This is a cautionary tale illustrating how easy it is to fall into the consumerism trap. After a cursory search, Bob can’t locate the wrench he needs in order to repair his tricycle. When he heads to the local Megamart store to purchase a new one, he is waylaid by a number of dazzling marketing gimmicks, such as oversized sale signs, an enthusiastic store greeter, and the lure of one-of-a-kind items. With each return visit to the store, Bob heads home with bizarre and quite unnecessary purchases, such as a fridge hat and musical pajamas – always forgetting the needed wrench! From the advice of Bob’s over-the-top animal friends to the busy endpapers that echo overconsumption, there is plenty of discussion potential about impulse buying, responsible shopping strategies, and simply putting things away carefully. | Gravel won the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award for her original French language version, La clé à molette.

32 pp., 8.75 × 10.75", colour illustrations

Source: Association of Book Publishers of BC - BC Books for Schools (2021-2022)

ELISE GRAVEL a écrit et illustré une trentaine d’albums jeunesse. L’auteure use d’un humour mordant pour exprimer ses vues et éveiller le sens critique de ses jeunes lecteurs. En 2022, Elise a remporté le prix Vicky Metclaf, qui souligne le travail d’un auteur ou d’une auteure jeunesse. Elle a également reçu le prix du Gouverneur général en 2012 dans la catégorie illustrations pour son livre La clé à molette, de même que le prix Droits et Libertés et des droits de la jeunesse.

 

 

ELISE GRAVEL has won a Governor General's Award for illustration, the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, the Rights and Freedoms Award from the Quebec Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, two Applied Arts Awards and a Grafika Award. She also was short-listed for Mr. Christie's Book Award. She has written and illustrated over 30 books for children in both French and English including Not Me (Pas moi), Everybody! (Tout le monde! and It's My Body! (C'est mon corps!). Elise lives in Montreal, Quebec.

 

Elise Gravel's profile page

Charles Simard is a Québécois editor and translator from Montréal, also known as Tiohtià:ke and Mooniyaang. He works as poetry, fiction, and non-fiction editor for Talonbooks in Vancouver on Coast Salish Territory. His published work includes the essay Littérature, analyse et forme: Herbert, Tolkien, Borges, Eco (EUE, 2010) and a number of translations for Orca Book Publishers, including Elise Gravel’s The Wrench and Myriam Daguzan Bernier’s dictionary of sexuality, Naked. As a lexicographer, he has collaborated on the making of the popular linguistic suite Antidote in its bilingual editions. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in comparative literature from Université de Montréal and was a postdoctoral fellow at the City University of New York’s Graduate
Center. His doctoral and postdoctoral publications focused on the poetics of avant-garde composer and writer John Cage. He lives in Montréal, Québec.

Charles Simard's profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens
• Commended, BC Books for BC Schools

“Although Bob gets bonked on the noggin, Gravel does not do so to her young readers. The gentle anticonsumerism message is embedded in an entertaining story…An excellent primer on the value of time and money before the allowance years hit.”

Quill & Quire

“Parents and teachers hoping to teach their children to be less acquisitive now have another tool in their belt (a new one, yes, but a good one). Recommended.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“Gravel uses humor and a fun story to bring up an important lesson for parents and their kids.”

Sal's Fiction Addiction

“Colorful and comical.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Lighthearted…Hip [and] colorful.”

Publishers Weekly

“[Will] bring lots of laughs to readers.”

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