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CM . . .
. Volume VIII Number 18 . . . . May 10, 2002
excerpt:
The very next morning, when Charlie took the shortcut through a lane, he suddenly came face to face with a man piling junk into a battered baby carriage. Charlie jumped a mile and so did the stranger. The man was wearing a fantastic costume made from an old curtain decorated with green plastic and shiny bits of silver foil. Charlie marveled at the magical way it was put together. As Charlie stood staring, the man spun his carriage around and rattled off in a great hurry.
Walking to
school one morning, Charlie sees a "crazy man" dressed in a wild costume
pushing a baby carriage full of junk. Charlie begins to notice the man
in all sorts of places, and he is always dressed in an unusual getup made
of trash. Charlie wants to help the man, and so he leaves him a pile of
interesting things for costumes. The next day on the way to school, Charlie
gets into a fight with a bully, and the "crazy man" saves him from being
hit by a car and then disappears. When Charlie grows up, he becomes a
famous costume designer and often wonders about that unusual man. Their
paths cross again, and Charlie's offer to help this man results in Charlie's
finding out that Edward has a disease called Schizophrenia. Once Edward
is on the proper medication and is released from the hospital, he comes
to work at Charlie's costume design company. Although Edward still has
some trouble fitting in, he saves the day again when a famous rock star
needs help with an emergency outrageous costume for his concert. The rock
star loves Edward's costume creation, and soon Edward is dreaming up more
fantastic new designs.
This book is about more than homelessness
and mental illness; it is also about the difference a friend can make.
Author/illustrator Marie Day's story is very readable. Children will
want to know what happens to these characters. The illustrations are
a little "crazy" too, rendered in a mixed media including pencil, markers
and pencil crayons.
This is an excellent book for starting
a discussion with children about homelessness and mental illness. It
is now becoming more acceptable and necessary to discuss these social
problems with children. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for
children's books that deal with these topics. The author's personal
note at the back of the book allows the reader a glimpse into why the
author wrote this story. Edward the "Crazy Man" is a recommended
purchase for public libraries and classroom collections.
Recommended. As the
result of an exciting move, Catherine Hoyt is now the Reference Librarian
at the Nunavut Legislative Library in Iqaluit, Nunavut. However, she
enjoys volunteering at the local public library in the newest capital
in Canada.
To comment on this
title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal
use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other
reproduction is prohibited without permission.
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