Aunt Minnie McGranahan - Hardcover

Prigger, Mary Skillings

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039582270X ISBN 13: 9780395822708

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1999

Synopsis

Illustrated with quaint watercolors, a hilarious story follows Aunt Minnie--a very neat and orderly person, who inherits nine orphaned nieces and nephews--as she creates a new system for accommodating her large family.

About this title

About the Author

BETSY LEWIN is the well-known illustrator of Duck for President; Giggle, Giggle, Quack; and the Caldecott Honor-winning Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, all written by Doreen Cronin. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Aunt Minnie McGranahan, a small and tidy woman, has a system for everything from cleaning her neat house to caring for her cows and chickens. When she takes in nine orphaned nieces and nephews, she ignores the townspeople of St. Clere, KS, who mumble that she knows nothing about raising children. However, competent Aunt Minnie has her own system: "The oldest looked after the youngest. The ones in the middle looked after each other. And Aunt Minnie looked after them all." From helping with household chores, bathing, using the johnny house, square dancing in the evenings, and hugging before bed at night, the youngsters learn to care for themselves, others, and the world around them, all the time knowing that Aunt Minnie cares for them all. Set in the 1920s, Lewin's illustrations are imbued with down-home charm. Simple, bold, black lines skillfully express emotion and the watercolor pastel hues are as cheery as a cherished family quilt. Design elements unite the text and pictures. Prigger successfully creates a sense of time and place, and readers will be especially touched by Aunt Minnie's system of making work appear lighter by allowing for fun and the family's good-night system of dancing and bedtime hugs.
Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Based on debut author Prigger's family history, this tale of an elderly spinster who inherits nine children overflows with energy, affection and humor. The epitome of tidiness, Aunt Minnie has a "system" for maintaining order in her neat little world. "It's lucky she has no children," her neighbors cluck. "Children might interfere with Minnie's system." But when she receives a telegram informing her that her nine nieces and nephews have been orphaned ("Some of them were triplets. Some of them were twins"), Minnie rises to the occasion with aplomb. True to her nature, she devises a series of systems. For trips to the "johnny house," Minnie counsels, "Stand in line, wait your turn, and help with buttons"; for hugs, "The oldest hugged the youngest. The ones in the middle hugged each other. And Aunt Minnie hugged them all." In a dexterous style, Prigger employs repetitive elements to establish and maintain a spry tempo in clipped, spruce sentences; the brisk diction is a reflection of the main character herself. The black outlines of Lewin's (Snake Alley Band) witty, loose watercolors punctuate the pages in a flurry of scribbles, suggesting the kind of bursting-at-the-seams activity typical of a large family and counteracting any hint of Minnie's rigidity with fluid, personable characterizations. Period detail, from Aunt Minnie's Model T to her woodstove and water pump, adds nostalgic charm to this winning family portrait. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Prigger bases her engaging debut on an incident in her own family. The setting is 1920, so Minnie can't be considered obsessive-compulsive; instead, she's a woman with a system for keeping things shipshape and just so. Her farmhouse is trim and neat, as is her garden and barn. Her neighbors snipe that it's a good thing that Minnie, a spinster, has no children, who would surely interfere with her system. Then the telegram arrives: ``Come quick. Your brother and his wife have had an accident. Their children are orphans in need of a home.'' Aunt Minnie goes and gathers the children, all nine of them, in a thrice. The neighbors look on with amazement (as will readers) when all the potential for pandemonium is breezily absorbed into Aunt Minnie's system: ``The oldest looked after the youngest. The ones in the middle looked after each other. And Aunt Minnie looked after them all.'' Tweak this template a little, and it works for grocery shopping, housework, bathing, and going to the johnny house. There are episodes of stubbornness and fretting, dawdling, pouting, and crying; there is also noise, music, laughter, and hugging, all captured with elemental clarity and a visual caress in Lewin's watercolors. This story is a sweet and simple song of grace, love, and responsibilities met; it will leave children aglow and adults in tears. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Minnie McGranahan is a tidy lady who lives alone. The town is agreed that it's a good thing organized Minnie doesn't have children to muck up her schedule. Then Minnie receives word that her nine nieces and nephews have been orphaned, and soon the house is full of kids. Prigger's delightful text explains just how this new family works: no time for idleness, but plenty for fun, and so laughter is mixed with noise and chores. Set in 1920 and based on a relative Prigger heard about as a child, this depiction of an unusual family turns on Minnie's most ingenious system: "the oldest hugged the youngest, the ones in the middle hugged each other, and Aunt Minnie hugged them all." Lewin is an inspired choice as illustrator. Her ink-and-watercolor art has the proper energy for the hurly-burly action, but at the same time, she catches every nuance of humor as one brother scrubs the clothes, one baby wails in a basket, and all the kids wait in line at the "johnny house." Warm and funny. Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 039582270X
• ISBN 13: 9780395822708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Lewin Betsy
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40