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58th out of 179 books
—
109 voters
Wee Gillis
A Caldecott Honor Book by the creators of the beloved Story of Ferdinand
Wee Gillis lives in Scotland. He is an orphan, and he spends half of each year with his mother's people in the lowlands, while the other half finds him in the highlands with his father's kin. Both sides of Gillis's family are eager for him to settle down and adopt their ways. In the lowlands, he is tau...more
Wee Gillis lives in Scotland. He is an orphan, and he spends half of each year with his mother's people in the lowlands, while the other half finds him in the highlands with his father's kin. Both sides of Gillis's family are eager for him to settle down and adopt their ways. In the lowlands, he is tau...more
Hardcover, 80 pages
Published
May 30th 2006
by NYR Children's Collection
(first published 1938)
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I picked up this one last month when the kids and I were learning about the United Kingdom. The books centers on a Scottish orphan boy (Wee Gillis) who spends half of the year with his mom’s relatives in the lowlands herding cattle and half the year with his father’s relatives in the highlands stalking stags. The ‘highlanders’ and the ‘lowlanders’ don’t get along and eventually Wee Gillis is told he must decide which will be his permanent home. In the end Wee Gillis doesn’t join either of them,...more
I had never heard of this book until I picked it up for my Caldecott Challenge, but I had heard of the author and illustrator. They most famously have worked together for the the book "The Story of Ferdinand," which I read a month or so ago. This book won a 1939 Caldecott Honor and so far it is my favorite Caldecott book that year. Wee Gillis is the story of a young boy whose mother is from the Lowlands of Scotland and whose father is from the Highlands. Every year he either spends tending cattl...more
This is one of the earlier Caldecott-honor books. I didn't expect to like it much as I thumbed through it before I read it. I thought it would be just okay. But as I read the story and studied the illustrations, I started to really like it! I like the solution that Wee Gillis found to his problem of choosing whether to be a Lowlander who calls cows or a Highlander who stalks stags. While the illustrations at first don't look to be very remarkable, I enjoyed the attention to detail - particularly...more
Wee Gillis must choose whether he will be a Lowlander or a Highlander in Scotland. He spends years in both regions and becomes skills at the tasks of calling cows and stalking stags, but when the time comes to choose he is best fit to play the biggest bagpipes in all of Scotland with his mighty strong lungs. Illustrations are full page black and white illustrations that mirror text. Great read aloud. Must read/see.
Wee Gillis lives in Scotland, but has a mother from the lowlands and a father from the highlands. Each side of his family tells him to do the opposite. How can he reconcile the different parts of his life? He takes the best of both sides.
It is all in black and white. I hope kids today don't find it too old-fashioned and long, beause this book is a treasure.
It is all in black and white. I hope kids today don't find it too old-fashioned and long, beause this book is a treasure.
Caldecott Honor Book, 1939. Robert Lawson was a busy illustrator and won many awards. His name is on the cover of quite a few early Caldecott winners.
Best line: "His real name was Alastair Roderic Craigellachie Dalhouise Gowan Donnybristle MacMac, but that took too long to say, so everybody just called him Wee Gillis.
Favorite illustration: Page 59
Best line: "His real name was Alastair Roderic Craigellachie Dalhouise Gowan Donnybristle MacMac, but that took too long to say, so everybody just called him Wee Gillis.
Favorite illustration: Page 59
Wee Gillis caught my eye at my local library. It was short, colorful and a Caldecott Honor book (1939). As it's only 80 pages and mostly a picture book, I snatched it up and read it that night.
Wee Gillis is a boy stuck in the middle of two different Scottish cultures. One parent is from the Lowlands where his family herds cattle. The other parent is from the Highlands where they stalk stags. When he is orphaned, he has to pick a family and a lifestyle.
Gillis learns how to herd cattle and how to...more
Wee Gillis is a boy stuck in the middle of two different Scottish cultures. One parent is from the Lowlands where his family herds cattle. The other parent is from the Highlands where they stalk stags. When he is orphaned, he has to pick a family and a lifestyle.
Gillis learns how to herd cattle and how to...more
1939 Caldecott Honor
Favorite illustration: When Wee Gillis takes the bagpipe and makes a sound for the first time.
Favorite line: "They walked and walked not saying a word, down through the valleys and up over the hills, until they found just the right spot for deciding."
Kid-appeal: From the writer and illustrator team behind "The Story of Ferdinand." I think kids will appreciate the imperfect Wee Gillis and how he finds his true calling and place in the end.
Favorite illustration: When Wee Gillis takes the bagpipe and makes a sound for the first time.
