具體描述
內容簡介
It's no ordinary Thursday for Marvin Redpost and his class...
It's "hole day," and even Mrs. North and Principal McCabe are wearing their very worst clothes. It seemed like a fun idea that morning, but now they're expecting company. The president -- of the United States! -- is on his way. And there's no time to change! Marvin must do math on the blackboard with television cameras pointed at him. And the day is just beginning! 作者簡介
Louis Sachar lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Carla, their daughter, Sherre, and their two dogs, Lucky and Tippy. In his spare time Louis likes to play bridge. Carla likes to read. Sherre likes to play with her friends. Lucky likes to catch Frisbees. Tippy likes to chew up shoes, fan letters, and Sherre's favorite toys. They all try to be good citizens, except, perhaps, Tippy. 精彩書評
"Aside from being resoundingly funny, Sachar has a rare honesty about what children really encounter in the world."
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 精彩書摘
Chapter 1
There was a red post out in front of Marvin Redpost's house. The rest of the fence was white. Marvin tapped the post for luck as he walked through the gate on his way to school.
He wore a pair of blue jeans with a hole over each knee. It was "hole day" at school.
Every day had been special this week. Monday, he had to wear socks that didn't match. Tuesday, everyone wore T-shirts that came from a vacation. Wednesday, yesterday, had been hat day. And today, everyone had to wear clothes with holes.
His two best friends, Nick and Stuart, were waiting for him at the corner.
"Do you think Mrs. North will wear clothes with holes?" asked Stuart.
"Sure, why not?" asked Marvin.
"No way!" said Nick. "I'll bet you a million dollars!"
Nick had also said there was "no way!" Mrs. North would wear mis-matched socks. He had also said there was "no way!" she would let the kids wear hats in class.
So far, he owed Marvin two million dollars.
Nick was wearing a T-shirt that had a large hole under his right armpit. It had been torn in a fight.
"She probably doesn't even own any clothes with holes," Nick said. "How could a teacher get holes in her clothes?"
"Moths," said Marvin. "She might have a wool sweater. Moths eat wool."
"Actually, moths don't really eat wool," Stuart pointed out. "Everybody thinks that, but really, it's the caterpillars that eat the wool."
Stuart was wearing a T-shirt that also had a large hole under the right armpit. It had been torn in a fight.
It was the same fight.
Nick and Stuart had fought each other. But now they were friends.
"You want to come over after school today?" Nick asked.
"Okay," said Stuart.
"I can't," said Marvin. "My mom is taking me to the shoe store. I'm going to my cousin's bar mitzvah on Saturday."
When they got to school, everybody they saw had holes in their clothes. Travis wore a shirt that was more hole than it was shirt. Clarence had a hole in his sneaker and his sock, so his big toe stuck all the way through.
"You should clip your toenail," said Marvin.
"You should clip your mouth!" said Clarence.
That didn't really make sense, but Marvin got the point. Clarence was the toughest kid in his class.
The bell rang, and everybody lined up and went to class.
Mrs. North was waiting in the classroom. She had a large hole in her shirt, over her stomach.
Marvin stopped and stared. He could see Mrs. North's belly button.
Nick now owed him three million dollars.
Chapter 2
Casey Happleton sat at the desk next to Marvin. She was absent today.
Marvin was disappointed to see her desk empty. She was a funny girl, and he knew she would have liked "hole day."
"I must say," said Mrs. North, "you are all so well dressed today. I've never seen a better-looking group of third graders."
Everybody laughed.
"How'd you get a hole in your shirt?" Kenny asked.
"I was working in my garden," said Mrs. North. "My shirt got snagged on a thorn from a rosebush."
Marvin nodded. He should have guessed.
"We should dress this way all the time," said Judy Jasper. "That way, nobody would feel bad if their parents were too poor to buy them new clothes."
"That's a good idea," said Mrs. North.
Marvin thought so, too.
"And the holes keep you cool on a hot day," Stuart pointed out.
"You're right," said Mrs. North.
Marvin agreed. Holes made perfect sense. He wondered why nobody had thought of it before.
A child's voice came over the P.A. system. "Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance."
Every day, a different kid got to lead the school in the pledge.
"That's Casey!" said Judy Jasper.
Marvin recognized Casey's voice as she recited the pledge. She sounded very serious.
He put his hand over his heart and said it along with her.
When Casey came back to class, she told Mrs. North that Mr. McCabe wanted to see her. Mr. McCabe was the principal.
"Did he say why?" Mrs. North asked.
Casey shook her head.
