Graven Images

Paul Fleischman spins three engrossing stories about the unexpected ways an artist's creations reveal truths - tales whose intriguing plots and many moods will entertain readers and inspire future writers. Can wood, copper, or marble communicate? They can if they are the graven images in Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman's trio of eerie, beguiling short stories. If you whisper a secret into a wooden statue's ear, will anyone find out? Can a wobbly weathervane bearing the image of Saint Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, steer a love-struck apprentice toward the girl of his dreams? And if a ghost hires a sculptor to carve a likeness of him holding a drink to a baby's lips, what ghastly crime might lie behind his request? And, in a brand-new afterword, the acclaimed storyteller reveals how he found his own author's voice.

PAUL FLEISCHMAN received a Newbery Honor for GRAVEN IMAGES, then went on to win the Newbery Medal for JOYFUL NOISE: POEMS FOR TWO VOICES. Since then, he has crafted an ever more innovative library of books, including ZAP, a play for high school students mixing seven plays in one, and the horror novel parody A FATE TOTALLY WORSE THAN DEATH. Paul Fleischman is currently working on an updated edition of DATELINE: TROY.