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Wallace Hoskins, the Boy Who Grew Down

2.7/5 ( ratings)

"In almost every respect, " Wallace is an ordinary boy. True, he's small for his age and he never takes off his fireman's hat. "He'll grow out of it, " his mild father reassures his mother. But when Wallace does finally begin to grow, he doesn't grow up, like other children; he grows down: At the beach, his legs get longer while the rest of him stays the same size -- an oddity his older brother points out with a sibling's smugness. Thus is Wallace's destiny taken from him. He's a spectacle suddenly, worried that he might grow as tall as the roof, and clearly a deeper worry for his mother. In a panic, she consults Nanny Heppleweather, too old for service but not too old for advice, who whispers something mysterious about a toadstool that Mrs. Hoskins will find beneath Wallace's beloved hat. In this deft blend of nonsense and common sense, normalcy is restored by magic -- and isn't that how bodily changes feel? Magical and then just a part of one's life? That's how Wallace sees it when he's his own boy again, casting a shadow just the right size across the sand.

Language: English

Pages: 32

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)

Release: September 15, 1999

ISBN: 0789425238

ISBN 13: 9780789425232

Wallace Hoskins, the Boy Who Grew Down

2.7/5 ( ratings)

"In almost every respect, " Wallace is an ordinary boy. True, he's small for his age and he never takes off his fireman's hat. "He'll grow out of it, " his mild father reassures his mother. But when Wallace does finally begin to grow, he doesn't grow up, like other children; he grows down: At the beach, his legs get longer while the rest of him stays the same size -- an oddity his older brother points out with a sibling's smugness. Thus is Wallace's destiny taken from him. He's a spectacle suddenly, worried that he might grow as tall as the roof, and clearly a deeper worry for his mother. In a panic, she consults Nanny Heppleweather, too old for service but not too old for advice, who whispers something mysterious about a toadstool that Mrs. Hoskins will find beneath Wallace's beloved hat. In this deft blend of nonsense and common sense, normalcy is restored by magic -- and isn't that how bodily changes feel? Magical and then just a part of one's life? That's how Wallace sees it when he's his own boy again, casting a shadow just the right size across the sand.

Language: English

Pages: 32

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)

Release: September 15, 1999

ISBN: 0789425238

ISBN 13: 9780789425232

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