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The Wonderful O cover art

The Wonderful O

Written by: James Thurber
Narrated by: Melissa Manchester
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Publisher's Summary

The Wonderful O tells of a man named Black who despised the letter "O". He deleted it from his language and omitted it from his words. Opals, moonstones, owls and oaks could not possibly be his items of choice. He preferred emeralds, rubies, sapphires and maps. At least they had no "O". Soon he wanted his entire village to omit the letter "O". But the villagers found words they would not do without HOPE, LOVE, VALOR, and the most important one of all.

©1957 James Thurber (P)1997 New Millennium
Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths Survival Stories Humorous Fiction
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What the critics say

"A playful allegory on love, valor and freedom, and a ceaseless romp with wordplay." ( Publishers Weekly)
" The Wonderful O, published in 1957, is a tale for children, and a reminder for adults, of the joys of love, liberty, language and, not least, humor. It has pirates and treasure and magic and a message that especially in complacent times must not be forgotten... The Wonderful O is a book worth finding, wherever you can, and reading, as one of its characters concludes, ‘lest we forget.’" ( The Wall Street Journal)
"Among James Thurber's 30 books were several for children. Two reader favorites of the Fifties, The Thirteen Clocks and The Wonderful O, have returned, illustrations by Marc Simont intact. These are funny, richly textured stories that pile on the fantasy and will make middle readers laugh a lot." ( The Record, NJ)

What listeners say about The Wonderful O

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Profile Image for Pete

Wnderful AudiBk — hpe hissy L Fi grws n me

After thoroughly enjoying D (A Tale of Two Worlds), and thanks to its author Michel Faber recommending The Wonderful O how lovely to discover this seriously brilliant James Thurber Audio book which many have reviewed in print (well worth looking up).
Much of Faber's work is excellent in audio formats with odd word play, brand new language and or dialects and accents (think Burgess' Clockwork Orange vs Fabers' Under The Skin, Book of Strange Things — similarly dropping a vowel in 'O' or a consonant 'D' can be another eye-boggling tongue twisting experience on the page.

Melissa Manchester performance is so great here but I had to take away a star "OVERALL" /verall — for tape hiss and sound production issues though even at full price The Wonderful O is cheaper than most audible titles on sale

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