Tinker and Tom and the Star Baby

by David McPhail

Book Overview

A boy and a bear find a Star Baby in their back yard and try to fix its spaceship so that it can return to its mother. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316563498
• ISBN13: 9780316563499
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.4" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Review for Tinker and Tom and the Star Baby

McPhail, David. Tinker and Tom and the Star Baby. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Zornado, Joseph. "Swaddling the Child in Children's Literature." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 22.3 (1997): 105-112. Tinker and Tom and the Star Baby is a fantasy that takes the reader through an exciting adventure. One night, Tinker and Tom, a boy and a bear, can't get to sleep. They look out the window and see a star baby land in their backyard. Tinker and Tom decide that the Star Baby is lost and needs to find it's mother. Tinker and Tom venture into repairing the spaceship star baby arrived in, so that it can be sent home to it's mother. The fantastic element of the story creates excitement in the book. Many children dream about experiencing this fantastic element. Children only wish excitement, like the spaceship, would land in their backyard. The children grow up as adults never getting to experience these fantasies. Adult authors, such as David McPhail, write children's literature to relive their childhood fantasies. These authors are given the opportunity to explore a fantasy world they never experienced as a child. The fantasy created in Tinker and Tom and Star Baby allows McPhail to relive his childhood fantasies. In the article, "Swaddling the Child in Children's Literature," Joseph Zornado explores the concept that children's literature authors write to relive their childhood fantasies that they never got to experience. He proposes, " that children and adults all share the same pleasure" (105). This pleasure is experiencing a fantastic world. Children are given opportunities to explore this pleasure through pretend play, for example, but adults must forget about this pleasure. Zornado also says that children's literature is about finding what is "dead, buried and forgotten" in adults (105). David McPhail is an adult author who attempts to explore the fantasy world he never got to experience through Tinker and Tom and Star Baby. As Zornado states, McPhail is an author, who like other children's literature authors, chooses to relive his childhood through this story. The fantasy exists in the story in several ways. One way is through Tom, the bear, who lives with Tinker, the little boy. Tom can talk like a human and is Tinker's best friend. During childhood, many people pretend that animals can talk to them, and may even have an animal as their best friend. McPhail chooses to experience this element of fantasy through Tom. Another element of fantasy is found in Star Baby. Star Baby arrives by a spaceship. Star Baby cannot talk, but she does have magical powers. She has the power to make objects float around. In the book, Star Baby begins eating the cat's food. The cat starts to pounce on Star Baby, but Star Baby uses her magic and makes the cat float around the room by pointing at him. During childhood, many children fantasize about space. McPhail relives his childhood here through Star Baby. T

A great picture book that will appeal to would-be inventors

This is a wonderful, whimsical book about a boy named Tinker, and his friend Tom, a very large bear. As they watch the stars one evening, they notice that one is falling to earth, right in their backyard! Tinker explains to Tom that it must be a "star baby" that has fallen and will need help getting back to its mother. The boy and the bear find the star baby, but also discover that the baby's star ship needs to be repaired before the star baby can return to its mother. Tinker and Tom decide to take the star ship and the baby inside, where Tinker proceeds to "fix" the star ship with things that he finds around the kitchen. Tinker almost gets himself into trouble when his dad wakes up, but the star baby takes care of him with its magical powers. Kids will enjoy seeing the things that Tinker uses to "fuel" up the star baby's space ship, and the way the baby takes care of the cat and the father. The illustrations are humorous and fun, and this is a great book that will be read over and over!