Casey wore a shirt that was way too big for her. Marvin guessed it was her father's. Not only did it have holes in it, but it also had paint spilled on it.
Mrs. North told the class she would be gone for only a minute. She said she expected everyone to behave and to use their time wisely.
After she left, Nick said, "I bet you Mrs. North got in trouble for wearing torn clothes!"
"No, Mr. McCabe is also wearing torn clothes," said Casey. "I saw his elbow."
"What did it look like?" asked Judy.
"Pink and bumpy," said Casey.
Casey had a ponytail that stuck out of the side of her head instead of the back. She sat down next to Marvin. The ponytail was on Marvin's side. Sometimes, when Casey laughed really hard, her ponytail went around in circles.
Mrs. North was gone for a lot longer than a minute. When she returned, she had a very strange expression on her face. She looked lost. She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.
"Are you all right?" asked Kenny.
Mrs. North looked at Kenny, but still didn't say anything. Finally, she spoke. She said, "We are..." then stopped.
She started again. "There will..."
That was as far as she got.
She tried again. "I expect..."
Her mouth shut tight. She tapped her desk with her fist.
At last she managed to say a complete sentence. "We are going to have a visitor today."
Marvin couldn't wait to hear who it was. From the way Mrs. North was acting, he thought it must be somebody weird.
"Who is it?" asked Warren.
"Is it somebody I've heard of?" asked Nick.
"Oh, I hope so, Nick," said Mrs. North. Then she took a deep breath and said, "The president will be coming here."
Everybody gasped.
Marvin was a little confused. He wasn't sure which president Mr. North meant. Did she mean the president of the United States? Or did she mean the president of something else, like the president of a shoe company?
Marvin's school was in Maryland. It was less than twenty miles from Washington, D.C. His father worked in Washington, D.C. So it was possible that Mrs. North meant the president of the United States. But why would the president of the United States come to his school?
He raised his hand.
Pasty Gatsby raised her hand, too.
"Yes, Patsy," said Mrs. North.
"The president of what?" Patsy asked.
Mrs. North stared at her as if she thought Patsy was an alien from another planet. "The president of the United States," she said.
"Duh!" said Travis.
Patsy blushed.
"Sometimes I wonder about you, Patsy," said Mrs. North.
"What'd you think? The president of Mexico?" asked Clarence.
Marvin turned red, too, but nobody noticed. He lowered his hand.
"Yes, Marvin, did you have a question?" asked Mrs. North.
