Sylvia Waugh was for twenty years a teacher of English literature. She always wanted to write, but The Mennyms, her first book, was not written until after her retirement. It was received with acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Subsequent books were received with equal enthusiasm. She lives in England with her husband and three grown children.
Grade 4-8?The Mennyms (Greenwillow, 1994) have returned with a similar dilemma to that of Mary Norton's miniature folk, The Borrowers (Harcourt, 1953): they must leave their familiar and comfortable home. The family of rag dolls, mysteriously given life and personalities by their creator, the deceased Kate Penshaw, has lived peaceably for 40 years in Kate's home in Brocklehurst Grove. Now the Mennyms are being threatened by a proposed motorway that may take their house and others in the Grove. This crisis prompts Kate's ghost to appear to her great-nephew, Albert Pond, asking him to intervene on their behalf. The dolls' contact with humans has been, of necessity, limited; Albert is incredulous, but willing. What ensues is a totally believable series of events in which the man transports them to a country mansion that has long been vacant but is still in his family. Each of the Mennyms reacts to the move differently, and that is the strength of Waugh's writing?the characterizations are exceptionally vivid and true. Plotting is stronger and faster paced than in the first book, and children will enjoy the excitement of motorbike rides and a kidnapping as well as the family's dilemma, which is resolved in the end. A great read-aloud choice.?Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
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