Children's Fiction Multigenerational
Here Comes Hortense!
- Publisher
- Tundra
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2012
- Category
- Multigenerational, Stepfamilies, Emotions & Feelings
- Recommended Age
- 4 to 6
- Recommended Grade
- p to 1
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781770492219
- Publish Date
- Apr 2012
- List Price
- $19.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
The feisty, irrepressible Nana we met in Nana’s Getting Married is back. And what could be more fun for a six-year-old than having your nana and her new husband take you to a theme park? But the fun is spoiled when Nana and Bob announce that they’ve planned a surprise: they are going to be joined by Bob’s granddaughter, Hortense. It turns out to be the worst surprise ever. Nana shares her room with Hortense instead of her disgruntled little grandson. She sings her special good-night song to Hortense. She goes on all the scary rides with Hortense. And, worst of all, Hortense has a special name for Nana.
A perceptive and hilarious exploration of rivalry, there’s a gentle lesson for readers, young and old.
About the authors
HEATHER HARTT-SUSSMAN graduated from Brandeis University and attended the Sorbonne. She has been a copywriter for BCP in Montreal, a reporter for the Hollywood Reporter, editor-in-chief for international news for TV Guide in French Canada, where she was columnist of the popular “Heather Hartt in Hollywood,” and host of E! Entertainment Television’s The Gossip Show. She is the author of the acclaimed Nana’s Getting Married trilogy and the Noni series. Noni Is Nervous was an Editors’ Choice book in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Her books have been nominated for Blue Spruce and Shining Willow Awards. She lives in Toronto.
Heather Hartt-Sussman's profile page
Georgia Graham has been a compulsive drawer ever since she was a child growing up in Calgary, Alberta. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art in 1982 where she majored in Visual Communications. She has written and illustrated Cub's Journey Home, Where Wild Horses Run, The Lime Green Secret, A Team Like No Other, and The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona. She has illustrated many children's books by other authors.
Georgia lives with her husband on a small farm on the edge of Lacombe, Alberta. Her grown children and granddaughter live near by.
Editorial Reviews
“…Hartt-Sussman's narrative touch is deft. Graham's chalk pastels, a wacky delight from start to finish, bring appropriate lift to what could be a melancholy story. Her characters are uniquely quirky yet have a streak of photographic realism. Warm and offbeat.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“…Georgia Graham’s artwork is truly delightful…. The drawings suit the story so well and are complemented with large bold text in many strategic places…. The results are playful, quirky, colourful and action-packed artwork!”
—Highly Recommended, CM Magazine
“In a well told story, Hartt-Sussman gently captures all the feelings of jealousy and exclusion as well as the very real love between grandparents and grandchildren (and between Bob and Nana) and brings it to a satisfying conclusion.”
—Canadian Children’s Book News
“Graham’s exaggerated chalk pastels feature a lurid carnival palette and in-your-face characterizations, providing a comedic balance to the boy’s pained emotional state.”
—Publishers Weekly
Librarian Reviews
Here Comes Hortense!
Graham has displayed a very different style in her illustrations for Barbara Azore’s Wanda series and two recent books by Heather Hartt-Sussman, the newest of which is Here Comes Hortense! (scheduled for April 2012). In these books, her kooky figures with long skinny limbs, big heads and facial expressions are reminiscent of MAD Magazine and Mr. Potato Head and the colours are neon pinks, blues and reds.The young narrator of Hartt-Sussman’s Nana’s Getting Married, having accustomed himself to Nana’s new husband, Bob, now finds himself forced to share his grandmother again. This time, it’s with Bob’s granddaughter Hortense on a trip to a theme park. In a welltold story, Hartt-Sussman gently captures all the feelings of jealousy and exclusion as well as the very real love between grandparents and grandchildren (and between Bob and Nana) and brings it to a satisfying conclusion. As with other Tundra picture books, the dust jacket’s reverse side features a great poster — this one of the family in mid-scream at the top of the scariest theme park ride — crazy, goofy and funny all at once.
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Winter 2012. Volume 35 No. 1.
Here Comes Hortense!
What could be more fun for a six-year-old than having your nana and her new husband take you to a theme park? But the fun is spoiled when they are joined by Bob’s granddaughter, Hortense, who shares Nana’s room, listens to her stories and goes on all the scary rides with her.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. Spring, 2012.
