Review by Pam Marr Rybinski
Originally published in 1951, this is a story of a boy, his sister, his rather unusual extended family, and a puppy that cost one dollar. As soon as Jerry, aged 10, discovered the special smart pup whom he would name Ginger, strange things started to happen.
To many of us the whole world of Jerry and his nine-year old sister, Rachel, is a bit strange. There are few cars in it, few TV’s, but it includes the kids’ Uncle Benny, who is only three-years old. Jerry and Rachel’s father, Mr. Pye, is a bird expert who travels extensively, enjoys National Geographic fame, is recognized as an expert in his field, but does not make much money. Their mother’s distinction is that she is the “youngest mother” in Cranbury, a town between Boston and New York.
Read by young people in 2012, it is a slice of life that’s about as familiar as a trip to the moon. Eleanor Estes makes the action interesting enough to smoothly carry the reader along to the suspenseful end . . . just what you’d expect from a winner of the Newbery Medal.
