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The Wizard's Tears

Illustrated by Keren Katz
Hardcover
$18.95 US
8.71"W x 11.01"H x 0.43"D   | 17 oz | 30 per carton
On sale Oct 29, 2019 | 48 Pages | 9781609808754
Age 5-9 years | Grades K-4
Reading Level: Lexile 680L

A lonely wizard moves to a new town in this charming children's story by renowned American poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, now in print again for the first time in decades.

Everything is going wrong in the town of Drocknock until the new wizard arrives. He is very young, and he is lonely, and very nervous too; but he knows just where to find the right spells to stop the chicken pox epidemic and bring back the twenty cows that had disappeared. The drought is the town's most important problem, however. The new wizard needs five of his own tears to bring rain, but he is so happy in Drocknock he cannnot cry!
    "Peel an onion," the old wizard advises. "But," he warns, "beware, beware...a wizard's tears are powerful. They can make strange magic.".....
    The Wizard's Tears, first published in 1975, is moving and kind and funny in its intimate and modest way, yet strong and full of renewed life with stunning new illustrations from Keren Katz. Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin had been friends for several years--having met at and carpooled to a Boston poetry workshop--when they began writing books together for younger readers. The creativity and versatility required for children's books offered the two poets the opportunity to experiment and play with language in new, unexpected ways, to connect world and words with humble, powerful, childlike imagery--"not unlike writing a poem where compression acts to intensify feelings," as Maxine reckoned.
"Kumin and Sexton's 1975 tale of a reckless young wizard gets a makeover with Katz's vibrant, whimsical illustrations ... An excellent read-aloud for older picture-book readers, while many of the words repeat throughout the text to support emerging independent readers' facility with language ... Silly, sincere, and optimistic, this reissue with new illustrations will delight a new generation (or two)." Kirkus Reviews
© Tufts University
Honored as America's poet laureate from 1981 to 1982, MAXINE KUMIN (1925-2014) was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize as well as the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. In addition to her seventeen poetry collections, novels, and essay collections for adults, she was the author of many children's books including Oh, Harry!(illustrated by Barry Moser), What Color is Caesar? (illustrated by Alison Friend), Mites to Mastodons (illustrated by Pam Zagarenski), The Microscope (illustrated by Arnold Lobel), When Great-Grandmother Was Young and When Grandmother Was Young (illustrated by Don Almquist) and Follow the Fall, Spring Things, Summer Story, and A Winter Friend(illustrated by Artur Marokvia). Seven Stories Press is re-releasing four of Kumin's out-of-print children's books for kids ages 5 to 8, co-written with Anne Sexton: Eggs of Things and More Eggs of Things (illustrated by Leonard Shortall) and Joey and the Birthday Present and The Wizard's Tears (illustrated by Evaline Ness). Before her death in early 2014, she and her husband lived on a farm in the Mink Hills of Warner, New Hampshire, for 40 years, where they raised horses and enjoyed the companionship of several rescued dogs. View titles by Maxine Kumin

About

A lonely wizard moves to a new town in this charming children's story by renowned American poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, now in print again for the first time in decades.

Everything is going wrong in the town of Drocknock until the new wizard arrives. He is very young, and he is lonely, and very nervous too; but he knows just where to find the right spells to stop the chicken pox epidemic and bring back the twenty cows that had disappeared. The drought is the town's most important problem, however. The new wizard needs five of his own tears to bring rain, but he is so happy in Drocknock he cannnot cry!
    "Peel an onion," the old wizard advises. "But," he warns, "beware, beware...a wizard's tears are powerful. They can make strange magic.".....
    The Wizard's Tears, first published in 1975, is moving and kind and funny in its intimate and modest way, yet strong and full of renewed life with stunning new illustrations from Keren Katz. Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin had been friends for several years--having met at and carpooled to a Boston poetry workshop--when they began writing books together for younger readers. The creativity and versatility required for children's books offered the two poets the opportunity to experiment and play with language in new, unexpected ways, to connect world and words with humble, powerful, childlike imagery--"not unlike writing a poem where compression acts to intensify feelings," as Maxine reckoned.

Praise

"Kumin and Sexton's 1975 tale of a reckless young wizard gets a makeover with Katz's vibrant, whimsical illustrations ... An excellent read-aloud for older picture-book readers, while many of the words repeat throughout the text to support emerging independent readers' facility with language ... Silly, sincere, and optimistic, this reissue with new illustrations will delight a new generation (or two)." Kirkus Reviews

Author

© Tufts University
Honored as America's poet laureate from 1981 to 1982, MAXINE KUMIN (1925-2014) was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize as well as the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. In addition to her seventeen poetry collections, novels, and essay collections for adults, she was the author of many children's books including Oh, Harry!(illustrated by Barry Moser), What Color is Caesar? (illustrated by Alison Friend), Mites to Mastodons (illustrated by Pam Zagarenski), The Microscope (illustrated by Arnold Lobel), When Great-Grandmother Was Young and When Grandmother Was Young (illustrated by Don Almquist) and Follow the Fall, Spring Things, Summer Story, and A Winter Friend(illustrated by Artur Marokvia). Seven Stories Press is re-releasing four of Kumin's out-of-print children's books for kids ages 5 to 8, co-written with Anne Sexton: Eggs of Things and More Eggs of Things (illustrated by Leonard Shortall) and Joey and the Birthday Present and The Wizard's Tears (illustrated by Evaline Ness). Before her death in early 2014, she and her husband lived on a farm in the Mink Hills of Warner, New Hampshire, for 40 years, where they raised horses and enjoyed the companionship of several rescued dogs. View titles by Maxine Kumin