by Phyllis Root
age: 6-10
First sentence: “Aunt Nancy should of knowed Old Man Trouble was in the neighborhood.”

It’s a new year, and I’ve got…

another Middle Grade title?

Wait, I thought my part in the Cybils was over?

Well, it is, but my dear cousin Allison is a librarian in Salt Lake City and is on the Beehive Award committee. She needs readers to help with narrowing down their list. (All I have to do is read the book and give my opinion. Not hard.) Anyway. Since a lot of the books on their list were the same as the Cybils list, I happily said I would. Except that the four on my cousin’s part of the list weren’t on my Cybils list. (Are you still following?) Anyway, now that the Cybils are over, I can get to my cousins part of the Beehive Award list.

Whew.

There’s really not a whole lot to say about this book (hence the really long-winded introduction!), except that I liked it. It’s an easy reader book, designed for the younger set: lots of white space, great color illustrations beginning each chapter with black-and-white ones interspersed throughout the text. But, beyond that, it’s a series of four short folk tales, starring Aunt Nancy — that lovable, capable, witty aunt-type person that is immortalized in tales — outwitting Old Man Trouble, Cousin Lazybones, Old Woeful, and Mister Death. It’s very cleverly done and highly entertaining reading how Aunt Nancy ends up tricking each one of the visitors. Old Woeful is my favorite: an old woman who has a raincloud over her even when it’s sunny outside (don’t we all know someone like that?), she stops by Nancy’s house with a tale of misery. Everything Nancy is going to do is going to go bad. Until Nancy decides to start digging her own grave. Which completely unsettles Old Woeful, who then takes off, saying, “Aunt Nancy, you are about the gloomiest person I ever laid eyes on. I got to be getting along before you give me a serious case of the dismals.”

Now who wouldn’t want to spend a bit with characters (and well-told tales) like that?