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King Matt The First
King Matt The First
Oct 5, 2024 1:34 PM

Author:Janusz Korczak

King Matt The First

‘Children! I, Matt the First, appeal for your help in carrying out my reforms’

Little Matt becomes King Matt when he is just a young boy. He can barely even read or write and he certainly doesn’t know anything about governing a country. What should he do? What would you do?

Ignoring his grown-up ministers, he builds the finest zoo in the world and decrees that children should be given chocolate every day. But ruling turns out to be a much trickier business than Matt ever realised.

Can the happiness of a nation depend on one small boy? Well, let’s find out…

Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can discover the life story of the brave author and put your governing skills to the test.

Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Reviews

Unforgettable to the last full stop. One of the great classics

—— Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate

Janusz Korczak is an important writer... His message is still relevant today, that children matter; indeed that they should be a priority in our culture, because it's only with a child's imagination that grown-ups can begin to conceive a better world

—— Yann Martel, author of 'Life of Pi'

Absolutely wonderful. A gripping and classic entertainment from start to shocking finish. Definitely a book for all ages

—— Matt Haig, author of 'The Last Family in England'

The spirit of Korczak, living on, could make a better world for all humans

—— Publisher's Weekly

Droll and melancholy, wry and touching, King Matt is a fable that offers a fierce, truthful picture of children struggling to make sense of grown-up nonsense... This small masterpiece is a rare tribute to the psychological depth and marvellous workings of a child's heart and mind

—— Maurice Sendak, author of 'Where the Wild Things Are'

For the world today, Janusz Korczak is a symbol of true religion and true morality

—— Pope John Paul II

A rediscovered kid's fantasy to enthral a new generation. Nearly seven decades before a kid named Harry pottered about with magic, Janusz Korczak's orphan boy King Matt the First captivated children all across Europe. Matt's message of hope shines past Korczak's tragic end in 1942 at a Nazi death camp with 200 Jewish orphans he refused to abandon

—— Parade

Matt is clearly an ancestor of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince

—— San Francisco Chronicle

To portray divorce with humour and sympathy takes great skill and Jacquline Wilson demonstrates she has this in abundance with this delightful book. . . . A wonderful, moving, yet funny book - a special read

—— Books for Your Children

Honest, angry, sometimes sad and always very readable . . . Adults could learn something here about the emotional turmoil suffered by a child with divided loyalties

—— TES

Dido is compelling and beautifully written

—— So Little Time For Books

What a fantastic job Adel Geras has done bringing these characters to life

—— Sarah's Book Reviews

Full of suspense and the characters were written so well that you were really pulled into their lives

—— Chrissie's Corner

The book comes billed as "a passionate tale of love, betrayal and revenge" - and it is indeed, an excellent, intelligent read which will stretch minds just as it will stretch vocabularies. It is vivid in the world it creates, intriguing as it takes you there and satisfying when it leaves you

—— Chichester Today

Adele Geras gave us brilliant evocations of the ancient world with Troy and Ithaka. With Dido she again takes a classical setting and story and breathes freshness, and above all an up-to-date connection, into the people and the places whilst skilfully remaining faithful to her sources

—— School Librarian
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