Moletown

by Torben Kuhlmann

Hardcover, 2015

Status

Check shelf

Call number

833.92

Genres

Children's Books

Collections

BOOKS for BUS, B4B 4 3/29/23

Publication

NorthSouth Books (2015), Edition: Illustrated, 32 pages

Description

"Torben Kuhlmann's stunningly illustrated, nearly wordless tale offers a fascinating window into an imaginary yet hauntingly familiar world under our feet, where the moles suddenly recognize the precarious balance between progress and preservation. But is it too late?"--Page [2] of cover.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Ebarclift13

This is an advanced realistic fantasy picture book that begins with a short informational about the context of the pictures in the story. It is a story about a mole who moved down under the green meadow to "Moletown" and overtime everything in "Moletown" began to change. It goes through a series of

detailed pictures where the mole moves underground, meets the other moles, and becomes a part of the process of building underground tunnels. However, it is overridden by a big corporation and the meadow the mole originally came from becomes covered in mole holes and disappears into the hands of the corporation and mass growth of "Moletown" underground.

Show Less

9 more

LibraryThing member rwilke

This children's picture book is practically a wordless picture book. But there is a paragraph on the first page and two short sentences at the end. The rest is beautifully illustrated pictures of an imaginary yet hauntingly familiar world under our feet, where the moles suddenly recognize the

precarious balance between progress and preservation. This is a good example of Modern Fantasy because moles do dig under the earth, but don't create human-like inventions, trains and cities underground as are in this book, and since the modern fantasy genre are books that violate the natural laws of this world, this make-believe story fits into this category.

Media: acrylic

Show Less

LibraryThing member AliceaP

I never knew that moles were adorable until I read Moletown by Torben Kuhlmann. (You may remember him from such posts as this one or this one.) I also had no idea that they would work as a perfect stand-in for humans. Kuhlmann once again knocks it right out of the park with this story of

urbanization and industrialization. It's a sobering look at the way humanity has taken a seed of an idea which seemed perfectly innocent (or inevitable) and turned it into something suffocating and terrible. Yes, the advent of the modern age has done much to improve the lives of humans but it has also destroyed landscapes and wiped out entire species. Once again, this is a great way to open up a discussion with kids about a topic which they most likely only cover in relation to the atrocities inflicted upon Native Americans (if they even go into detail about that). It's so much more than that and I think it's important that kids start to think beyond their own small worlds. Of course, you have to decide if you think this is age appropriate but I think it would be good for second graders at the very least. 10/10 for awesome illustrations and a really awesome storyline that is sure to get little people (and the adults in their lives) thinking.

Show Less

LibraryThing member MeganTrue

Absolutely incredible! Amazingly done.

LibraryThing member kerribrary

The illustrations in this book were just gorgeous -- I love when there are so many things to look at on each page, so many tiny details.

LibraryThing member kerribrary

The illustrations in this book were just gorgeous -- I love when there are so many things to look at on each page, so many tiny details.

LibraryThing member 2wonderY

Almost entirely wordless, having only intro and final page couple of sentences. It has complex full page spread illustrations of a burgeoning mole metropolis.

Two sadnesses - halfway through the book, the moles dress and move in identical swarms and the green field is corrupted to dark and

smog-filled wasteland. The endpapers are full of photos from Moletown, including a solitary mole holding a protest sign "Save the Tree."

Show Less

LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian

The story of Moletown begins with one mole, who tunneled underneath a lush, wild meadow. He was quickly joined by other moles. As more and more moles joined them, development slowly spun out of control - and before they knew it, the green fields above their heads had been reduced to barren earth

with one small patch of green grass remaining. Meanwhile, the tunnels below grew crowded, the air choked by cars and industry. There is minimal text in this book, but it ends with an opportunity to discuss how to save the meadow, of course in turn, how to save our neighbourhoods and towns. The illustrations in this book are absolutely amazing. There is so much detail in them that just looking and discussing the illustrations could take a lot of time. I do not think this book would be appropriate for young children, but would be extremely useful for middle grade students and older.

I would like to thank Netgalley and North South Books Inc. for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Show Less

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

The fabulously talented Torben Kuhlmann, the German author/illustrator who made his debut with Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse, returns with this second picture-book, an almost wordless history of the development of Moletown. Founded when one mole moves in underneath a green meadow, the

settlement soon grows, becoming ever more complex and developed. The surface soon shows the result of this underground urban sprawl: with only a tiny patch of green grass left...

Originally published in German as Maulwurfstadt, this gorgeously-illustrated cautionary tale doesn't really cover any new ground, when it comes to its ecological message about the dangers of overdevelopment. Dr. Seuss's The Lorax and Bill Peet's The Wump World have been around for many decades, and impart the same message. What makes Moletown stand out is Kuhlmann's beautiful artwork, and the fact that his overdeveloping society is made up of moles. There isn't much text here - only a few pages have any words at all - but the illustrations are more than capable of carrying the story. Recommended to fans of Kuhlmann's artwork (in whose number I now count myself), and to young readers who enjoy animal fiction.

Show Less

LibraryThing member kerribrary

The illustrations in this book were just gorgeous -- I love when there are so many things to look at on each page, so many tiny details.

Fewer