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triscuit807's review
4.0
This is a Newbery Honor book (1922) and it's probably not for everyone. Initially I was all over the place with it and then decided to abandon my 21st c sensibilities and read it for what it is: a book written in 1922 for children. I suspect that it was intended as a read-aloud given the young age of the child protagonist (5 or 6 yrs old); even skewing for the dumbing down of children's literature in the past 50 years and given that kids like to read up (about older kids), I can't think the reader was intended to be more than 6-8 and I don't think a child of that age could handle the text. I honestly think it would work very well as an audio book, but convincing a publisher might be impossible - at least as a child's audio (child and tobacco and smoking - see the problem?). So what is this? Basically it's a form of portal fantasy, more similar in some respects to The Wizard of Oz than to Alice or Peter Pan. Some people describe it as Dickensian, but I see that only in its verbosity - it's extremely descriptive. A young boy, Fweddie (he lisps), is sent on an errand to buy tobacco for his father. On his first trip he meets the proprietor, a hunchback named, Toby, as well as a woman, Aunt Amanda, who is both a seamstress and an Old Maid. Toby regales him fantastic stories about the wooden hunchback (Mr. Punch) on the shop's porch and Punch's father who lives behind the clock face in the church tower across the street. There is also a tale about the special magic tobacco in the Chinaman's head on a high shelf in the shop. There are other visits (on the way he meets the Churchwarden) and more tales (of the two Old Codgers). Fweddie finally learns to say his name properly and Toby takes Freddie to see Hanlon's magic act. One day Toby leaves him to watch the shop while he runs an errand. The cast of characters is now in place. Freddie can't resist temptation, takes down the Chinaman's head, takes out the tobacco and smokes it. And the magical journey finally begins. There's a magical map, ship's journey, a shipwreck, a magic fish, pirates with treasure, a magical kingdom with a missing queen, a rug merchant/genie, and finally the journey home. I read this for my Newbery Challenge and for my 2017 Reading Challenge.
angielisle's review
2.0
This is a 1922 Newbery Honor Book.
The story is billed as being styled after Dickens. Only two words, lifted from Oliver Twist, made me think of Charles Dickens: "Please, sir," said Freddie....
The narration of the story reminded me of Lewis Carroll and the literary-nonsense genre, which isn't one of my favorite genres so I may be biased in my dislike of the story.
Verbose descriptions ramble on and on and on...
The rambling prose shows Freddy's youth to readers and was used to incorporate multiple puns but I found it irritating and I probably missed several of those puns because I skimmed through the needless detail. I just wanted to be done with this book - that feeling hit during the first three chapters and grew as I continued to read.
This book also exposes kids to new vocabulary - and the exposure is intended, not happenstance because of language evolution between then and now. I imagine that this book was probably once billed as a fun and easy learning tool for parents/teachers to use with children, but I don't know if I could sit through another re-reading (or, as a teacher, through multiple readings) of this book. I wouldn't be able to give the lesson the full-attention that a child deserves.
The story is billed as being styled after Dickens. Only two words, lifted from Oliver Twist, made me think of Charles Dickens: "Please, sir," said Freddie....
The narration of the story reminded me of Lewis Carroll and the literary-nonsense genre, which isn't one of my favorite genres so I may be biased in my dislike of the story.
Verbose descriptions ramble on and on and on...
The rambling prose shows Freddy's youth to readers and was used to incorporate multiple puns but I found it irritating and I probably missed several of those puns because I skimmed through the needless detail. I just wanted to be done with this book - that feeling hit during the first three chapters and grew as I continued to read.
This book also exposes kids to new vocabulary - and the exposure is intended, not happenstance because of language evolution between then and now. I imagine that this book was probably once billed as a fun and easy learning tool for parents/teachers to use with children, but I don't know if I could sit through another re-reading (or, as a teacher, through multiple readings) of this book. I wouldn't be able to give the lesson the full-attention that a child deserves.
luann's review
3.0
This is an interesting adventure story that I never would have read if it hadn't won a Newbery honor in 1922, the first year Newbery awards were given. Because of the way the adventure started, with magic smoking tobacco, I thought it was going to end in the classic (and usually disappointing) "it was all a dream" ending. Worrying about the ending ruined some of my enjoyment in the adventure while I was reading. I kept wondering if I was going to regret taking the time to read this if it all turned out to be only a dream anyhow. I liked the story more and more as it went on, though. I particularly enjoyed the tale of Princess Miranda in the City of Towers and the subsequent involvement of our adventurers in that tale. And I wasn't at all disappointed with the ending.
lieslindi's review
4.0
This is just the thing to while away the wee hours when you can't sleep on your dead sister's birthday and your other books require concentration.
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