Yard Sale

by James Stevenson. Greenwillow, 1996, ISBN 0688141269. Hardcover. Library Binding Picture Book. Grades 1+.
This review by Carol Otis Hurst first appeared in the July '96 issue of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Newsletter.

Review

If you liked James Stevenson's Mud Flat Olympics, you'll like Yard Sale. In an easy to read book, Stevenson gives us wonderful characters and his usual gentle humor. As the title suggests, the animals are holding a yard sale and, in short chapters, we zero in on the action. Simsbury bustles up to his junk-laden attic to get things for the sale but becomes so engrossed in the treasures up there that he never does make it to the sale. Super-salesperson Crocker sells a silent alarm clock to Henry even though it has no hands and few numbers, but Henry walks away delighted with his new treasure. Beth sells Matthew a footstool, claiming that it was once used by a prince, and Matthew likes it so much Beth wants it back. Margaret sells an accordion to Nick. Unfortunately, Clyde sold the other end of it to Myrna. Even readers far more capable than the readers this book is aimed at should enjoy the antics.

Readers wanting to take it further could get into a study of advertising and sales techniques, propaganda and its uses and abuses, or even organize their own fund-raising yard sale.

Mitsumasa Anno also has a book, Flea Market which would fit in nicely with Yard Sale.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• James Stevenson's Mud Flat Olympics. Book Review and Math Activities.