The Doorman's Repose
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From Caldecott Award winner Chris Raschka, tales of unforgettable characters who live in a NYC apartment building
“To the company of ur-New Yorkers like Stuart Little, Harriet the Spy, and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, let me hold open the door for The Doorman’s Repose. A new favorite." —Gregory Maguire
“….marvelously intriguing stories…” —Lemony Snicket
Some of us look up at those craggy, mysterious apartment buildings found in the posher parts of New York City and wonder what goes on inside. The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories about 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest. The first story recounts the travails of the new doorman, who excels at all his tasks except perhaps the most important one—talking baseball. Others tell of a long-forgotten room, a cupid-like elevator, and the unlikely romance of a cerebral psychologist and a jazz musician, both of whom are mice. Because the animals talk and the machinery has feelings, these are children’s stories. Otherwise they are for anyone intrigued by what happens when many people, strangers or kin, live together under one roof.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eccentricities run rampant in two-time Caldecott Medalist Raschka's poignant, charming, and very funny fiction debut, which introduces the residents (both human and mouse) of 777 Garden Avenue, a "neo-proto-Aztec-Egyptian-Gothic" apartment building on New York City's Upper East Side. The 10 stories, written in first-person plural and introduced by Raschka's customary fauvist artwork, stand alone yet, together, create a vibrant patchwork portrait of an interconnected community. Mr. Bunchley would be the perfect doorman, if only he could talk baseball with the residents ("I like to see a screwball, Bunchley," says one resident. "I like comedies, too," he replies). The building's opera singer loses her voicejust before a legally mandated city inspection ("As everyone in New York City knows, each building must have at least one working opera singer"). And two mice, inspired by human residents, pursue careers in psychiatry and jazz. With echoes of The Westing Game (minus the mystery) and the Wayside School books (minus the focus on children), Raschka's novel walks a fine line between contemporary and classic while conjuring a vision of New York that's both familiar and fantastical. Ideal for adventurous readers and family readalouds. Ages 10 up.
