Product Description

Orphaned at a young age, Wee Gillis divided the year between his two families. Not quite fitting in with either one, he tried to appease them the best he knew how. In the foggy highlands of Scotland he would sit still for hours on a rock, holding his breath not to scare the stags he was watching for his father’s relatives. In the vast lowlands of the country, he would use all his might to call the cattle home that his mother’s family owned.

The day came when Wee Gillis was asked to decide which family he would choose to be with forever. Uncles from both sides walked him halfway up a hill to a place that was exactly between the highlands and the lowlands, trying to convince Wee Gillis that their own side of the family was the perfect fit for him. Amid all the commotion, Wee Gillis noticed a stranger who had come up behind them. Destitute, the man lamented that he had built the biggest bagpipes in all of Scotland for use on this exact spot, but could no longer play them because he made them too big. Both of Wee Gillis’s uncles tried to play them but each lacked the skill it took for the instrument. Finally Wee Gillis picked them up and used all of his might to blow into the tremendous pipes, making a tremendous sound. Now having found his true calling, he sits in a spot exactly between the highlands and the lowlands, playing music for all of Scotland to hear.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143762 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-30
• Released on: 2006-05-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 80 pages

Review
"...this is a distinguished volume." -- The New York Times

"This book is one of a number of largely unsung gems reissued by NYR Children's Collection...it's a charmer." -- Toronto Globe and Mail

"[They] combine beauty and humor with a reality that makes the reader feel he has taken a trip to Scotland." -- The New York Times

"[a] delightful picture book for children, grown-up and otherwise." -- The Washington Post

Review
"Lawson's marvelous pen-and-ink drawings of the Scottish relations and their contrasting environments bring the story to exuberant life." –Horn Book Magazine

"Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson are best remembered for their 1936 classic, Story of Ferdinand, about a pacifist bull who's more interested in flowers than bullfighting. Three years later, they won a Caldecott Honor, one of the top prizes in illustrated children's literature, for a story set in Scotland, Wee Gillis. It had fallen out of print but has been resurrected as part of The New York Review Children's Collection, which brings neglected gems back to life. It doesn't show its age. With vivid pen-and-ink drawings in black and white, it's about an orphan with a tough decision to make: whether to live with his mother's relatives in the Lowlands and raise long-haired cows or his father's relatives in the Highlands and stalk stags." –USA Today

"First published in 1939, when it won a Caldecott Honor award, and now back in print with this handsome hardback edition, Wee Gillis relates how a young Scottish boy cleverly finds a middle way between two sets of shaggy, overbearing and cantankerous relations...In Robert Lawson's brilliant black-and-white illustrations, Wee Gillis keeps an amusingly bland expression even as his uncles are leaping about, fulminating and remonstrating...The solution comes (with a hilarious picture) when Wee Gilis suddenly realizes that he can use the respiratory sills he as picked up from both sides of his family...to take up Schotland's noisiest and most musical occupation." –The Wall Street Journal

"Back in print after 20 years, this winsome story details a Scottish lad's road to bagpipe-playing greatness. Ages 4-8" –People Magazine

"This book is one of a number of largely unsung gems reissued by the New York Review Children's Collection imprint...it's a charmer." –The Globe and Mail

“Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson have done it again….[Wee Gillis] has already won the hearts of children and adults. The pictures of the Lowland farms and the craggy Highlands of Scotland have sufficient beauty to make anyone who comes from that lovely country homesick for its hills and heather. Boys and girls from 7 on are deeply interested in the small Scottish lad who called the cows in the Lowlands and stalked the deer in the Highlands, while his lungs meantime grew stronger and stronger until at last he was able to play the largest bagpipes in Scotland and, since he was welcome in Lowlands and Highlands alike, had no further need to choose either one or the other as a permanent home. The drawings of Robert Lawson combine beauty and humor with a reality that makes the reader feel he has taken a trip to Scotland….this is a distinguished volume.” –The New York Times

“A delightful picture book for children, grown-up and otherwise” –The Washington Post

From the Publisher
By the author and illustrator of THE STORY OF FERDINAND, one of the bestselling children's books of all time

Customer Reviews

A Classic of Children's Literature
This book caught our eye because of our Scottish heritage, and we didn't realise what a treat was in store for us.

The pen and ink illustrations are clever and humorous, adding to the delightful story of Wee Gillis, a young Scottish lad who is faced with the choice of where he will live - the Highlands or the Lowlands.

Although the book isn't overly simplistic, our 2 year old son enjoyed it as much as our 9 year old niece, and has requested it be read over and over and over! No problem for us - we enjoy it too.

Find a copy, buy a copy, and you won't regret it!

Inspitational...especially when read with a Scottish accent!
What started out as a crazy high school joke, led me to read this Scottish tale, a highlight of my friend's childhood. What I found was a great story about compromise, team work and love....the original black and white illustrations add to the overall quaintness and make this a definite must! My friends and I enjoyed it so much, that we named our team "Wee Gillis" in honor of Gillis' determination.

Find your own place in the world
Originally published in 1938, this one is a delight to see back in print thanks to New York Review Books. The Scottish setting is charming and the central message, to be who you are, is important. Not content to be a hunter like his father's family or a farmer like his mother's family, Wee Gillis finds his own place in this world as a bagpiper. Baby boomers will be familiar with Robert Lawson's illustrations from such children's classics as Rabbit Hill, Ben And Me and The Story of Ferdinand, also written by Munro Leaf. I adore this book so much I named my dear and very independent Cairn Terrier puppy Wee Gillis.