The Wonderful O: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)Great American humorist James Thurber’s beloved, madcap, and eerily timely fairy tale about an island society robbed of the wonders of the letter O—in a stunning Deluxe Edition featuring flaps, deckle-edged paper, and the original, full-color illustrations Littlejack has a map that indicates the existence of a treasure on a far and lonely island, and Black has a ship to get there. So the two bad men team up and sail off on Black’s vessel, the Aeiu. The name, Black explains, is all the vowels except for O—which he hates since his mother got wedged in a porthole: They couldn’t pull her in, so they had to push her out. Black and Littlejack arrive at the port and demand the treasure. No one knows anything about it, so they have their henchmen ransack the place—to no avail. But Black has a better idea: He will take over the island and purge it of O. (“I'll issue an edict!”) The harsh limits of a life sans O (where shoe is she and woe is we) and how finally with a little luck and lots of pluck the islanders shake off their overbearing interlopers and discover the true treasure for themselves (Oh yes—and get back their O’s)—these are only some of the surprises that await readers of James Thurber’s timelessly zany fairy tale about two louts who try to lock up the language—and lose. It is a tour de force of wordplay that will delight fans of Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss, Edward Lear, and Roald Dahl, and a timely reminder of how people can band together in the name of freedom to overthrow a tyrant. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
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13 Clocks alias aloud Andreus and Andrea animals asked Andreus asked Littlejack axes banished Black and Littlejack called cellos clock collective nouns crew cried Black cried Littlejack croaked Black cudgels dark demanded Black enchanted castle eyes fairy tale Find the jewels gleamed glittered glow gone goose grandmother green parrot Haiti hate hear heard hope island James Thurber laughed laughter letter light lonely island lost MARC SIMONT marks and crosses mist moon Neil Gaiman night O-less oboes old man sighed Ooroo Ophelia Oliver ordinary stones Othello Owls in oaks phlox play poodle rubies sapphires ship showed his lower smashing snarled Black sound spades spoke squawked the parrot Squck his thrug stared stood Stragg and Strugg stricken oak tavern tell things thought towers trombones vandals violins and cellos voice wailed Littlejack whispered whupple is geep wife woeful wood Wonderful word