Floramel and Esteban

by Emilie Buchwald, Charles Robinson (Illustrator)

Overview

Floramel is a lonely and bored cow who longs to make music like the calypso songs the village boy, Rafie, sings to her. With the arrival of Esteban, a cattle egret, she finds companionship and the ability to make her own calypso music via conch shells Esteban brings her, much to the delight of Rafie and the villagers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780940719149
Publisher:	The Gryphon Press
Publication date:	11/15/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	74
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	6 - 12 Years

About the Author

Emilie Buchwald is the author also of Gildaen, A Most Unusual Rabbit (winner of the Chicago Tribune Book Award, best book for 9-12 year olds) and two children's picture books, written under he maiden name of Daisy Bix, Buddy Unchained and At the Dog Park with Sam and Lucy.
Buchwald is the publisher of The Gryphon Press and the founding copublisher of Milkweed Editions. She has been awarded the McKnight Artist of the Year, the Kay Sexton Award, the National Book Critic's Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, and the AP Anderson Award.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–5—Floramel, a cow, lives in a meadow near a cliff overlooking the sea. She is lonely, and curious about the world. When a flock of cattle egrets lands near her looking for a place to feed, she talks the leader into assigning a bird to her as her grooming companion. Esteban stays behind and describes the world beyond, and gradually a close friendship develops. Esteban even brings a conch shell to his companion and she learns to make music. After he migrates with his flock, the cow becomes listless, abandons playing the shells, and grows quite thin waiting for her friend. When he returns without the flock and the two are reunited, Floramel begins to play her music again, and the townspeople gather to hear. As word spreads, the musical cow is declared a national treasure. The text consists of a sequence of exchanges between the creatures and features characters that exhibit human traits such as concern for others. The theme of friendship will resonate with children, and reluctant readers will find the short chapters and predictable-yet-satisfying ending appealing. Full-page, black-and-white sketches begin each chapter.—Margaret R. Tassia, Millersville University, PA

School Library Journal