Me, All Alone, at the End of the World
“Anderson’s text is gloriously cadenced, celebrating simple pleasures even as it acknowledges the dangerous appeal of man-made attractions.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Candlewick Press (2017)
ISBN: 9780763689025
Ages: 6-9
Awards
Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice ● Book Sense Children’s Picks List Selection ● Association of Indiana School Library Educators Read-Aloud Books Too Good to Miss
A boy lives alone at the world’s edge, hunting treasure with old maps, finding fossils, whistling tunes, playing ball by the drop. It's a peaceful, contemplative life, and the boy is content. Until, that is, a self-styled Professional Visionary arrives and puts up a sign: CONSTANTINE SHIMMER'S GALVANO-MAGICAL END OF THE WORLD TOURS. FUN ALL THE TIME! Soon men with machines come to pave a clearing for the inn and the theme park and all kinds of fun … And the boy at the End of the World starts wondering whether fun is all it’s cracked up to be …
Reviews
★ “Anderson’s text is gloriously cadenced, celebrating simple pleasures even as it acknowledges the dangerous appeal of man-made attractions.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A persuasive argument for a little solitude and space to think.” — Newsday
“Anderson and Hawkes, who collaborated on Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, have triumphed again with this imaginative fable.” — School Library Journal
“The invasion that follows introduces the narrator to the joys of friendship but also teaches him to discriminate between excitement and happiness. Hawkes's illustrations celebrate natural beauty and sparkle with wit.” — Horn Book