About the Book
Bucket the cat was a reincarnated pirate. He lived with Ellie Kulikan, who owned a boarding house at the end of a dock in a fishing village where old men with floppy hats told tales of such inventiveness that they became the truth and were passed down to the local children as the history of the town. One day the cool, dreamlike sea turns dangerous, and an adventure falls into the life of Bucket and Ellie and their woodchopper friend Olaf. Lost, the three find shelter in a magical place where Bucket had been once before, two hundred and forty-seven years ago, but he can't quite remember its name. Beautifully illustrated by his artist/teacher mother, Forrer's poetic tale of gentle mystery and wry humor reflects his own diverse career on the water, in boat-building, commercial fishing, writing, and ocean freight.
About the Author :
Eric Forrer's parents spent eighteen years teaching for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and as a consequence of their employment at remote sites, he received his primary and secondary education by correspondence. He has had a varied career in boat-building, ocean freight, commercial fishing, construction, and contracting. Doubleday published his first and only novel, From the Nets of a Salmon Fisherman, in 1973. He was appointed to the University of Alaska Board of Regents in 1989 but managed to escape with his skin intact after a full and interesting term. Forrer, his wife Sally (for whom Bucket was written), and his son Leif live in Juneau, Alaska.
The daughter of Pennsylvania Dutch parents who lived a life of employment in the trades, small business ventures, and connected family farms, Forrer graduated from the Eastman School of Music as a concert harpist. But the Great Depression, the Second World War, and her own family intervened in her career as a musician. With her husband Paul Forrer, she taught grade school at remote sites in Arizona and Alaska, and for her entire teaching career she was able to keep her harp with her. She played harp and piano regularly for students and town folk. Forrer illustrated Bucket using techniques developed by her husband during their years in the bush. The method involves colored carbon paper, a household iron, and immense amounts of time.
Review :
"This is a tale parents won't mind reading again and again... Eric Forrer's writing is as rich as an old-time fairy tale, even when he's describing fishermen who play cards and drink too much home brew. Phrases like 'turning the waves into tumultuous walls of light' and 'she threw insults at them like rocks' are just marvelous. Eloise Forrer's unique, whimsical illustrations were done with colored carbon paper and an iron. The effect is something like woodblock printing, textured and lovely. Refreshingly, the book has no moral or lesson, except that sometimes you should let a story just take you away."
--Donna Freedman, Alaska magazine
"Although Bucket seems to be a picture book, it is really a sophisticated romance. The heavy satiny pages are pleasing, but it is the illustrations made with colored carbon paper and a household iron which keeps one studying each page. The bright, simple shapes are amazingly realistic, especially when texture is created with rubbings of leaves. This book has a strong Alaska flavor... it could take place almost anywhere along the Alaskan coast, wherever halibut is fished. This is a very special book that should be seen and read."
--Sandra Strandtmann, Newspoke Alaska Library Network News
"This is a tale parents won't mind reading again and again... Eric Forrer's writing is as rich as an old-time fairy tale, even when he's describing fishermen who play cards and drink too much home brew. Phrases like 'turning the waves into tumultuous walls of light' and 'she threw insults at them like rocks' are just marvelous. Eloise Forrer's unique, whimsical illustrations were done with colored carbon paper and an iron. The effect is something like woodblock printing, textured and lovely. Refreshingly, the book has no moral or lesson, except that sometimes you should let a story just take you away."
--Donna Freedman, "Alaska magazine"
"Although "Bucket" seems to be a picture book, it is really a sophisticated romance. The heavy satiny pages are pleasing, but it is the illustrations made with colored carbon paper and a household iron which keeps one studying each page. The bright, simple shapes are amazingly realistic, especially when texture is created with rubbings of leaves. This book has a strong Alaska flavor... it could take place almost anywhere along the Alaskan coast, wherever halibut is fished. This is a very special book that should be seen and read."
--Sandra Strandtmann, Newspoke Alaska Library Network News
"Although "Bucket" seems to be a picture book, it is really a sophisticated romance. The heavy satiny pages are pleasing, but it is the illustrations made with colored carbon paper and a household iron which keeps one studying each page. The bright, simple shapes are amazingly realistic, especially when texture is created with rubbings of leaves. This book has a strong Alaska flavor it could take place almost anywhere along the Alaskan coast, wherever halibut is fished. This is a very special book that should be seen and read."
--Sandra Strandtmann, "Newspoke Alaska Library Network News""
"This is a tale parents won't mind reading again and again Eric Forrer's writing is as rich as an old-time fairy tale, even when he's describing fishermen who play cards and drink too much home brew. Phrases like 'turning the waves into tumultuous walls of light' and 'she threw insults at them like rocks' are just marvelous. Eloise Forrer's unique, whimsical illustrations were done with colored carbon paper and an iron. The effect is something like woodblock printing, textured and lovely. Refreshingly, the book has no moral or lesson, except that sometimes you should let a story just take you away."
--Donna Freedman, "Alaska" magazine"
