The Jester Has Lost His Jingle

Fifteen years after its debut, the late David Saltzman's 'The Jester Has Lost His Jingle' has truly become one of the favorite children's books in America. The work of the Saltzman family's nonprofit Jester & Pharley Phund goes even further and makes the book's story of hope and laughter an inspiration for school kids and children with severe illnesses in hospitals around the country. In 'The Jester' -- and in the work The Phund does for others--David Saltzman and his extraordinary spirit are still very much alive. --Larry King, CNN, 7/2010This book is clearly the most joyful, exuberant, fun-filled read-aloud of the decade and there's a wonderful message here besides! When it appears that the world has lost its sense of humor, the King banishes the Jester. Down, but not out, the Jester and Pharley, his alter ego, search the universe, ultimately finding and reinstating laughter to its rightful place: that of regenerating the human spirit. In creating a book for children ages two to a hundred-and-two which invites the read-alouder to perform, rather than merely read, Saltzman has pioneered a new genre: the laughalong. For never has the adage laugh and the world laughs with you been more apropos than when Saltzman provides the book's narrator with laugh lines which compel listeners and read-alouders to laugh aloud together. Besides providing terrific entertainment, the book provides an alternative to anyone faced with adversity, whether it be financial, emotional or physical: 'I turn my sadness upside down and stand it on its head,' says the Jester. Maurice Sendak's Afterword makes clear that David Saltzman did just that in his life as well as in his art. Instead of wallowing in self-pity for the Hodgkin's disease which claimed his life before age twenty-three, he created a magnificently illustrated, ebulliently told story in which he left laughter as his legacy. --Read-Aloud Review, Brownstone Reviewing Services, 10/1995The Jester awakes one morning to find laughter missing in his kingdom, and he sets off to recover it in this whimsical rhyming story, which teaches kids about love and overcoming overwhelming odds. Maurice Sendak provides the afterword to an excellent, well-illustrated story which provides a strong message about positive thinking and individual power. --Childrens Bookwatch, 10/1995