Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Amphibian
    Amphibian
    Amphibian
    Ebook214 pages4 hours

    Amphibian

    By Carla Gunn

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Canada and Caribbean region)

    A Globe and Mail Top Five First Fiction Title of 2009

    Nine-year-old Phineas William Walsh has an encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. He knows that if you wet a dog's food with your saliva and he refuses to eat it then he's top dog, and he knows that dolphins can sleep half a brain at a time. What he doesn't know, though, is why his grandfather died, or why waste-of-flesh Lyle always picks on him. Or why his parents can't live together - after all, when other mate-for-life animals have a fight, it's not like one of them just packshis bags and leaves the country.

    To make it to-infinity worse, he's worried sick about what humans are doing to the planet, and his mother is worried sick about him. But shouldn't everyone be losing sleep over the fact that a quarter of all Earth's mammals are on the Red List of Threatened Species? So, when a White's tree frog ends up in an aquarium in his fourth-grade classroom, it's the last straw, and he and his best friend, Bird, are spurred to action.

    "Carla Gunn's prose crackleswith energy in this illuminating, heart-gripping novel. A hilarious, brilliant, loveable, exasperating child, Phin and his mesmerizing voice need listening to. The powerful, authentic narrator brings to mind The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but Gunn's an original, and draws us deeply into Phin's many and varied worlds. A compassionate tale balancing light and dark, this is a must-read book.' —Sheree Fitch, author of Kiss the Joy As It Flies

    "I'm thrilled to promote Amphibian as our number one summer reading suggestion to customers of all ages, many of whom have returned to say how much they enjoyed it. It really has all the elements of a classic in the making. In nine-year-old Phineas Walsh, Carla Gunn has created a narrator that is perceptive, hilarious and frustrating, as he grapples with humanity's seeming indifference to the rapid destruction of our animals and our planet. The issues are urgent, yet the author maintains a light tone throughout that isbreathtakingly delightful, heartfelt and ultimately hopeful. It's fresh, timely and very hard to find fault with. I was thrilledto read it and shed light on this gem of a book that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. It's what independent bookselling is all about." —Andrew Peck, Singing Pebble Books, Ottawa

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCoach House Books
    Release dateJan 1, 2009
    ISBN9781770560123
    Amphibian
    Author

    Carla Gunn

    Carla Gunn's work has been published in the Globe and Mail , the National Post and heard on CBC radio. Along with writing, she teaches psychology and she worries. About everything. But especially climate change, mass extinctions and that mole that she can feel but not see. This is her first novel.

    Related to Amphibian

    Related ebooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      A Gift from above

      Jun 6, 2024

      Big fat raindrops sploshed into the water around me and I looked up to the sky in delight. It was 1955 and, aged 5, I loved nothing better than venturing out to the bomb craters in the paddock by our home in Manchester, left behind after the war. The

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A WING AND a prayer

      Sep 28, 2021

      A raven saved my life Cate McMurray, 47, from West Midlands I ’d always known I was different. As a small child, I used to see and hear people who weren’t there. One day, I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with my two sisters, and tucked myself away in a cu

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Wild Days

      Jul 27, 2020

      Wild Days
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS

      Nov 24, 2021

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Season Of Goodwill? (You Might Need It)

      Nov 8, 2023

      CHRISTMAS is on the way and those of us with parrots have a lot extra to decide in the way of activities, extra food, presents, guests and so on. My first two parrots, the African greys Artha and Casper, taught me far more than I taught them. Althoug

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Ongoingness

      Apr 21, 2022

      Ongoingness
      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Wolf

      Nov 6, 2018

      The Wolf
      12 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Now That I’ve Arrived

      Dec 30, 2020

      Now That I’ve Arrived
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Alpaca EXPERIENCE

      May 25, 2021

      The Alpaca EXPERIENCE
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Strange Bedfellows

      Oct 3, 2021

      Look, let me get this out of the way early. A pet’s main deal, above all other things, is walking around in between bouts of lying down. They’re experts at it. This is 95 per cent of their day, and about as close to a job that most house pets will ge

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Out Of This WORLD

      Apr 20, 2021

      Out Of This WORLD
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Fearless, fabulous FERN

      Apr 7, 2022

      Fearless, fabulous FERN
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Winners Take All!

