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Brothers Below Zero
Tim Tuttle's newly discovered talent as an artist is a gift that he can use to upstage his overachieving brother John Henry, but when this competition leads to a huge fight, only a dramatic life-and-death event can make them see the error of their ways and bring them back together.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 16, 2018
When the brother who has been better at everything ends up loosing his place in the limelight when the other brother shines at just one thing, jealousy rears its ugly head. In the end it teaches the whole family things about themselves and others that they had not known.
December 10, 2018
There's nothing wrong with this sweet little story. It proceeds exactly as expected.
April 3, 2016
This short novel struck a chord deep inside me. It features two brothers born 14 months apart, the younger of whom is an A student, a top athlete, a popular guy, and pretty much good at everything. John Henry is even taller than his "big" brother Tim, who gets C grades, carries a paunch around the middle, and hasn't found anything he is particularly good at. Then Tim starts taking painting lessons from his great aunt Winnie, who lives up the road, and suddenly a talent for art is revealed.
For John Henry, suddenly not being the best at one thing stirs up an inward darkness he is not used to having to resist. For Tim, having the one thing he is good at turned against him provokes a crisis that leads both boys to be caught outdoors during a Vermont Christmas blizzard, looking death in the face as they work out what has arisen between them.
A sneaky touch of magical realism proves to be the key to this brief, directly told story. I said it struck a chord in me, because I have a brother separated from me by 16 months in age, and when we were about as old as Tim and John Henry, we had similar issues between us. I don't remember a helicopter rescue ever needing to be called out for us, though. That would have been rather exciting. I imagine a lot of people, with or without sibling issues in their past or present, will feel these boys' conflict in their hearts, and will await the outcome of their struggle for survival with intensely felt concern.
And then there's that touch of magic, which may give many readers a chill quite apart from the vividly described winter weather. Seidler, for that matter, shows a knack for vivid scenic description that really works well with a story featuring a talented young landscape artist. He makes you wish you could see the mental photographs Tim takes of the natural world around him. And he ensures that you will be interested in his other titles. These include something called The Wainscott Weasel, which I have heard compared favorably to Charlotte's Web; as well as Mean Margaret, and several other well-known books.
For John Henry, suddenly not being the best at one thing stirs up an inward darkness he is not used to having to resist. For Tim, having the one thing he is good at turned against him provokes a crisis that leads both boys to be caught outdoors during a Vermont Christmas blizzard, looking death in the face as they work out what has arisen between them.
A sneaky touch of magical realism proves to be the key to this brief, directly told story. I said it struck a chord in me, because I have a brother separated from me by 16 months in age, and when we were about as old as Tim and John Henry, we had similar issues between us. I don't remember a helicopter rescue ever needing to be called out for us, though. That would have been rather exciting. I imagine a lot of people, with or without sibling issues in their past or present, will feel these boys' conflict in their hearts, and will await the outcome of their struggle for survival with intensely felt concern.
And then there's that touch of magic, which may give many readers a chill quite apart from the vividly described winter weather. Seidler, for that matter, shows a knack for vivid scenic description that really works well with a story featuring a talented young landscape artist. He makes you wish you could see the mental photographs Tim takes of the natural world around him. And he ensures that you will be interested in his other titles. These include something called The Wainscott Weasel, which I have heard compared favorably to Charlotte's Web; as well as Mean Margaret, and several other well-known books.
August 7, 2013
Just wasn't believable to me. I kept thinking the characters where from a Little House on the Prairie book not two young boys from the year 2,000. The way they spoke and vocabulary used just didn't mesh with current day. While jealousy between two brothers can certainly be believable, the story seemed very forced, maybe due to the length.
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February 19, 2009JAR5-Sei
June 4, 2010
This is a really great book. I just finished it last week. It has a lot to do with jealousy and things like that.
September 16, 2011
Since we were in third grade when we read this we didn't fully understand it. But now that I think about it, it was an amazing book that I hope to re- read soon.
March 14, 2018
Brothers below zero by Tor Seidler, is a book about two brothers that don’t get along. The book is a very sad book with very depressing moments in it. The two brothers names are John Henry, then there is Tim Tuttle. Tim Tuttle finds out that he is talented at painting. He takes lessons from his aunt and starts painting “The View” which is a painting his aunt creates. Now Tim tries to paint a picture of his parents, and then, John ruins the painting. On Christmas morning, their parents open up Tims present and finds warts and mustaches on the painting. Then Tim runs away.
I like the book because it has a lesson to be learned. That lesson is family is friend too. And the book is very sad and very descriptive. The book is a children’s book. The book triggers feelings and could make you cry. Another thing that I like is how nice everyone is to Tim when aunt Winnie dies, everyone was not the nicest to Tim, but then they started to show how sorry they felt for him. A store clerk even gave him more painting materials to him. The saddest thing in the book is when Tim runs away and the family doesn’t even notice. Then his parents walk into his room and get scared. A big cliffhanger was when John went to find Tim. I didn’t know if John would find him or not. It made me happy when John asked Tim, at the end of the book, if he would teach him to paint.
A good theme for this book is, don’t do things that would hurt people’s feelings, Just like when John drew the mustache on his mom and the warts on his dad in the painting.
I like the book because it has a lesson to be learned. That lesson is family is friend too. And the book is very sad and very descriptive. The book is a children’s book. The book triggers feelings and could make you cry. Another thing that I like is how nice everyone is to Tim when aunt Winnie dies, everyone was not the nicest to Tim, but then they started to show how sorry they felt for him. A store clerk even gave him more painting materials to him. The saddest thing in the book is when Tim runs away and the family doesn’t even notice. Then his parents walk into his room and get scared. A big cliffhanger was when John went to find Tim. I didn’t know if John would find him or not. It made me happy when John asked Tim, at the end of the book, if he would teach him to paint.
A good theme for this book is, don’t do things that would hurt people’s feelings, Just like when John drew the mustache on his mom and the warts on his dad in the painting.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews