Advice to Little Girls
Advice to Little Girls
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Written by Mark Twain
Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky
A Brain Pickings Top 13 Children's, Illustrated, and Picture Book of 2013
“You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that you are indebted for your food, and for the privilege of staying home from school when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought to respect their little prejudices, and humor their little whims, and put up with their little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.”
When Mark Twain wrote the sparky short story "Advice to Little Girls" in 1865, he probably didn't mean for it to be shown to them. Or maybe he did, since we all know Twain was a rascal. Author and illustrator Vladimir Radunsky has created a picture book based on Twain's text that adds all the right outlandish touches.
ISBN: 978-1-59270-129-2
7" (W) x 9.5" (H) • 24 pages • HCJ
AWARDS AND REVIEWS
A Brain Pickings Top 13 Children's, Illustrated, and Picture Book of 2013
"Crisply satirical and a little subversive, Twain's short, acerbic sendup slyly exhorts little girls to take a calculating approach to manipulating friends, brothers and elders. [...] An elegant curiosity for admirers of Twain, Radunsky or both." —Kirkus Reviews
"Radunsky's ink flourishes and adorable, lumpy figures steal the stage." —Publishers Weekly
"Twain did not squat down to be heard and understood by children, but asked them to stand on their tiptoes, to absorb the kind of language and humor suitable for adults." —The New York Review of Books
"While frolicsome in tone and full of wink, the story—like the most timeless of children's books—is colored with subtle hues of grown-up philosophy on the human condition, exploring all the deft ways in which we creatively rationalize our wrongdoing and reconcile the good and evil we each embody." —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
"It is sharp, a pointed set of admonitions urging girls to think for themselves, which is a message as essential today as it was a century-and-a-half ago." —The Los Angeles Times
"A sharp, charming story suitable for smart girls (and grown ups!) everywhere, and Radunsky's illustrations bring it to scribbled, red-cheeked life. It may just be the best picture book we've ever read." —Flavorwire
"This book is funny, because you should never do [things] like making faces at old people; they probably won't make faces at you. This is not good advice at all. There are funny and silly pictures. One shows a little girl sticking out out her tongue at an old person and the old person sticking out her tongue at the little girl. It looks like the illustrator has scribbled on the pages with pen." —Reviewed by Rachel (age 7), San Francisco Kids Book Review
“...playful and mischievous and just the right amount of tongue in cheek. Best of all, it doesn’t talk down to children and in the reading leads to grown-up conversation. I bought three copies: one to share with my newly-minted 9-year-old and two to give to my college-age nieces, my first daughters, who I know will totally 'get' the book." —Anissa V. Rivera, Pasadena Star News
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