      Mar 7, 2024

      Congratulations to everyone who entered the Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize 2023! There were 61 entries in the chapter book prize category and it was very tricky whittling them down. However, we are delighted to share our top three winning ent

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Amateur Gran

      Jun 28, 2022

      The Amateur Gran
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Year Of The Rat

      Nov 24, 2020

      Year Of The Rat
      11 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Ashes to Ashes

      Mar 16, 2023

      Ashes to Ashes
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Ashes to Ashes

      Mar 16, 2023

      Ashes to Ashes
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      WINNERS APRIL 2023 STORY CONTEST Pet

      Sep 1, 2023

      Danah Jang, age 10Westlake, OH Finn, the Goat Picasso I had a tawny-colored goat named Finn. I raised him after finding him in the fields. He was in poor condition, calling out with miserable, piercing wails. The heart-melting scene convinced me to

      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Stay and Fight

      Jul 9, 2019

      Stay and Fight
      16 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Counting Sheep

      May 14, 2021

      Counting Sheep
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Caught Out

      Oct 2, 2022

      Caught Out
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      I Am The Tooth Fairy

      Nov 1, 2020

      I Am The Tooth Fairy
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      How Dementia Saved Mum & Me

      Mar 31, 2021

      How Dementia Saved Mum & Me
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Problem with My Dachshund

      Dec 11, 2019

      The Problem with My Dachshund
      10 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Empty NEST

      Oct 2, 2024

      Empty NEST
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Lucy Lawless

      Nov 18, 2024

      Lucy Lawless
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      In Dogs We Trust

      Jan 18, 2022

      In Dogs We Trust
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Amphibian

    4/5

    16 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I have met a few young boys like Phin who are in love with nature and absorb information like sphagnum moss and dew. These same boys are imaginative and creative, also like Phin, and quick to create fantasy worlds that are quite perceptive. I love the satire of Phin's Ruell and the Gorachs.
      I am partial to any book with a unique narrative voice, and this one sits on the shelf beside Curious Incident about the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon and Come Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant. The unconventional thought patterns that are also so logical make for a captivating read. That the book packs in so much additional content -- animal rights, environmental activism, broken family dynamics, playground bullies -- makes this book a keeper.
      It's suitable for kids as young as 12, if they are voracious readers and feel passionate about animals, but is very relevant for adults, too, so that they may reconceptualize the world as a sixth grader may perceive it.
    • 4/5
      Phineas William Walsh is on a mission. He’s going to save the world one endangered species at a time – and he's depending on the Green Channel to help him do it. That is until things go terribly, horribly wrong… as they only can in the life of a fourth grader.

      Carla Gunn’s first novel, Amphibian, is both entertaining and engaging. Written in the first person, it’s greatest strength may be it’s narrator - who owes a significant debt to Holden Caulfield (the hero and narrator of Catcher in the Rye). And I mean that in the best possible way. Because there’s more going on in Phin’s life than meets the eye – and he has a lot on his mind other than the planet. His grandfather just passed away and his grandmother is sad. His parents are separated and his Mom is dating a guy Phin doesn’t like. Not that he likes the idea of her dating. Period. His father is out of the country 80% of the time and doesn’t know what’s going on. He's also the class bully's favorite target.

      And then (if that wasn’t enough!) there is the issue of the Gorachs from the planet Reull. They’re destroying the planet and the other creatures of Reull need to figure out what to do before it is too late:

      "When my mom went to do some work in her study, I went upstairs and wrote about Reull and drew some pictures of them. I drew the Jingleworm, who is red and white and has a part on the end of its body that jingles like a bell wherever it goes. The Jingleworm’s predator is the Three-clawed Wren and it jingles so much that the Wren doesn’t have any problem finding it to eat.

