ザガズー―じんせいってびっくりつづき [大型本]

Zagazoo is a baby like no other. In this quite exceptional picture book, young readers will be delighted by the hilarious and unexpected changes in his behaviour as Zagazoo grows up. Parents may detect some strange echoes of family life. --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

幸せにくらしていたジョージとベラのところに、ちっちゃなピンクのいきものがやってきました。二人はその「ザガズー」をそだてはじめますが、ザガズーがとんでもないものに変身して…。

George and Bella are a happy couple who spend their days making model airplanes, cleaning house, and eating strawberry and vanilla ice cream. When one day a mysterious package arrives with a cute little thing inside called Zagazoo, George and Bella are mystified but happy. He may not be perfect, but his smile makes up for occasional wet diapers. But one day they wake up to find that Zagazoo has turned into a baby vulture with terrifyingly loud screeches, especially at night. Then another day he is a small elephant knocking everything over. And then a warthog, rolling in anything that looks like mud. Then a bad-tempered dragon. Every day, it seems, Zagazoo is metamorphosing, and George and Bella don't know how they can keep up. What more does this changeling have in store for them?

Quentin Blake is one of the most popular children's book illustrators of our time. A long-time collaborator with Roald Dahl (and many other acclaimed authors) in such picture books as the Whitbread Award-winning The Witches, Blake's eminently recognizable style is humorous and deliciously sly. His utterly charming allegory of childhood's wonderfully horrible (or horribly wonderful) stages will ring true to Zagazoos former and present. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter
--このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

Blake's (Clown) meditation on the stages of childhood introduces George and Bella, a "happy couple" who receive a brightly wrapped package in the mail. Opening it, the seemingly clueless duo discovers "a little pink creature, as pretty as could be"; an accompanying label identifies the baby as "Zagazoo." Blake's characteristically whimsical watercolors show the two (in a rather reckless pastime) spending "happy days throwing it from one to the other." Then one day the parents awaken to find that Zagazoo has morphed into a screeching baby vulture. The infant's subsequent and alternating identities include a mud-tracking warthog, a fire-breathing dragon and a wailing bat. In adolescence, the fellow turns into a hairy creature, then a young man with "perfect manners" who falls in love with a young woman. When Zagazoo and his beloved go to tell his parents that they wish to marry, the story abruptly switches perspective: the young couple finds that George and Bella have changed into a pair of pelicans. "Isn't life amazing!" concludes Blake's chimerical commentary on the phases of life. Youngsters may find this more puzzling than amazing; it's adult Blake devotees who will most appreciate this quirky tale. All ages. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

ブレイク,クエンティン
1932年、イギリスのケント州生まれ。ケンブリッジ大学、チェルシー美術学校で学ぶ。ロアルド・ダールなどの本の挿し絵で人気が高いが、『アーミテージさんのすてきなじてんしゃ』(あかね書房)、『ふしぎなバイオリン』(岩波書店)、『シンプキン』(朔北社)など自作の絵本も多数。1980年、ケイト・グリーナウェイ賞受賞、1996年、ボローニャ・ラガッツィ賞(児童書フィクション部門)受賞、1999年にはイギリス皇室から初代名誉児童文学作家の称号を授かるなど、イギリスを代表する児童文学作家のひとり

谷川 俊太郎
1931年、東京生まれ。詩人。絵本、童話、作詞、記録映画の脚本、芝居の台本など多岐にわたる分野で活躍。1952年に第一詩集『二十億光年の孤独』を刊行。以後、詩集、エッセイ集、絵本など、多くの著作、訳書を刊行(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです)