Whistling Dixie - Hardcover

Vaughan, Marcia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060210303 ISBN 13: 9780060210304

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1995

Synopsis

Dixie Lee brings home an alligator, a snake, and an owl as pets to protect her family from such spooky creatures as the churn-turners, the bogeyman, and the mist sisters

About this title

About the Author:

Marcia Vaughan grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and studied children's theater, education, and library science at Central Washington State University. She began writing childrens books after moving to Australia in 1981. There she wroteWombat StewandThe Sea-Breeze Hotel. Marcia Vaughan, her husband, Richard, their son, Sam, and their big yellow dog, Indy, live on Vashon Island, Washington.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this tale of preposterous pets, a promising story line is dampened by ill-suited artwork. When Dixie Lee brings home a series of not-so-homeless and unlikely pets-including a "little bitty gator," a "slithery snake" and an owl "stuck" in a tree-Mama grudgingly lets her keep the critters, persuaded by the girl's dubious arguments (the owl, for example, will "keep the mist sisters from floating down [the chimney] and leaving a parcel of bad luck behind"). Dixie Lee's arguments are, of course, ultimately vindicated. Vaughan's (Wombat Stew; The Sea-Breeze Hotel) rustic humor and attempts at evoking a backwoods atmosphere lose their force as the cycle of events is repeated with each new animal discovery. Moser's portrait-like illustrations are characteristically handsome but static, seeming to freeze the action rather than advance it. Even in their depiction of a marauding bogeyman, these pictures display a formality at odds with the text's shenanigans. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0060210303
• ISBN 13: 9780060210304
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Moser Barry