      But then the Jingleworms started to hide in the coat of the Green-tailed Squirrel, which didn’t mind because the loud jingling noise of the Jingleworm scared away its predator, the Electric Cat. The Electric Cat’s ears are very sensitive to the jingling noise. To it the Jingleworm sounds like somebody scraping their nails on a chalkboard sounds to us. Sot the Jingleworm and the Green-tailed Squirrel have a symbiotic relationship.

      The problem again is the Gorachs. They are starting to collect Jingleworm tails for jingly bracelets, which they give to their Gorach children. The Gorachs are parasites, so many of the animals are working on making more symbiotic relationships. The Gorachs are in for a surprise."

      Sure, it has become a cliché to compare novels narrated by juveniles to Catcher in the Rye, but in the case of Amphibian it works. I’ve always believed that readers tend to miss the whole point of what Salinger was trying to do, - not surprising since his novel has mainly been defined by controversy. The focus has always been on Salinger’s creation of a smart ass kid doing scandalous things, at least by 1950’s standards. (You can just imagine what the reaction would have been to Gossip Girl)!

      Subsequently, the story Salinger was trying to tell is too often overlooked. It is about a young boy, whose even younger brother has just died of leukemia. Catcher in the Rye, at its heart, is about Holden attempting to deal with his grief. And doing so in the absence of (I'd even go so far as to say his abandonment by) the adults who should be comforting him. All the rest, the celebrated language and famous scene with the prostitute, is just so much white noise put up by Holden between himself and his emotions.

      I do not want to misrepresent Amphibian as being a heavy novel, though it does touch on some surprisingly heavy material. Phin is dealing with kinds of grief (and accompanying feelings of helplessness) that he’s too young to put a name to. Or, like Holden, to even recognize. But to Gunn’s credit, she chose to tell her story through the eyes of a 9-year old boy – which gives it a very different flavor than if it had been told by, let's say, that boy’s mother or teacher. Gunn reveals what’s going on with Phin in a way that perfectly captures a young child’s lack of perspective. Divorce, bully, species extinction and permission to watch the Green Channel all carry equal weight and importance in Phin’s world. Because everything is the end of the world – nothing is. And Phin is a really funny kid. His humor moves the book along quickly and, thankfully, saves it from becoming the angst-fest it might have been.

      "This morning I woke up to an awful sound – it was like a wolf trying to howl after swallowing one of those birthday-party noisemakers. And it was standing over me.

      I was a little worried about what I might see – maybe a pack of wolves having a birthday party and the cake just happened to be me – but I took a chance and opened my eyes. My mother was standing there and that awful noise was coming from her. She was smiling so I figured she wasn’t choking or something, so I asked her what the heck she was doing.

      “I’m yodeling, Phin,” she said.

      “But you’re not on a mountain,” I said. “You’re standing over me making that awful sound. I thought you were a wolf with something caught in its throat. If you were a wolf, you’d have to be the alpha because if you were a submissive, the others would attack you for making a sound like that.”

      Overall, Amphibian tells a good story about an average child working his way through a world where very little is under his control. Carla Gunn allows us to smile at his tribulations knowing, even if he doesn’t, that Phin is one of the lucky ones. Unlike Holden he has grown-ups around who love him and have his best interests at heart. In the end, that makes all the difference.

      Note: Amphibian is Carla Gunn’s first novel. While I’ve no knowledge of it being marketed as a YA, it is definitely straddling the line between categories. It does not rank high on the BookSexy scale, but it shouldn't be dismissed. Think of it as enviro-lit made more palatable by added sugar.

      The book, itself, is more attractive than your average paperback - with bright glossy covers. The front end paper is a full page bleed b&w photo of a South America Red-eyed frog (the same little guy who made the cover). The pages are nice and thick with a slightly corrugated texture. The publisher is Coach House Books, out of Canada.

    Book preview

    Amphibian - Carla Gunn

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1