Aunt Nancy is smarter than anyone, and NO one can get the best of her. What does she do with bothersome visitors? She shows them just how clever they aren’t.
Old Man Trouble thinks he can ruin her luck, but he’s codswalloped. Cousin Lazybones thinks he can trick her into doing all the work, but he’s tricked right back. Old Woeful predicts ruin for every one of Aunt Nancy’s enterprises, but she beats it when she finds out just what Aunt Nancy’s digging in her garden for. Mister Death? He just wants to do his job. Will Aunt Nancy let him? What do you think?
This slim book is composed of four hilarious stories, each one worthwhile on its own and even better in sequence. The language–a mild, drawling dialect that is evocative without being difficult to understand–carries the story along and gives it a wonderful sense of place. Because of that language, any of these tales would be excellent storytime fodder–for older children, of course; they could be either read aloud or performed sans book.
Don’t think, though, that because the text makes such excellent read-alouds that the pictures aren’t wonderful as well. Each story begins with a full-color illustration, while throughout the body of the text are smaller illustrations that are almost silhouettes–the most expressive silhouettes I have ever seen. Aunt Nancy’s cat, Ezekiel, in all of his scaredy-cat, puffball glory, nearly steals the show with his side-long glances and frantic behavior.
I recommend this book for 2nd or 3rd grade readers–those who still need shorter stories, but are experienced enough to handle a story that has fun with words, and doesn’t have textbook-perfect grammar.
Posted by: Sarah
Charles Atlas, does the name sound just a little bit familiar?
This picture book caught my eye because of the interesting illustrations, with a child that is obviously from another time in history. The story, however, transcends time. It is the story of a little girl waiting for her cousin Gregory to be born. She asks relatives and friends the question “When will Gregory be here?” and get lots of silly and sometimes nonsensical answers like “When the cabbage in your aunt’s garden grows large enough to make soup for everyone in the family. She’ll pick that cabbage and there he’ll be.” This confuses the little girl until Momma clears things up for her. 
This book is a lovely book which describes the life of Vietnamese people who are very poor but live out in the country where life is good despite it’s meagerness. Binh is 9 years old and cannot go to school because her family cannot afford the money for a uniform and books. She sells sodas and cut fruit to the school children on their way home from school. She lives with her mother, father, brother and grandmother in a one room house made of corrugated tin. 
A “spooky” story, told in rhyme, about a little girl who goes around her house and finds the monsters living in it. 
An adorable dragon on the front cover invites readers to discover exactly who wants a dragon. A king and a queen, a fairy and a knight, and a witch and her cat just aren’t right. But there is someone who is just right to cuddle the dragon and help him sleep tight. This title is a fun, rhyming mother and child bedtime story with very cute illustrations.
If you grew smaller instead of larger from the age of 7 to the age of 12, like Peter P. Pepperell did, maybe you could fly half way around the world on a pigeon and save the world from a mad scientist. But since you are never going to be pocket sized like Peter you can at least enjoy the adventure and humor of such a situation by reading about it in this old and hard to find book.
