by Norma Farber, Brian Selznick (Illustrator)
"The boy went walking one fine day, / walking, walking, a long, long way. / He grew quite tired, so he cried, / 'Who'll offer me a ride? / Who'll carry me far and wide?'"
So begins Norma Farber and illustrator Brian Selznick's whimsical picture book The Boy Who Longed for a Lift. The story, language, and even the charming illustrations are as curiously old-fashioned as the title. As the beginning illustrations imply, the boy is feeling displaced by the new baby in the house, so he packs up a knapsack-on-a-stick and sets off for a journey.
When he gets tired, his innovative ride-finding mission takes off.
The brook, soft and swift, gives him his first lift, but the water gets too cold and he turns blue; the light and swift sailboat flips; the trout, sleek and swift, proves to be a slippery vehicle; a "far from swift" snail ride is rather boring; and the horseman, "galloping swift," goes a bit too fast, throwing the boy up into a tree.
In the end, the would-be passenger discovers the benefits of using his own two feet, "till finally he was home. / His father ran out, strong and swift, / and gave the boy a lift." Young children will be swept up in the lyrical repetition of the story, Selznick's comical depictions of high-action adventure, and, of course, the happy ending.
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