Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Triangle Square (2017), 32 pages
Description
Uncle Flores is the best tailor in the town of Pinbaue in Brazil. He used to make colourful costumes for the carnival, but nowadays he only makes grey uniforms for the factory workers. The houses are covered with dust from the factory, the river water is murky, and everything is drab. Edinho, his nephew, comes by every day after school to help cut and iron the cloth and listen to his uncle's stories. But when the factory tells Uncle Flores they don't need his uniforms anymore, Edinho comes up with an ingenious idea to get his uncle back to work and make everyone in town happier...
Local notes
Booklist Starred Reviews, 12/14/2017
*Starred Review* The story of this fictional town in Brazil could be the story of any town or village in the world that has felt the economic and environmental devastation of industrialization. Pinbauê was once a fishing village where the river sustained life and a man could earn a decent living as a tailor. The narrator, Edinho, reminisces about his childhood with his uncle, the best tailor in Pinbauê. Uncle Flores is a kindly man who takes pleasure in teaching his nephew his skills and passing on stories of Pinbauê. Toledo skillfully balances the inevitable melancholy of this tale with a cheerful and surprising twist in which the boy and his uncle push away the cloud of gray cast by the polluting factory and remind the townspeople of the color and vibrancy of their former lives. An elegant narrative is complemented by meticulously detailed collage illustrations that use handmade papers and photographs arranged to capture the craft of sewing, the setting, and the camaraderie of a boy, his uncle, and a shared legacy of conversation. This can be thematically and aesthetically paired with Joanne Schwartz’s Town Is by the Sea (2017).
*Starred Review* The story of this fictional town in Brazil could be the story of any town or village in the world that has felt the economic and environmental devastation of industrialization. Pinbauê was once a fishing village where the river sustained life and a man could earn a decent living as a tailor. The narrator, Edinho, reminisces about his childhood with his uncle, the best tailor in Pinbauê. Uncle Flores is a kindly man who takes pleasure in teaching his nephew his skills and passing on stories of Pinbauê. Toledo skillfully balances the inevitable melancholy of this tale with a cheerful and surprising twist in which the boy and his uncle push away the cloud of gray cast by the polluting factory and remind the townspeople of the color and vibrancy of their former lives. An elegant narrative is complemented by meticulously detailed collage illustrations that use handmade papers and photographs arranged to capture the craft of sewing, the setting, and the camaraderie of a boy, his uncle, and a shared legacy of conversation. This can be thematically and aesthetically paired with Joanne Schwartz’s Town Is by the Sea (2017).
Lexile
660L