Overview

When a sailor can't bear life on ship any more, he jumps overboard and swims to a big barren rock. There he cares for a half-drowned cockerel and plants rice, hiding away when a boat arrives. The sailors are amazed to see rice growing and keep coming back, leaving plants and game-birds, until the island bursts with tropical fruit and wildlife. But soon the Queen of Portugal hears about it and demands to meet the person responsible.

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9781845076443

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Reviews

This engaging story about what it means to be happy, perfectly complemented by Daly's intricate illustrations, will appeal to children of five and above. Daily Telegraph The story is told simply and elegantly and there is effective use of dialogue to show the thoughts and feelings of the different characters. Books for Keeps Essentially a tale of the melting and mending of a heart. Our hardened sailor has given up on himself and needs to learn to trust others and see value in himself. By the end of the book our faith is duly restored in humanity and our ability to heal. Perseverance, forgiveness and belief are common themes in traditional and folk tales and that is not where the similarities with this book end. The text has a lyrical quality and would make a good oral story! please enjoy the book for its gentle illustrations that beautifully capture a different time. www.writeaway.org.uk What makes this story book special is the illustrations. Excecuted in bright blues, greens and golds, Jude Daly's delicate watercolour palates are a joy to behold. Bejewelled with dainty human figures, ornate interiors and animals and plants of every kind, they sparkle with vitality, and the innovative page layouts further enhance the reading experience. INIS Visually this is a lovely book, and the tale of the developing garden is one that can lead to discussion, and maybe even some gardening by young readers and their teachers or parents. School Librarian

This engaging story about what it means to be happy, perfectly complemented by Daly's intricate illustrations, will appeal to children of five and above. Daily Telegraph The story is told simply and elegantly and there is effective use of dialogue to show the thoughts and feelings of the different characters. Books for Keeps Essentially a tale of the melting and mending of a heart. Our hardened sailor has given up on himself and needs to learn to trust others and see value in himself. By the end of the book our faith is duly restored in humanity and our ability to heal. Perseverance, forgiveness and belief are common themes in traditional and folk tales and that is not where the similarities with this book end. The text has a lyrical quality and would make a good oral story... please enjoy the book for its gentle illustrations that beautifully capture a different time. www.writeaway.org.uk What makes this story book special is the illustrations. Excecuted in bright blues, greens and golds, Jude Daly's delicate watercolour palates are a joy to behold. Bejewelled with dainty human figures, ornate interiors and animals and plants of every kind, they sparkle with vitality, and the innovative page layouts further enhance the reading experience. INIS Visually this is a lovely book, and the tale of the developing garden is one that can lead to discussion, and maybe even some gardening by young readers and their teachers or parents. School Librarian

In this sweet (if inconsistent and much-altered) version of a possibly historical incident, a 16th-century Portuguese sailor jumps ship to take up solitary residence on St. Helena - an island described with some justice as further away from anywhere than anywhere else in the world. Thanks to gifts of seeds, trees and animals left by passing mariners over the years, the island is slowly transformed in Daly's stylized, delicately detailed illustrations from a barren rock to a verdant paradise. Summoned by the intrigued Queen of Portugal, the hermit reluctantly journeys to her court, declares himself to be a monster (in old accounts he was physically mutilated, but there's no mention of that until the author's afterword) and hurries back - followed by a court seamstress who ignores his growls, gardening silently and contentedly alongside him until at last his unhappy soul is likewise transformed. More about inner growth than survival, this brief Robinsonade is still likely to beguile younger audiences. (Picture book. 6-8) (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Dianne Hofmeyr grew up on the tip of Southern Africa. She graduated as an art teacher in Cape Town and has written several teenage novels and picture books. she has won the M-Net Award for fiction and has two IBBY Honour Books.To visit Dianne's website click here Jude Daly was born in London and emigrated to South Africa as a young child. She went to art college in Cape Town, and now lives there with her husband, the writer and illustrator Niki Daly, and their two sons.

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