like a bright thread through the novel's pages." -- The New York Times

Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes--to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park's elders, three ancient Bison. His friends--a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican--work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the Equilibrium is in balance.

But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats--an actual boatload of goats--who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes's view of the world.

A story about friendship, beauty, liberation, and running very, very fast, The Eyes & the Impossible will make readers of all ages see the world around them in a wholly new way.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

A wild dog who serves as the Eyes for Bison living in a park enclosure devises a plan to free them. Exuberant, observant dog Johannes runs daily throughout the park, which is visited by humans, reporting to Freya, Meredith, and Samuel, three old Bison who are the Keepers of the Equilibrium. Johannes and other Assistant Eyes--a sea gull, a squirrel, a pelican, and a raccoon--describe an art museum being built in the park, a "building full of chaos-rectangles." Johannes finds it captivating, leading to his capture by humans--and subsequent rescue by the other Eyes in a demonstration of interspecies cooperation. This gives him the idea to free the Bison. The appearance of goats, who have been brought in to eat weeds, provides a friend, a revelation, and a new plan and purpose: "to pull off the impossible." Johannes' first-person narration is an interesting mix of poetic language, sophisticated vocabulary, philosophy, humor, hyperbole, and both short declarative and run-on sentences; his estimations of time, size, and quantity are particularly exaggerated. Johannes' loyalty, friendship, and commitment to a noble purpose, even as his sense of self shifts, the stakes are raised, and last-minute changes to the plan occur, make him an admirable character. The artwork consists of double-page spreads reproducing magnificent fine art landscapes into which Harris has seamlessly inserted Johannes, cleverly adapting to each painter's style and color palette. One remarkable creature vividly shows readers that "there is so, so much to see." (author's note, sources) (Fiction. 9-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.