Meatball - Hardcover

Hoffman, Phyllis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060225637 ISBN 13: 9780060225636

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1991

Synopsis

A little girl describes a typical day at her day care center.

About this title

Reviews

PreSchool-- Marilyn, who is called Meatball by her preschool teacher, details daily life in her class. The story is written in simple, dull sentences, in which verbalization and conceptualization do not always ring true for this age level. Much of the first-person narrative is taken up with Meatball's friendship with Lu, her Chinese classmate. Incidents, such as Lu's acclimatizing by Meatball plopping a fireman's hat over Lu's head to the mirth of all, are more apt to cause trauma than acceptance at this age. An argument between Meatball and Lu and another girl while playing doctor is never resolved, leaving a rather unsettling impression. During a counting game, English and Spanish numbers are used, and then Chinese numbers are given in what is supposed to be Cantonese; they are so poorly transcribed that two of the numbers are in Mandarin and one is in Northern Min dialect--no child would count like this. The repetition of one child whining for his mother may be intended as humor, but its impact is closer to annoyance. Jacket illustration notwithstanding, illustrations are lively and colorful, portraying a broad multicultural group of children and adults, although the teacher is remarkably reminiscent of Little Orphan Annie. In sum, this is an attempt at a much needed multicultural interaction book for small children, laudable in its intentions but a bit inept in its execution.
- John Philbrook, San Francisco Pub . Lib .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060225637
• ISBN 13: 9780060225636
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32