Sweet little story about a boy who lives on the Greek island of Corfu. Mikis is thrilled when his grandfather buys a donkey. He loves the donkey but becomes concerned about how his grandfather treats it. Grandfather sees the animal as merely a “tractor with legs”, useful to haul wood down from their olive grove on the hillside. Mikis fears the donkey is being overworked, but when he expresses his concerns he is just laughed at. He insists on getting the donkey proper care and bettter housing though, and eventually Grandfather comes around to treating the donkey more kindly, even helps out when Mikis gets stuck trying to persuade the donkey to enter a new environment. Honestly I was rather appalled at how Grandfather treated Mikis as well- yelling insults at him, grabbing his ear to scold him in public, calling him names- I’m not at all surprised he initially treated the donkey poorly. I thought it cute and amusing how Mikis and a friend found a companion for the donkey- and foresaw the results of that as well! The boy’s interactions with other kids at school are also a nice touch- first they tease him for worrying about the donkey (and saying he can communicate with it), then later they try to help him solve a problem to help the donkey. The side story (kind of told between the lines) about their young teacher’s on-and-off-again romance with some guy on a motorbike felt a bit odd to me, but it does tie in eventually. The ending is heartwarming.
The lively illustrations by Philip Hopman have a loose, sketchy style, very expressive and enjoyable.
