The Three Mouths of Little Tom Drum

Lack of self-control has shocking consequences, but inventiveness carries the day in a contemporary fairy tale from Newbery Medalist Nancy Willard, with art by Kevin Hawkes.

Little Tom Drum loves strawberry pie so much that he creeps down to the kitchen at night to get one more slice of that sweet, flaky goodness resting on the windowsill in the moonlight . . . pie his mother made for tomorrow’s birthday party. If only he had thought twice! Bearing the marks of his greediness, Tom Drum resigns himself to a reclusive life, but soon gains fame as a child inventor. Can his imagination and ingenuity lead to his own reinvention? Kevin Hawkes’s comical illustrations, brimming with creativity, add to the fantastic and the cautionary in this original fairy tale by award-winning poet Nancy Willard.

“The tale enthralls... especially with Hawkes's lush pen-and-ink panels, a winsome combination of small-town wholesomeness and mechanical fantasy. --Publishers Weekly Newbery medalist Willard's gentle tale has an irresistible premise and is filled with invention and imagination, matched by Hawkes' apposite, softly rendered pictures in pen, ink, and pastel. It's a treat matched only by Little Tom's strawberry pie! --Booklist Hawkes' detailed pen-and-ink-and-pastel illustrations extend Willard's deadpan humor with just enough creepiness. ... Inventors and pie lovers will find this one delicious. --Kirkus Reviews The story is beautifully illustrated in pen and ink with pastel. The art pairs nicely with the fairy tale-like mood of the story. --School Library Journal Pairs realism and whimsy. --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books”

The tale enthralls... especially with Hawkes’s lush pen-and-ink panels, a winsome combination of small-town wholesomeness and mechanical fantasy.
—Publishers Weekly

Newbery medalist Willard’s gentle tale has an irresistible premise and is filled with invention and imagination, matched by Hawkes’ apposite, softly rendered pictures in pen, ink, and pastel. It’s a treat matched only by Little Tom’s strawberry pie!
—Booklist

Hawkes' detailed pen-and-ink-and-pastel illustrations extend Willard's deadpan humor with just enough creepiness. ... Inventors and pie lovers will find this one delicious.
—Kirkus Reviews

The story is beautifully illustrated in pen and ink with pastel. The art pairs nicely with the fairy tale–like mood of the story.
—School Library Journal

Pairs realism and whimsy.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Nancy Willard is the author of numerous books for children and adults, including A Visit to William Blake’s Inn, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, which was a Newbery Medal winner, a National Book Award Finalist, and a Caldecott Honor Book. Nancy Willard lives in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Kevin Hawkes is the illustrator and author-illustrator of a number of popular books for children, including Weslandia by Paul Fleischman, commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, a New York Times bestseller. Kevin Hawkes lives in Gorham, Maine.

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