Spork - a bookwrap

Unwrapping...

Authored by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

Ages 3-7



Some illustrations to enjoy.

About the book...

Spork is the beloved offspring of a Mamma spoon and a Daddy fork.   He is the apple of their eye but unfortunately the other kitchen cutlery do not share their view.  

You see little Spork doesn't fit in.  He sticks out from everyone else and is asked continually, "What are you, anyway?"  Poor Spork cannot answer that question because he doesn't know what he is himself.  He feels like a complete misfit amidst the traditional cutlery which leaves him feeling lonely, left out and shunned.  

He  gets a brilliant idea and decides to don a bowler hat and tries to make himself look more "spoonish."  Nooooooo... the forks give him a thumbs down on that idea.  He creates a paper crown with pointy ends to make himself look more "forkish".... but alas, the conventional forks frown on his crown nixing that idea too.  What is this poor little guy supposed to do to belong and to be embraced by those meanies around him?  They constantly mock him and give him the cold shoulder. Then miraculouly one morning his life completely changes... and for the better, I might add.  

A messy thing arrives on the scene and it smears, spills, flings, clumps and drips food everywhere.  All the cutlery are mortified  by such unprecedented behaviour and find that they are unable to satisfy the messy thing's need to poke, pick, scoop, stir which turns each meal into a chaotic mess.  

Oh my!!!  They cry out for help!!! Can anyone save the day? Can this messy thing be appeased?  Mmmm...  maybe you can guess who just might turn out to be a superhero. 

This delightful tale has such a positive message to those who feel they are outsiders and can never belong.  It gives hope to those who are different and inspires them not to give up but keep on being exactly who/what they are created to be... unique and valuable. Spork underscores the fact that everyone has a purpose and place of acceptance in this great world of ours. 

About the author...

Kyo Maclear (born 1970) is a Canadian novelist and children's author.

Maclear was born in England and moved to Canada at a young age. She is of mixed British-Japanese descent. Her father is the journalist and documentary filmmaker Michael Maclear. She is also the mother of Yoshi Maclear and Mika Maclear

She studied fine art and art history at the University of Toronto and also completed an M.A. in cultural studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 1996. Her graduate thesis, Beclouded Visions: Hiroshima-Nagasaki and the art of Witness was published by the State University of New York Press. She is a noted visual arts writer and has written numerous essays and art criticism which have been widely published in art catalogues and magazines. She was awarded the K.M. Hunter Artists Award in 2009.

She is the author of two novels: The Letter Opener (2007) and Stray Love (2012); and four illustrated books for children, Spork, (2010); Virginia Wolf (2012), illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault,; Mr. Flux (2013), illustrated by Matte Stephens; and Julia Child (2014), illustrated by Julie Morstad. The Letter Opener was shortlisted for the 2007 Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

  About the illustrator...

Isabelle Arsenault was born in 1978 in Sept-Iles, Quebec. After studies in Fine Arts and Graphic Design, she specialized in illustration. Quickly, she gained recognition from the industry and her peers through several awards from major international illustration contests such as Communication Arts, American Illustration and Applied Arts. In 2005, she won the prestigious Governor General's Literary Award for the illustration of her first children's book, Le Coeur de Monsieur Gauguin. Her passion for children's imaginations allows her to produce images that appeal to young readers as well as older ones. Through children's illustration she gives life to her own childhood dreams and in doing so, she hopes to inspire upcoming generations. Isabelle Arsenault now lives in Montreal, Quebec.

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