Friday, March 26, 2010

A Nest for Celeste - A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home by Henry Cole


"Below the crackled and faded picture of a horse,
beneath the heavy sideboard,
under the worn carpet
and dusty floorboards of the dining room
sat Celeste, hunched over her worktable."

The summary is hidden because it may contain spoilers. If you would like to read the full summary, simply use your cursor to highlight the next few lines and it will magically appear.

Summary: A beautifully illustrated novel about a mouse, her friendship with Audubon's apprentice, and her search for home. Beneath the crackled and faded painting of a horse, underneath the worn and dusty floorboards of the dining room, lives Celeste, a mouse who spends her days weaving baskets, until one day she is thrust into the world above. Here Celeste encounters danger--and love--unlike any she's ever imagined. She dodges a hungry cat and witnesses the brutality of hunting for the first time. She makes friends with a singing thrush named Cornelius, a talkative osprey named Lafayette, and Joseph, Audubon's young apprentice. All the while, Celeste is looking for a new home. Is her home in the toe of a worn boot? Nestled in Joseph's pocket? Or in the dollhouse in the attic, complete with mouse-size furniture perfect for Celeste? In the end, Celeste discovers that home is really the place deep inside her heart, where friendships live. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; 336 pages

2 comments:

kayakgirl said...

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The drawings are great, and it is a cute story but it wasn't a smooth read.

Beth Dalton and Deidre Van Ry said...

I found the book charming. I agree that the writing could have been better, but the total package - pictures with storyline is good. This book would make a great classroom read. There is so much that can be done with it. The book raises great questions for discussion. Learning more about species that no longer exist in the America's and John James Audubon are easy extensions to make. This book, however, is not my top choice for the Newbery this year.