Sailing to Cythera: And Other Anatole Stories

The Anatole Trilogy #1

by Nancy Willard, David McPhail (Illustrator)

A triology relating the magical adventures of a boy and his cat

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

NANCY WILLARD was an award-winning children's author, poet, and essayist who received the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She wrote dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She also authored two novels for adults, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, and twelve books of poetry, including Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems. She lived with her husband, photographer Eric Lindbloom, and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Reviews

[Jordan West · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75; Fabulism for young folks - a collection of stories with a decidedly Schulzian feel; in the first tale a young boy (the titular Anatole) and his cat take a train to the afterworld to pay a visit to the cat's aunt "Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass" style, while in the concluding story Anatole discovers that the pattern on the wallpaper in his grandparents' house serves as a portal to another realm. While at times the whimsy approaches overwhelmingly twee levels, Willard is successful, like the greatest writers in the field, at drawing upon both the magic of childhood imagination along with a poignant awareness of the realities of adult life to create a pleasingly otherworldly experience that admirers of the likes of Kenneth Grahame and Tove Jansson should appreciate this. Kudos to NYRB Classics for bringing this to my attention; I look forward to the omnibus of Willard's Anatole stories planned for the end of the year.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an absolutely beautiful book. The writing is sophisticated, and so are the illustrations. The whole package is just classy. They don't make them like this any more, alas. These are original modern fairy tales, perhaps set sometime in the twentieth century, though the real world setting is not important. The stories are wild, but in a restrained, refined way. Willard introduces a number of things that make one stop and ponder - for example, our boy hero goes looking for the sun and ends up meeting the sun's mother instead. From the mother we get the inside scoop on the son.

In some ways this is sort of a more descriptive and convoluted Where the Wild Things Are. It has that same child-off-in-a-fantasy-world-then-returning-home theme. And interestingly, McPhail's illustrations have a lot in common with the style that Sendak used for Outside Over There. It appears that later editions have color, but I think that change was most ill-advised. The black-and-white ones add a very special element to the overall presentation. It's such a shame that full color is the default now. A familiarity with and appreciation of black-and-white gives young readers the key to unlocking centuries of illustrations. Those who have been raised on only the latest have the misconception that anything else is old-fashioned and lacking. It makes one cry at all that they would be missing.

[ETA - my mistake, it's just the *covers* of newer editions that have color. The interior illustrations are unchanged. I still say the originals are better - both the black-and-white illustrations and the design, including the page size. I think the lack of color gives more freedom for the imagination of the reader.]

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, wonderful books! Why haven't more people read them?

[Capn]

"Anatole travels on a magic train with his cat Plumpet to the christening of Plumpet's Aunt Pitterpat's ninth and final life." The wise soldier of Sellebak: Anatole "Meets a Norwegian soldier who has lost both his memory and thirty years of his life, and Anatole bravely hourneys to the sun to regain them for him." Sailing to Cythera: "Anatole voyages through his grandmother's antique wallpaper to the mythical Cythera, where he makes friends with the terrifying Blimlim monster."

[Kellaura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread for the millionth time.

[Kristin Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While not my favorite of the series, Anatoles' beginning is always a pleasure.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic first book of the children's series. I still love it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thumbs up! In play and dreams, Anatole takes dangerous journeys, meets fantastical creatures, and finds his way back to safety and home.