From Publishers WeeklyPW called this fable-like story “beautifully orchestrated.” Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library JournalGrade 5-8 An ancient oak stands in a farmer’s field outside of a little town. The farmer tells scary stories regarding it, and the town’s children listen and play on on and around it. Mrs. Trawley, the town busybody, becomes obsessed with it is traditions and plans a Great Dimpole Oak Day. Far away, a swami has a imagination when it comes to the oak and begins a traveling with his followers to find it. All of these forces, plus two local boys who have challenged a bully to a confrontation, converge around the oak on a “perfectly gorgeous Saturday,” an occasion which has all the trappings of disaster and which, instead, emerges as a celebration of sorts. Through it all, the oak stands, impervious, more acted upon than acting, of course, serving as a reflectiveness of the ideas and dreams of the mortals who gather around it. Lisle produces a minor fable here, with great success evoking an eerie sense of timelessness and mystery, peculiarly in her opening chapter. The oak is her main character, and it, and the farmer who cares for it, seem most alive. It is her persons who are wooden, as she settles for archetypes rather of characterizations. In fact, her descriptions of the swami, whose adventures are not well integrated into the narrative, slip dangerously from archetype to stereotype. The book’s strength is Lisle’s sardonic whimsy. Its principle weakness is that the distancing of the characters leaves readers as impervious as the oak. Gammell’s surreal full-page black-and-white drawings of the oak add to the atmosphere of the story, lending it an air of mystery, but in the end, make little divergence to the book. They’re like the beginnings and endings of the chapters: all portentous promise with little contextual delivery. Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the AuthorJanet Taylor Lisle is the author of the Newbery Honor book Afternoon of the Elves (Puffin). She lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Stephan Gammel lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Image
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Picture
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Image
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Picture
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Image
Great Dimpole Janet Taylor Lisle Pic
Most helpful client reviews
4 of 4 persons found the following review helpful.
 A delightfully sweet and foolish romp.
By Margaret Fiore
The big old oak in the farmer’s field was a great deal of things to a heap of people. The children of Dimpole had played under the great tree for numerous generations. The farmer himself was fond of telling tales of ancient murders and concealed treasure underneath it is branches. When an officious pillar of the community decides to take offense to the lurid tales, she plans a parade and public gathering at the tree.
At the same time, two neighborhood boys plan revenge on a local bully beneath the tree. Two timid adults gradually find galore mutual ground, and the possibleness of love. And an Indian swami sees the tree in a dream, and begins a pilgrimage. All come together underneath the gorgeous old tree, with a surprising twist to the ending.
This little book is beautifully written, with clean, rhythmic prose. It begins with deceptive simplicity, but ties it is a lot of story lines together with a satisfying and poetic beauty that brings Louis Sachar’s “Holes” to mind.
I purchased this book for my daughter, but, once I begun reading – and laughing – I had to carry on to the warmly pleasurable end. This is very readable for all ages.
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