Would you like to add this selection to the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center?  Let the book jester take you where you need to go!  Click here!	Clown   by Quentin Blake
	Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.  Reading Level: Ages 4-8   School & Library Binding, 32 pages   Published by Henry Holt & Company, Inc.   Publication date: March 1996   Dimensions (in inches): 0.38 x 12.66 x 9.17   ISBN: 0805043993

Amazon.com:
Quentin Blake, best known as the illustrator of Roald Dahl's novels and books, earns recognition in his own right with a charming book that might be characterized as "a silent film between book covers." The story involves a trash-can full of discarded toys, from which emerges a toy clown that comes to life, finds some athletic footwear, and traipses through the city streets full of life and adventure. His encounters aren't of the fantasy-land variety but rather encompass the real-life problems of cars, trucks, and traffic. He finds his friends a home in the company of a poverty-stricken single mother looking for playthings for her children, giving a hopeful and happy ending to an enchanting book.

The New York Times Book Review, Jim Gladstone :
It is the pitch-perfect details and often unsettling undertones of Quentin Blake's wordless, quick-moving Clown that make it worth attention.

From Booklist , 04/15/96:
Ages 4-6. In this wordless, large-format picture book, a toy clown is thrown into the garbage can with some stuffed animals. He runs through the city streets, where he has a series of adventures as he tries to find a home for his discarded friends. A ruffian tosses him through a tenement window; inside the apartment, the clown charms a toddler and his mother with his antics and then helps clean up in time for a visit from grandmother. In return, they rescue the stuffed animals, joining both human and nonhuman friends together for a happy ending. This story in mime unfolds with lots of action and quiet charm. Even the clown's thoughts and speech, carried in cartoon-style balloons, appear as pictures rather than words. The deft line drawings, tinted with watercolor washes, indicate character traits and emotions with great sensitivity to form, movement, and detail.
Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Horn Book :
The traditional clown mixture of melancholy and merriment forms a thematic background to a wordless picture book by the famed illustrator. When a toy clown is discarded in the rubbish bin along with his stuffed animal friends, he starts on a quest to find them all a new home. Prowling through the grubbier parts of the gray, uncaring city, the clown looks for a child who will help him. The first child is yanked away by her father; the disdainful mother of the second child throws the clown out the window. After further unfortunate adventures, a young punk throws him high into a window of a rundown apartment building, landing the clown in a scene of domestic squalor. A crying baby is being cared for by a harassed latch-key older sister, unwashed dishes are strewn all around, pots and potatoes roll on the floor, a naked light bulb hangs from the ceiling, paint is peeling off the walls. Clearly this child cannot help him. But the clown goes to work - after cheering girl and infant up with juggling tricks, he helps with the dishes, sweeps, and makes the place tidy. He even changes the baby. Then they set out with baby in carriage and rescue the toys, and when the exhausted mother returns home from work, she is amazed at the shining house and happy children who await her. Only Quentin Blake's remarkable skill as an artist could produce such a touching, endearing story, told entirely through the postures and actions of lively, scratchy, almost cartoonlike figures.

Synopsis:
In Quentin Blake's eloquently wordless picture book, children learn a lesson about sharing, humility and what it takes to make a family. When rag doll Clown and his toy friends are thrown into the trash, Clown picks himself up and sets out to find someone to take care of them. Meeting only with rebuffs from spoiled children and unfeeling adults, Clown finally finds a young girl who needs a little help herself. Full color.

Card catalog description :
After being discarded, Clown makes his way through town having a series of adventures as he tries to find a home for himself and his other toy friends.

Customer Comments
garciak@southwestern.edu from Texas, USA , 11/19/97, rating=10:
An amazing, touching book containing an invaluable lesson
This book, without using any words at all, taught me one of the greatest lessons in life. The co-existence of humility and love. Watching the story develop with eyes and imagination,I realizes that this book allows each reader to come up with their own dialogue, providing a unique, special experience for each child (and adult) who happens upon it. I read this book a few months ago, and loved it. I am 21 years old, and think "Clown" has transcended the language and age barriers some of us have come across. It should be enjoyed by everyone.