2/7/2024 0 Comments Good night owl pizzoliAs illustrated, "Tricky Vic" is a faceless thumbprint of a man, duping dopily drawn victims - an effect reminiscent of the all-too-cool Spy vs. Author, Greg Pizzoli, takes pains to describe how he found Miller's exploits to be all so incredible and felt motivated to create this book, as though Robert Miller was Willy Wonka, or Indiana Jones, or Harry Houdini. It is suggested that the story is appropriate for ages 7 and up, but I wonder if children younger than 14 or 15 are actually able to discern right and wrong in such a way as to understand that the main character of this story is not to be emulated but rather reviled. This, however, is one of the few children's stories I know of that hails the criminal, casting them in the lead role. Kids are accustomed to there being a bully or thug lurking in the background of a cartoon, comic book, or picture book. Many children's books have bad guys in them. Barnum is as crooked a character as they should learn about. If a book about a conman wants to be directed at young children, maybe P.T. As subject matter, it seems to me that the story of Robert Miller, aka con artist "Count Victor Lustig", is better suited to an older demographic. Perhaps the author is nearly as great a conman as the " hero" of this book. I'd like to know what the editors at Viking were thinking when they approved this one to be marketed to such young readers. It may seem silly getting my undies in a serious wad over a mere children's book, but it's precisely because it is a book devised for children that I feel compelled to come out strongly against it. Initially, I rated this book 2-stars, but by the time I finished this write-up, I realized I didn't really think the book was "ok", and lowered my rating to the lowest possible. This review appears on an episode of the “Best Book Ever ” segment of the Let’s Get Busy podcast. And that is why I'm calling The Impossibly True Story of Tricky Vic, the Man who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Greg Pizzoli the best book ever this week. Because there's some hidden art there that I think you'll really enjoy. When you pick up a copy of his book, make sure that you lift up the flap as well, the jacket. This is going to be a book that really stands up for an outstanding example of nonfiction and he's got such a gripping story, that it's wonderful. And, I don't know, it's just pulled off in a way that I feel like, "Here is a picture book that people will be reading aloud to kids in elementary school or middle or high school. And I love the content because he tells the story so well, Greg narrates the story so well, but also has these great sidebars and other historical information about Alcatraz and about other buildings along the way. I love that the art feels like Rocky and Bullwinkle. Twice, in fact, to scrap metalists at a time when they were going to tear down the Eiffel Tower. He's done such a wonderful job of bringing history to life and also saying about how this is bad guy, who swindled people out of lots and lots of the money and even tricked Al Capone, yes, indeed, he sold the Eiffel Tower. I don't think you can handle the material any better. And his news story here, a picture book, a nonfiction story, about a con artist. Greg is a screen print designer, if I'm saying that right. (Mar.And finally is The Impossibly True Story of Tricky Vic, the Man who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Greg Pizzoli. Who hasn’t seen-or been-that kid? Ages 3–5. And, as always in a Pizzoli book, there are wonderful details: readers will note that the markings on spines of the books go from fuzzy lines to actual titles when the Book Hog learns to read, and that in one spread, he raptly stands right by the librarian’s chair, clutching its arm as she reads aloud to the group. Pizzoli once again employs a candy-colored palette and an ebullient cast-the pink-and-green look, and even some of the characters, are reminiscent of his The Watermelon Seed. He had never learned.” Then Book Hog discovers the library (“he smelled some books inside”) and a whole community of book lovers, including a kind librarian whose attentiveness and story times inspire him-“over time, and with practice”-to become a reader. Book Hog has a big secret: “He didn’t know how to read. But reading procrastination is not his problem. He especially liked the ones with pictures”). Pizzoli’s porcine protagonist certainly accumulates books-he’s a relentless buyer and forager-and he adores each volume (“He loved the way they smelled, and the way the pages felt in his hooves. The Japanese word tsundoku describes books that have piled up in a home without being read.
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