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THE LITTLE BARBARIAN

Page history last edited by RichiesPicks 5 years, 4 months ago

23 November 2018 THE LITTLE BARBARIAN by Renato Moriconi, Eerdmans, August 2018, 48p., ISBN: 978-0-8028-5509-1

 

“Life is like a merry go round,

Painted horses riding up and down.

Music takes you and you’re gone again,

Crazy circles never seem to end.”

-- Paul Rogers (1979)

 

We all called it “Jolly Rogers,” but its real name was Nunley’s Happyland. The large Jolly Rogers sign actually belonged to the adjoining restaurant.

 

According to Wikipedia, the Bethpage, Long Island amusement park was built in 1951 by third-generation amusement park entrepreneur William Nunley. He salvaged huge glass doors from the French Pavilion at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, and used them to close in the rides. That enabled the park to operate year-round. I still remember those giant, movable glass partitions.

 

William Nunley was a visionary who built the amusement park out in the middle of the Long Island suburbs before the suburbs were actually built. Unfortunately, Nunley died shortly before the park’s opening and it passed to his widow. She was operating Nunley’s Happyland when I came along, half a dozen years later, a little kid entranced by the carousel.

 

This brings me to THE LITTLE BARBARIAN, a wordless tale about a young warrior who mounts his steed and faces great dangers and amazing adventures. There are chasms to cross, a pit of venomous snakes to avoid, and a lively collection of one-eyed monsters, sea serpents, and various other scary creatures for which he must watch out. Each page turn brings another obstacle or danger.

 

After successfully avoiding harm at the hands, talons, teeth, and claws of these many terrifying adversaries, the young warrior comes to a halt.

 

But, oh no! Here comes a bearded giant reaching down for him. For the first time in the story, we see a real look of pain and fear on the young warrior’s face.This is when the next page turn reveals that his steed is really a carousel horse and the bearded giant is his father who’s ready to lift him down. The ride is over and Dad leads the now-mourning warrior away.

 

Sixty years later, I still know exactly what that little kid is feeling.

 

THE LITTLE BARBARIAN is a wonderfully imaginative tale. The white background throughout makes the boy and the colorful, imagined creatures stand out and rise off of the page. Once you share this lovely book once with a young child, the child will want to page through it independently over and over and over again.

 

Richie Partington, MLIS

Richie's Pickshttp://richiespicks.pbworks.com

https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/

richiepartington@gmail.com

 

 

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