Audiobook · read by volunteers
Slant Book
Peter Newell (1862–1924)
Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015) · 1 chapter · 9 min
About the book
This is a book shaped like a parallelogram, and its subject is a baby in a go-cart who has escaped from his nursemaid and is racing downhill. Peter Newell's tiny hero rolls on, gleefully, through a series of unlucky encounters, upsetting everybody in his path. Each tilted picture is paired with a two-stanza comment in verse, bright and brisk, that sets the scene with mock-sympathy for the victims and open delight in the chaos. The book is among the first to be recorded in a LibriVox project to voice public domain titles from the International Children's Digital Library, and it is a charming starting point. In about twelve minutes you will hear a runaway ride told in verse. Quick, tilted and full of life.
Introduction
Peter Newell was an American illustrator and writer who lived from 1862 to 1924. The Slant Book, which came out in 1910, is one of his best-known works and one of the most unusual children's books of its time. It is physically cut in the shape of a parallelogram, with the spine running down one side, so that when it is open the facing pages form a V. The idea is that the slope of the page matches the slope of the hill down which the story rushes.
The pictures show a baby in a go-cart, an old-fashioned kind of pram, who has slipped away from his nanny and sails merrily downhill while chaos spreads behind him. On the opposite pages, two stanzas of verse comment on what is happening. The tone is comic, with just enough alarm to keep the story lively. Newell's drawing is clear and cheerful, and his rhymes keep a steady beat, so the tale moves quickly.
The book is often credited as an early example of the special-format children's book, the kind of publication whose shape or construction is part of the joke. A recording obviously cannot show the format, but it can preserve the verse and the sense of momentum. This one is the first in a series of LibriVox readings of books held by the International Children's Digital Library, where the original pictures can be seen online. It consists of a single chapter, lasts about twelve minutes and is read by one volunteer. It is suitable for children and for adults who like their nostalgia a little mischievous. The humour is gentle, the pace is quick, and the spirit of Victorian and Edwardian nursery verse is alive in every stanza.
Public domain
Peter Newell died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text