The Adventures of Sparrowboy

by Brian Pinkney

Book Overview

Something mysterious is about to happen on Thurber Street. ZAP Will the events of one afternoon change Henry's life forever?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689810717
• ISBN13: 9780689810718
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 11.4" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

It's a bird! It's a plane! No... wait... it's actually a bird. Sorry.

Superhero picture books. These could be an entire genre in and of themselves. Whether you're reading the highly acclaimed, "Traction Man Is Here!" by Mimi Grey, "The Wolves In the Walls" by Neal Gaiman, or "Lucky Leaf" by Kevin O'Malley, you know just how appealing these titles can be to those kids that love comic books and comic strips. Some of the best stories are ones where the hero of the picture book is a normal everyday kid with extraordinary powers. Enter, "The Adventures of Sparrowboy". Light on text but long on last-minute saves and super powers, the story is an amusing little tale of a paperboy turned hero. It's not Pinkney's best work and it certainly doesn't have much of what you might call "a plot", but it's an interesting little tale with enough flights of fancy to appeal to some of the reluctant child readers out there. Average everyday kid-about-town Henry always makes sure to read the comics of his papers before he delivers them. His favorite strip is one entitled, "Falconman". In it, a state trooper is given the power of flight from an otherwise everyday falcon, but must return those powers to the bird after he's finished his super rescues. Henry doesn't think much about it until a sudden encounter with a small sparrow creates a very similar transfer. Now Henry can fly, a talent he puts to immediate use so as to save kids from angry dogs, a cat from a bully, and a small sparrow from various near-death experiences. It's only when he's saved the sparrow for the third time that he realizes where his newfound powers come from. By the end of the tale, the papers have been delivered and boy and sparrow are back to normal. Still, the final shot of the mysterious sparrow perched on a tree to regard the boy suggests future adventures may occur someday. The plot's a little weak, as is the writing for this story. Pinkney's grasp on the kind of text written in a comic book is a little too simplistic (and reliant on bad puns) to really convey the true nature of a graphic novel. Still, there are lots of ideas in this book that carry through well. The book reads like a normal picture book right up until Henry gets the power of flight. After that point, the book is broken up into comic book panels. No speech bubbles, though. All words are instead boxed in at the bottom of each page. I was particularly interested in the fact that after Henry saves two little neighbor boys and a cat, he must then in turn save the sparrow from THEM. It would have been nice if Henry had mentioned something about how the people he saves eventually try to do bad things too, but this isn't that cerebral a picture book. I was also a little astonished at Pinkney's choice of illustration technique. There's probably no children's book artist as adept at the scratchboard technique as Mr. Pinkney. Still, I felt that this wasn't the best possible art for this kind of a book. Scratchboard works especially well for books like, "Sukey and the Merma

Be careful what you wish for...

An ordinary paperboy named Henry has a very extraordinary day. It all begins when he wishes for the help of the comic superhero "Falconman." After an encounter with a mysterious sparrow his wish comes true, but with a twist. He finds himself in the center of the action. Scratchboard illustrations add an interesting textural element. This 1997 Boston Globe Horn Book Award winner uses a colorful comic-book style to engage the reader's interest. The text compliments the pictures well, although the pictures could tell the story by themselves.This book really captured my attention, so much that I was disappointed when it ended. However, I felt that the book ended with the perfect open-ended conclusion.

A young boy becomes a superhero in this unusual book.

One day, while enroute to deliver his newspapers, Henry has a strange encounter with a little sparrow. Like his favorite comic strip hero, Falconman, Henry is given the power to fly. As he delivers his papers from the air, he rescues neighborhood children from a bully and his mean dog and saves the sparrow who can no longer fly. When Henry realizes he has the power to restore the sparrow's flight, he returns to the spot where the encounter took place. The comic book format and spare text will be very attractive to young readers and older "reluctant" readers as well. Pinkney's signature scratchboard illustrations are bright and provide an unusual background for this contemporary superhero. The hopeful ending leaves the possiblility of a sequel open.