He shook his head. "No, I was just stretching."
Mrs. North explained that even Mr. McCabe hadn't known the president was coming until ten minutes ago. It had been kept secret for security reasons.
"Now, I know I don't have to tell you how to behave when the president gets here," she said.
Then she told everybody how to behave.
"Be respectful. Be attentive. If you get a chance to speak to him, remember to speak loud and clear. You should call him 'Mr. President.' 'Yes, Mr. President.' 'Thank you, Mr. President.' Remember to -- "
Mrs. North suddenly stopped talking. "Oh, my gosh!" she exclaimed. "I have to change my clothes!"
好的,這是一份為一本虛構的兒童讀物撰寫的詳細圖書簡介,該書名為《星辰之下的秘密圖書館》(The Secret Library Beneath the Stars),目標讀者年齡為6-9歲。 --- 《星辰之下的秘密圖書館》 作者:艾莉絲·文森特(Alice Vincent) 插畫:本傑明·霍爾(Benjamin Hall) 一本關於友誼、勇氣和未被發現的魔法世界的奇妙冒險故事。 獻給所有相信夜空比我們想象的更近一點的孩子。 --- 故事梗概: 在寜靜的月光鎮,坐落著一座看似平凡的公共圖書館,它的名字是“靜水書館”。鎮上的孩子們都喜歡來這裏,但他們並不知道,這座圖書館的地下深處,隱藏著一個足以改變世界的秘密。 故事的主人公是十歲的莉拉(Lila)。莉拉是一個安靜、好奇心旺盛的女孩,她最大的特點是對星象和古老符號有著異乎尋常的敏感。她不像其他孩子那樣熱衷於電子遊戲,而是更喜歡在圖書館的角落裏,用手指摩挲著泛黃的書頁,想象著那些被遺忘的文明。 一天傍晚,當圖書館即將關門時,莉拉發現瞭一本封麵繪有復雜星圖的無名古書。這本書散發著微弱的、仿佛來自遙遠宇宙的幽光。當她無意中觸碰到書頁中央的一個螺鏇標記時,圖書館深處的地闆忽然震動起來,空氣中彌漫開一股夾雜著檀香和雨後泥土的奇特氣味。 麵前的巨大橡木書架緩緩嚮兩側移開,露齣瞭一個深邃的、嚮下延伸的圓形石階——星辰之下的秘密圖書館。 這個地下世界完全顛覆瞭莉拉對“圖書館”的認知。這裏沒有昏暗的燈光和安靜的規則。高聳的拱形穹頂上,並非岩石,而是流動著銀河般的光芒,仿佛將整個夜空都裝在瞭這個地下空間裏。書架不再是木製的,而是由閃爍著微光的礦物構成,上麵擺放的書籍,其書脊會根據閱讀者的心情變換顔色。 在這裏,文字不再隻是墨水,它們是活的。有些書頁上的字會自行跳舞,有些會低聲講述它們記載的故事,有些甚至會暫時具象化書中的場景——一頭會噴齣金色火花的幼龍,一艘在無聲的海洋中航行的船隻。 莉拉很快發現,她不是這個秘密圖書館的唯一訪客。她遇見瞭兩個夥伴: 1. 提姆(Tim): 一個精力充沛、行動力極強的男孩,他對機械和發明有著驚人的天賦。他堅信這個圖書館的運作依賴著某種復雜的、失傳的“光能引擎”。 2. 薩菲婭(Sophia): 一位年紀稍長,言語不多但觀察力極強的女孩,她似乎能“聽見”書本的心跳聲,對語言的結構有著天生的理解力。 三人組成瞭一個臨時的探險隊,他們共同的目標是解開這個秘密圖書館存在的真正目的,以及如何利用它的力量。 核心衝突與冒險: 很快,他們發現這個圖書館正麵臨危機。它依靠著一種被稱為“記憶之塵”的能量維持運轉,而這種能量正在迅速流失。流失的原因,與鎮上一個名叫“墨守成規先生”(Mr. Pedantic)的古怪老頭有關。他堅信“一切事物都必須被歸檔、被編號、被嚴格控製”,他無法容忍圖書館中那種自由、混亂、充滿想象力的“非結構化知識”。他正在通過某種不為人知的方法,試圖“淨化”圖書館的能量,將其變成一個普通、冰冷、隻有事實記錄的檔案室。 莉拉、提姆和薩菲婭必須利用各自的特長,在墨守成規先生的乾擾下,穿越圖書館深處那些越來越具挑戰性的“知識區域”: 迷宮書架區: 書架會不斷重組,隻有找到描述“方嚮”的古老地圖,纔能走齣迷宮。 情緒花園: 一片由故事中的情緒具象化而成的奇異植物區。如果探險者帶著恐懼進入,植物就會釋放齣令人麻痹的陰影藤蔓。他們必須學會平靜和共情纔能通過。 時間的沙漏之塔: 在這裏,閱讀速度決定瞭時間的快慢。提姆必須修復一個失衡的機械裝置,以穩定時間流速,否則他們將在其中被睏數十年。 友誼與成長的力量: 在這次冒險中,三人深刻體會到,真正的知識不僅僅是書本上的信息,更是運用知識、互相協作和相信彼此想象力的過程。莉拉學會瞭鼓起勇氣,不再隻躲在書本的後麵;提姆意識到蠻乾不如精確思考;而薩菲婭也終於開口,分享瞭她對語言魔力的深刻見解。 最終,他們明白,要拯救這個充滿魔法的圖書館,他們不能隻是“閱讀”它,而是要“參與”它。他們必須通過一個失落的儀式,將他們對閱讀的熱愛、對想象力的堅信,重新注入到“記憶之塵”的核心中去。 本書亮點: 奇幻的場景描寫: 帶領小讀者進入一個充滿視覺震撼的地下奇境,感受“活著的書”的魔力。 主題深刻而適齡: 探討瞭想象力與規則、自由知識與僵化教條之間的平衡。 強調團隊閤作: 三位主角性格迥異,但隻有團結一緻纔能剋服挑戰。 插畫精美(虛構): 本傑明·霍爾的插畫將捕捉到地下圖書館那種既古老又充滿未來感的氛圍。 適閤閱讀人群: 熱愛閱讀、對神秘事物感到好奇、喜歡室內探險故事的6至9歲兒童。特彆適閤那些第一次開始獨立閱讀長篇章節書的孩子,情節引人入勝,節奏把握得當,確保瞭閱讀的樂趣和成就感。 《星辰之下的秘密圖書館》——翻開它,你將不再隻是一個讀者,你將成為故事的一部分。