Eccentric Aunt Sally comes from Canada to babysit the Anderson children while their parents are on a trip to Paris and every night the bedtime story adds another piece to a very suspect family history.
Horn Book Magazine
The gist of Aunt Sally, as Polly Horvath phrases it in this comic novel with a surprisingly poignant under-current, is that she's a storyteller. Before Aunt Sally comes down from Vancouver to Ohio to baby-sit Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee, the three siblings know little about her. They know little about anyone on their father's side of the family, and, after Sally leaves a week later, they still aren't sure what they know. Did their uncle John really get the tip of his finger bitten off by a clam and thus not have to play his much-feared violin recital? Was their great-great uncle Louis really a health nut who made his great-nieces and nephews gnaw sticks for fiber? Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee feel certain that not every detail of Aunt Sally's wild and enormously entertaining family tales can be believed. But readers will ascertain that somewhere within the exaggeration lies the gist of why the children's father and Sally do not have a close relationship...and along with the answer to that question ocmesa warningfor Melissa and Amanda. Horvath, a master storyteller herself, skillfully parallels the two generations as she conveys the unthinking cruelty older siblings often bestow upon younger ones. Six-year-old Pee Wee lives the life of a worm because of the way his sisters treat him. Aunt Sally, who shows Pee Wee the respect the girls withhold, doesn't directly reprimand them for their behavior. Instead, she tells them about the time she tried to give her bratty little brother, their father, to the trolls. There are no locks to keep out the trolls, she says. But don't worry, the trolls don't come to you. It's your own darkness that leads you to the trolls. There are hopeful signs that Melissa and Amanda have learned from the older generation's example and will try to keep their own darkness in check.
Categories:
- Children's Books
- Growing Up & Facts of Life
- Family Life
- Multigenerational
- Fiction
- Multigenerational
- Family Life
- Growing Up & Facts of Life
Publisher : Square Fish
Author : Horvath, Polly
Language : English
Edition : First Edition
Published :2008-09-30
Number Of Pages : 160
Binding : paperback
ISBN-10 : 031238419X
ISBN-13 : 9780312384197
Item weight : 0.25 lb
Dimensions : 0.6 in x 5.1 in x 7.4 in
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