Jeffrey and Sloth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeffrey and Sloth by Kari-Lynn Winters and Ben Hodson was published by Orca Book Publishers (Victoria, BC, Canada) in March 2007. It first appeared in print in Chameleon, a children's magazine published by the University of British Columbia, as "Jeffrey's Wor(l)ds Meet Sloth" (2004, illustrated by Oana Capota, Chameleon Magazine, 2:1, 24-28), which can be read online at Educational Insights: online journal of the Centre for Cross Faculty Inquiry in Education. Orca selected this book as one of 9 out of 1600 manuscripts chosen for publication in 2007. The book has come to life beyond the page, as a literacy play performed by Tickle Trunk Players (link) in schools in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.
[edit] Plot
Jeffrey can't think of a thing to write, so he doodles instead, only to have his doodle begin to order him about. Jeffrey struggles with the situation until he discovers that the most strong-willed doodle is powerless against a well-told tale. Jeffrey and Sloth is, in the words of its author, a uniquely 'postmodern' story in which action and experience both derive from, and then transcend, the written word. As the publisher writes, "this book is bound to have children rushing for their colored pencils and their pens to see who and what they can create" (Orca Book Publishers}.
