The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery - Hardcover

Base, Graeme

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810932652 ISBN 13: 9780810932654

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993

Synopsis

When Horace the elephant turns eleven, he celebrates in style by inviting his exotic friends to a splendid costume party. But a mystery is afoot, for in the midst of the games, music, and revelry, someone has eaten the birthday feast. The rhyming text and lavish, detailed illustrations each provide clues, and it's up to the reader to piece them together and decide whodunit! "The fun of poring over the pictures is matched by the enjoyment derived from the textwitty, ingenious verses." -- Publishers Weekly Graeme Base is the author of many award-winning books for children, including Animalia (Puffin), The Sign of the Seahorse, and most recently, The Discovery of Dragons.

About this title

Review:

Reading The Eleventh Hour is like running a marathon: one finishes exhausted but satisfied. Graeme Base, creator of the popular Animalia, has crafted another intricately wrought, gorgeously illustrated picture book, this time a mystery in verse. When Horace the Elephant decides to throw himself a party for his 11th birthday, he never suspects a crime will be committed by lunchtime. Who has stolen the birthday feast? As with any good mystery, everyone is guilty until proven innocent. The proof lies in the myriad clues embedded in each glorious illustration. Young sleuths will delight in decoding the complex messages that pop up in unexpected places.

Graeme Base used the buildings he saw during his travels through Africa, Asia, and Europe to design and decorate Horace's fantastic house. Astute readers may recognize Roman cathedrals, Scottish palaces and stone carvings from India. Best of all, secreted in these walls are cryptic messages in Egyptian hieroglyphics, anagrams and even Morse code to challenge the perceptive and deductive abilities of any reader "of tender years or long in tooth". The Eleventh Hour is a brilliant, rigorous, creative romp that no child (or adult) should miss.

About the Author:

Graeme Base is one of the world's leading creators of picture books. Animalia received international acclaim when it was first published in 1986, and it has achieved classic status with worldwide sales of more than two million copies. Base's most recent picture book, The Water Hole, an ingenious fusion of counting book, puzzle book, storybook and artbook, has been published in Australia, the USA, Canada, Italy, France, Denmark and the UK. Base lives in Melbourne with his artist wife Robyn and their three children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0810932652
• ISBN 13: 9780810932654
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32