The Magic Pudding

by Norman Lindsay, Norman Lindsay (Illustrator), Philip Pullman (Introduction)

Overview

Now in paperback
 
The Magic Pudding is a pie, except when it’s something else, like a steak, or a jam doughnut, or an apple dumpling, or whatever its owner wants it to be. And it never runs out. No matter how many slices you cut, there’s always something left over. It’s magic.
 
But the Magic Pudding is also alive. It walks and it talks and it’s got a personality like no other. A meaner, sulkier, snider, snarlinger Pudding you’ve never met.
 
So Bunyip Bluegum (the koala) finds out when he joins Barnacle Bill (the sailor) and Sam Sawnoff (the penguin bold) as members of the Noble Society of Pudding Owners, whose “members are required to wander along the roads, indulgin’ in conversation, song and story, and eatin’ at regular intervals from the Pudding.” The Magic Pudding rivals The Stinky Cheese Man as one of the craziest books ever written for young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590179949
Publisher:	New York Review Books
Publication date:	05/17/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	184
Sales rank:	329,038
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1150L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Norman Lindsay (1879–1969) was born in Victoria, Australia, the fifth of ten children, several of whom grew up to be artists. At age seventeen, he left home and moved to Melbourne, where he found work as an illustrator. Famously prolific in many mediums, Lindsay produced countless oil paintings, drawings, etchings, and watercolors, as well as eleven novels. He was famous, too, for the countless controversies he happily provoked throughout his long life. As his granddaughter later explained: “He fought the wowsers, he fought the hypocrites, the people that were going to stop and stifle creative freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of thought.” Lindsay’s home is now a museum of his works run by Australia’s National Trust. After entertaining generations of young Australians, The Magic Pudding is recognized as a classic of children’s literature, and in 2000 a sculpture of Bunyip Bluegum and friends (including the Pudding itself) was unveiled as the centerpiece of the children’s garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.
 
Philip Pullman is the author of the trilogy His Dark Materials, the third book of which, The Amber Spyglass, was the first children’s book to win the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. He spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he first encountered The Magic Pudding. He now lives and works in Oxford, England.

Editorial Reviews

"I think it’s the funniest children’s book ever written.  One of the great strengths of the book is its illustration, by Lindsay himself. He was best known as a visual artist, producing thousands of paintings, etchings, drawings, and sculptures, but his pictures for The Magic Pudding are his best work, in my view. They are so vigorous and absurd, so strongly characterized and brilliantly detailed, that my eye delights in them still.” —Philip Pullman on his favorite children’s book, Publishers Weekly, December 2015  

“The Magic Pudding ... is one of my all-time favourite children’s books – an unmissable read for anyone who has not already encountered it … The New York Review’s Children’s collection is full of such choice reprints that I would gladly have every one of their publications on my shelves.” —Kate Kellaway, The Guardian (UK)

“A robust fantasy, The Magic Pudding was first published in 1918 but shows few signs of its age...[a] quirky tale about the adventures of Bunyip Bluegum, an irrepressible, polite young koala. He meets various eccentric characters who bust into song and rhyme. In the introduction to the new edition, Philip Pullman...calls Lindsay’s work ‘the funniest children’s book ever written’...You can feel Lindsay carried away on the wings of his own energy.”—USA Today

“Philip Pullman’s favourite book … satirical, wise and brilliantly illustrated by Lindsay” —The Sunday Times (UK)
 
“The illustrations are great fun, the characters burst into comic verse at the drop of a hat, and it’s hard to resist.”—The Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

The koala Bunyip Bluegum, the sailor Bill Barnacle, and the penguin Sam Sawnoff are on a journey with a very special Pudd’in—one that can talk, walk, and provide endless slices of himself. Lurking close behind, however, are a very hungry Wombat and Possum. These crooks use all sorts of costumes and schemes to get their paws on Pudd’in. When successful, the Wombat and Possum do not have long before Bunyip, Bill, and Sam find an equally cunning way to win their precious Pudd’in back. The feud ends up going to trial, with Bunyip, Bill, and Sam—the Noble Society of Pudd’in Owners—prevailing. Written nearly one hundred years ago, this Australian classic may be a challenging book for contemporary United States’ readers to appreciate. The vocabulary may discourage young readers, as many of the words used are not common to U.S. vernacular. For instance, many children will think of chocolate pudding—not a meat pie—when they first encounter the word in this book. This volume does not contain definitions in the footnotes or a word bank to assist readers. The narrative contains an uncomfortable amount of violence. Many disputes are settled with fists; and there are few, if no, consequences for using violence to one’s benefit. Bill and Sam steal the Pudd’in from a chef called Curry and Rice, who plummets to his death off an iceberg. Many of Lindsay’s illustrations depict dour-faced characters with arms raised, prepared to strike. The Pudd’in and the dog Benjamen Brandysnap are both exploited for their food. The final illustration is a prime example, showing Bunyip, Bill, and Sam leisurely sipping tea and smoking pipes, while Pudd’in is locked behind a fence and Benjamen is hunched over a shovel tending the vegetable garden. Teachers might consider using this book to discuss themes of imperialist privilege in literature. Reviewer: Katie Kemple; Ages 8 to 12.

Children's Literature - Katie Kemple