Favorite line: "They walked and walked not saying a word, down through the valleys and up over the hills, until they found just the right spot for deciding."
Kid-appeal: From the writer and illustrator team behind "The Story of Ferdinand." I think kids will appreciate the imperfect Wee Gillis and how he finds his true calling and place in the end.
1 like · like · see review
This is a finely-illustrated book about a young Scotsboy's sense of his family's competing identities (Highland vs. Lowland) and the need to find his own path. Lawson does a great job carving the craggy landscapes and faces of Scotsmen, who are mostly dour or angry but sometimes heartily amused.
My favorite illustrations are on page 27 and 65.
At times I was reminded of Sword of the Stone of all things with different people trying to get the bagpipes to play. I also liked the pages with the shaped text.
At times I was reminded of Sword of the Stone of all things with different people trying to get the bagpipes to play. I also liked the pages with the shaped text.
This is a good Munro Leaf story, but what really drew me to first pick out this book was that it was illustrated by the legendary Robert Lawson, and...
WOW. WOW. WOW. I have seen some truly stunning work come from the illustrator's pen of Robert Lawson, but this, in my mind, surpasses it all. His rendering of the rugged Scottish landscape was beyond what I thought could be achieved in two dimensions, and the breathtaking detail in some of the pictures nearly blows my mind. This, right here, is...more
WOW. WOW. WOW. I have seen some truly stunning work come from the illustrator's pen of Robert Lawson, but this, in my mind, surpasses it all. His rendering of the rugged Scottish landscape was beyond what I thought could be achieved in two dimensions, and the breathtaking detail in some of the pictures nearly blows my mind. This, right here, is...more
Pleasant little story about a boy forced to make a decision about his place in life, but finds his own path to destiny. The illustrations are full of detail and very well executed.
1939 Caldecott Honor
I had the feeling that I had read this many years ago. It was like meeting an old acquaintance and not quite knowing their name, but remembering random things about them. It's great that he is able to learn and grow from both situations and the blending of the families brings a new talent to fruition.
The illustrations were certainly distinctive.
I had the feeling that I had read this many years ago. It was like meeting an old acquaintance and not quite knowing their name, but remembering random things about them. It's great that he is able to learn and grow from both situations and the blending of the families brings a new talent to fruition.
The illustrations were certainly distinctive.
1 like · like · see review
Aug 28, 2011
Relyn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Ferdinand fans
Recommended to Relyn by:
Munro Leaf
This is a beautifully bound and printed book. The story is simple and fun, but not excellent. I do love both the author and illustrator, though.
cute story about a boy having to make a decision about his future...black and white line illustrations
1939 Caldecott Honor Book
1939 Caldecott Honor Book
Check out my review of Caldecott Medal and Honor books at www.littlebooksontheprairie.wordpress....
Caldecott Honor 1939 - Not exactly what I was expecting. Fun but so different than a picture book of today.
The illustrations in this book are great and the story is very cute. I think it is a fun book.
It was cute but not brilliant. Worth checking out and reading but not worth purchasing.
Part of the New York Review Children's Collection.
Yet another of my children's favorite.
1939 Caldecott Honor
Culturally interesting.
Caldecott Honor--1939
I didn't find this story very interesting, it wasn't one of those books that you'd want to read over and over again and I found myself bored more then once during this story. The illustrations were sometimes humorous, but most of the time I thought they were a little too detailed, too many lines. I didn't care for this book.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...
Read for #nerdcott. Reviewed in Caldecott Challenge Post #1: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
This book was fun.
I loved this book as a child - from a Scottish heritage, this seemed so right, so Scottish and so funny. My mother would read it with an accent and we just howled and loved, loved, loved the illustrations. A classic. By the way, according to my father, we were Highlanders. There, that should settle any problems.
This is a book from my childhood that my mother was getting rid of; so I grabbed it and absorbed it into my own library. :D
Gillis lives alternately in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, developing his lung capacity.
Gillis lives alternately in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, developing his lung capacity.
A little boy of mixed Highland and Lowland Scottish parentage spends alternating years with the two families, learning the respective merits of cow-herding and stag-hunting, and coincidentally strengthening his lungs.
2 likes · like · see review
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Munro Leaf, author and illustrator of dozens of children’s books, is best remembered for his signature character, Ferdinand, the Spanish bull who preferred smelling flowers to fighting in a ring in Spain. Composed in less than an hour one Sunday afternoon in 1935, the book sparked controversy. With the Spanish Civil War raging, political critics charged that it was a satirical attack on aggression...more
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Sep 03, 2012 04:20pm