The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber
ReviewThe great New Yorker humorist James Thurber wrote a few childrens books, the best of which may be
The 13 Clocks, a 1950 tale of a wicked duke who thinks he has stopped time. Newly reissued, with an intro by Neil Gaiman — who calls it probably the best book in the world —
Clocks is the equal of any modern kid classic. By the time he wrote
The 13 Clocks, Thurber was too blind to provide his own usual scratchy but vivid illustrations, so he enlisted his friend Marc Simont to do the drawings. Simont provided beautifully cartoonish yet subtle mini-paintings that convey Clocks varying moods of gloom, menace, surprise, and joy. –
Entertainment WeeklyThe 13 Clocks is one of the cleverest [fairytales] that any modern writer has been able to tell…there is no living author who moves about in fairyland with such wit and easy familiarity. -
TimeIts one of the great kids books of the last century. It may be the best thing Thurber ever wrote. Its certainly the most fun that anybody can have reading anything aloud. -Neil Gaiman
There are spys, monsters, betrayals, hairs-breadth escapes, spells to be broken and all the usual accouterments, but Thurber gives the proceedings his own particular deadpan spin…It all makes for a rousing concoction of adventure, humor and satire that defies any conventional classification. -
LA TimesMy exemplary Thurber fairy tale is
The 13 Clocks…a small masterpiece of respectful travesty honors the whole spectrum of the traditions. -
The Hudson ReviewThe 13 Clocks is especially wonderful. -
The Washington PostRich with ogres and oligarchs, riddles and wit. What distinguishes [
The 13 Clocks] is not just quixotic imagination but Thurbers inimitable delight in language. The stories beg to be read aloud…Thurber captivates the ear and captures the heart. -
NewsweekFor true modern fairy tales we leave you with James Thurber…who wrote a tale…with charm and grace in
The Thirteen Clocks. These I recommend if you are tired of Grimm. -ABC Radio
Thurbers stories are for children to dream through and for adults to read as parables -
GuardianEveryone who reads to their children knows…to read the stuff that you love, or that you love to roll off your tongue…Id put in a personal endorsement for James Thurbers
The 13 Clocks here… -
GuardianGothic, gruesome, and written with the wit of the master wordsmith.If you saw my copy, youd believe me when I say Ive read it more than 13 times. -Nicola Morgan,
The Scotsman –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Why Buy A The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber?
A mixture of puns and nonsense in Thurbers distinctive style weave a story of a prince, a princess, and a fairy tale ending. By the author of The Wonderful O. Reprint. NYT.
Customer Reviews & Opinions
Great gift!
NPR (Pinkwater) reviewed this before Christmas, so we jumped to order it for the children of some good friends. It was sold out promptly, and there was some delay in getting it (mid-Feb). But they finally got some more, and the kids got it, and love it. Absolutely love it, they want it read to them over and over, like we used to do.
Great fun to read aloud
“The Thirteen Clocks”
by James Thurber
illustrated by Marc Simont
———————————————
This is an utterly delicious, deliciously wicked satire of good, old-fashioned fairytales in which gallant princes rescue hapless damsels from unreasonably wicked villains. Like all great adventures, this story gets its biggest kick from the bad guy, and prose stylist James Thurber goes all-out in constructing the meanest, wickedest, most dastardly baddie of them all, a fellow who is so evil he tortures small birds for fun and wears not only an eye patch, but a monocle, too. Thurber gleefully piles on the fairytale cliches and blithely pokes holes through each one. The real joy of this book is in reading it aloud and sharing it with others: you can’y help but get caught up in the rhythm of the writing, or laughing out loud when Thurber delivers a real whopper. The story is also quite inventive, introducing magical creatures unlike any seen before, as mysterious and unpredictable as they are enchanting and bizarre.
This is one of the last books Thurber wrote — dictated and scrawled down as he was losing his sight, and wonderfully illustrated by Thurber’s collegue and friend, Marc Simont. Out of print for years, this book is a delight waiting to be discovered by both Thurber fans and folks who like good, creative children’s fiction. Highly recommended! (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children’s book reviews)
Very, very enjoyable
The 13 Clocks is a hard book to describe. It is a fairy tale, and yet not and it seems like a children’s book, but it felt very adult in parts. It is written in a very poetic way that I immedietely liked, even rhyming at times. It features a prince and a princess and an evil Duke and charcters called Whisper and Listen and a woman who weeps jewels and I just found the whole thing clever and witty.
The book is very short, but as the man who wrote the introduction stated: Just short enought. I read it in about half an hour. There are pictures on almost every page and the illustrations are beautiful. They remind me of the time of Sleeping Beauty and The Sword in the Stone. I have not seen many drawings like that in this time and age, which is very unfortunate.
The book was written in 1950, which I had not known going into it, but does not feel dated. Children will certainly love it and I hope this little book will become as popular as many of the other modern children’s tales. I highly recommend this to anyone, no matter what age.
Get Amazon’s Lowest Price Today!
Read Full Post »
–Richard Farr
![Magic Tree House Collection: Books 13-16: Vacation Under the Volcano/Day of the Dragon King/Viking Ships at Sunrise/Hour of the Olympics [UNABRIDGED] by Mary Pope Osborne](http://www.best-price-and-hottest-deals.com/wp-content/uploads/amazon/best-price-Magic-Tree-House-Collection.jpg)
