The Wizard

Author: Jack Prelutsky

Illustrator: Brandon Dorman

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 978-0-06-124076-8

Imagine that… a lonely old wizard finds his entertainment in casting despicable spells.  Idle hands are the work of the devil and this certainly holds true in The Wizard.   Jack Prelutsky takes us into the cold, dark, and damp lair of an old man who passes his time by using trickery on others.  On this day, the decrepit sorcerer finds an innocent bullfrog on the floor and decides to put him at his mercy to pass the time.  The Wizard waves his wand and points it at our slippery friend, sending the poor frog through an identity crises process I’m sure he never dreamed of living.  From insects to birds, birds to objects, and objects back to a frog.  The only time the transformations stop is to give a quick torturous zap from his wickedly majestic wand.  The book concludes with the angry old wizard peering out of his dungeon window, gazing onto a street filled with children - leaving us with the stark reminder that trouble is only a few steps around the corner.

The illustrations in this book are magical.  After I finished reading the story, I spotted a shiny gold circle on the cover.  Without hesitation I assumed that it was a Caldecott Award, but a closer look revealed a recognition from the Poetry Foundation, as he served as their Children's Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008.  Needless to say, the poetry of the book is captivating.  During grade school, Prelutsky hated poetry as much as liver.  A few years later, Prelutsky created some artwork and wrote a short story for each.  When he met with a publisher he was told to keep up the stories but leave the artwork to someone else - Brandon Dorman was the perfect choice, having illustrated for numerous books and magazines.  One of his covers earned him a Newbery Honor.  Together, author and illustrator created an amazing book, which actually hit number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Poetry is a great tool for teachers especially those who teach early childhood education.  The rhythmic beat keeps the story exciting for children and usually does not overwhelm them with too much information at one time.  Poetry in children’s literature tends to be a few fun sentences, which are followed on the next page with a few more fun sentences that gradually build an exciting story.  It is not an easy task to keep young minds focused on a book.  The Wizard will definitely accomplish this task.

Even though we (most of us) do not live in a fantasy world of wizards, warlocks, and wonderful creatures, I do feel that I can still squeeze a lesson or two out of this book.  Earlier I mentioned idle hands.  Anyone who has been in the presence of a child knows what can happen if they are without entertainment for even a second.  I can show my class how the wizard uses his free time to do bad things and reinforce the importance of doing positive things with free time.  The second lesson that can be taught to children is that there are bad people in the world.  I feel that this was portrayed in the final pages of the book when the evil old man looked out his window onto a street full of children cheerfully playing.  The book was made to be fun but any chance a teacher gets to teach an important life lesson should be taken advantage of.