When the Athensville Zoo closes for renovations, it means big changes for Plum and all his animal friends. The fifth and final book in award-winning author Matt Phelan’s series about a young peacock whose adventures are funny, hopeful, and always kindhearted. A hilarious and highly illustrated novel perfect for reluctant readers and animal lovers everywhere. Plum wholeheartedly believes that the Athensville Zoo is the best zoo on the planet—and the most perfect home. He and the other peacocks wander the grounds, mingling with, guiding, and delighting the visitors. He has friends in every habitat. And the Great Tree has the most comfortable branches to roost on each night. So when trucks roll in and signs are posted about the zoo undergoing a total renovation, Plum can’t think of anything worse! Where are they taking all his friends? What will happen to the Great Tree? Change is difficult, but with a little patience and help, Plum soon learns that embracing new things can make life even better. From award-winning author Matt Phelan, Big Changes for Plum! is the fifth—and final—book in the young middle grade series about Plum the peacock and his adventures at the Athensville Zoo. With short chapters and energetic black-and-white illustrations, these novels are just right for newly independent readers. Each book in the series can stand alone and tackles an emotional theme relevant and accessible to the audience. A great choice for fans of the Mercy Watson and the Princess in Black series.
Author
Matt Phelan made his illustrating debut with Betty G. Birney’s The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster). Since then he has illustrated many picture books and novels for young readers, including Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli (Dial), Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle (Harcourt), and The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Simon & Schuster) winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal. Matt studied film and theater in college with the goal of one day writing and directing movies. But his first love was always drawing, and the more he saw the wonderful world of children’s books, the more he realized that this was the place for him. Being an illustrator is in many ways like being an actor, director, cinematographer, costumer, and set designer rolled into one. Matt writes: “I have a fascination with the decade of the 1930s. The movies were learning to talk (and in the case of King Kong, growl), the music was beginning to swing, and the nation was thrown into tremendous turmoil. On one hand, you see a level of suffering documented in the dramatic and gritty photography of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. On the other hand, consider what the American public was flocking to see in the movie theaters: the glamour and grace of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in a series of perfect musicals. For my first book as both writer and illustrator (coming in 2009 by Candlewick Press), I naturally gravitated to this complex decade, specifically the strange world of the Dust Bowl.”
