Availability:
Library | Call Number | Format | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Abington Public Library | BEC | J BOOK LOCAL HOLDS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Avon Public Library | E BECKER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Braintree Thayer Public Library | BEC | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Canton Public Library | FIC BECKER E | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Cohasset Paul Pratt Memorial Library | BECKER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hingham Public Library | BEC | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Marshfield Ventress Memorial Library | BECKER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Milton Public Library | ON ORDER | J ON ORDER ITEM LOCAL HOLDS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Plymouth Public Library | BEC | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Rockland Memorial Library | BEC | J NEW BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Scituate Town Library | BEC | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Walpole Public Library | J PIC BECKER | J BOOK LOCAL HOLDS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Weymouth Tufts Library | ON ORDER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A master of the wordless form imagines a futuristic Noah's Ark in a luminous sci-fi parable for our changing world.
The Earth has flooded. The only signs of humankind are the waterlogged structures they left behind. Peeking out from the deluge are the remnants of a zoo, home to rare and endangered animals, survivors of long neglect. Tender-hearted NOA is a construction robot who's found new purpose as the caretaker of the zoo's beleaguered inhabitants. Bracing for the next storm, NOA builds an ark from the wreckage in search of new land and a new home, only to discover something even more profound. With boundless compassion and sweeping scenes of sea and sky punctuated by detailed wordless panels to pore over, Caldecott Honor-winning creator Aaron Becker delivers a timely and concrete message about the rewards of caring in even the most difficult of times that is sure to inspire the dreamers among us.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This beguiling ark story, splendidly drafted in wordless spreads, stars a robot zookeeper who combines the spare-parts body of Wall-E with the gentle bearing of Amos McGee. The enormous robot dwarfs the toylike giraffes, pandas, tigers, and other charismatic megafauna that it cares for in a postapocalyptic landscape of half-submerged architectural gems, and it makes model sailboats after a long day of labor. When rain begins to fall and the sea rises further, the robot gathers the animals and executes a large-scale idea. Usable wreckage, the robot's fascination with boatbuilding, and its own built-in tools produce a magnificent sloop capable of carrying the whole menagerie to safety--until a massive storm strikes at sea. While the place where the ship grounds is desolate, the unexpected appearance of a new friend changes everything. An epigraph from Jane Goodall makes the story's conservation message clear, but Becker (The Tree and the River) avoids polemics in favor of worldbuilding that suggests the need for early action, underscores the power of practical measures, and holds out the promise of hope. Ages 5--9. (Mar.)
Booklist Review
In another visionary wordless picture book by multiple award-winning author-illustrator Becker, an endearing, gigantic, yellow-bodied robot wearing a quiver of wind turbines tends to the feeding of zoo animals; as rising waters turn their habitats into increasingly smaller islands, the resourceful robot fashions an enormous vessel from salvaged flotsam. Vast skies turn from rosy dawns to star-scattered nights as the boat sets off carrying its cargo of rescued animals, but a thrashing storm leaves it wrecked on a sandbank. Fortunately, another enormous robot--purple and sporting a solar panel on its back--arrives in a hot air balloon to offer friendly assistance. The new partners sail skyward with their animal charges toward a new island home. Compelling environmental references are both dramatic (the shifting splendor of skies and seas in spreads of magnificent watercolor washes) and specific (the ecology symbols painted on the robots' bellies and the yellow robot's ever-present flamingo friends.) In this gentle postapocalyptic fable, presented through scenes both breathtaking and charmingly inventive, an ingenious and courageous struggle for survival yields a tender and hopeful ending.