The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived

Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble have produced a number or books together since The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, which was the Australian Children's Book Council 1992 Book of the Year for Younger Readers. These include the Tashi books.

Kindergarten-Grade 3?This odd Australian import is about Hector, a red-headed boy spawned by a volcano, whose only friend is Minton the salamander?no one else can stand the heat he projects. After a great storm floods their home on the edge of the world, they wind up floating adrift at sea and are finally rescued by a Viking adventurer. Gilda enjoys Hector's warmth, and takes him home with her, but the other villagers are suspicious and frightened of the stranger. When Hector literally thaws out a frozen child and his usefulness in a cold climate is made evident (he can heat bath water or sauna rocks with a touch), he is at last accepted, but it is Gilda who buys a sled and pony and starts "Hector's Heating and Hot Water Service," making a wonderful new life for herself, the boy, and his salamander. The lengthy text has no pep and the cartoon illustrations are static?the colors are muted, except for Hector's wild red hair. If there is any real humor here, few children are likely to find it.?Rosanne Cerny, Queens Borough Public Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.