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Books : The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine


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by: Donald Barthelme

List Price: $19.95
Amazon.com's Price: $15.56
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9781585678280
ISBN: 1585678287
Label: Overlook Juvenile
Manufacturer: Overlook Juvenile
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 32
Publication Date: November 16, 2006
Publisher: Overlook Juvenile
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Sales Rank: 301713
Studio: Overlook Juvenile



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Editorial Review:

Book Description:
From the brilliant mind of Donald Barthelme, the National Book Award-winning tale for children of all ages.

One morning in 1887, Mathilda went out into the back yard and discovered that a mysterious Chinese house had planted itself there overnight. She had wanted a fire engine, but the mysterious Chinese house was intriguing too. From inside came strange sounds: growls, howls, whispering, trumpeting.

Plucky Mathilda walks right in. She finds all sorts of peculiar things: a sulky captured pirate, a giant popcorn-popping machine, an elephant that falls downhill once a day—truly 'every kind of flawless flourishy footlooseness.' Mathilda gets to see everything in every room, guided by the hithering thithering djinn, who even arranges to leave her a souvenir that is just about exactly what she wanted.

Renowned author Donald Barthelme presents Mathilda’s escapade in a witty and whacky text with collage illustrations made entirely from nineteenth-century engravings. It’s a unique, fun, and ultimately wonderful book.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating:  out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Fun and obscure
This was a very fun children's book that left plenty of room for imagination. I'm a bit "old" for children's books at nearly 30 but I appreciate literature in virtually all forms; so I maintain this book is an imaginative joy.



Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - The Story Can't Unite the Hithering Thithering Graphics
What Donald Barthelme has apparently done is take a collection of mildly amusing 19th-century engravings and, as an experimental attempt at a children's book, write a short story around them. The story is a wandering and observing of various silly characters and scenes, like Alice in Wonderland, without Carroll's creativity*, yet not without some fun and wit. The character who most comes to life is a knitting pirate who makes sardonic comments and tells the story of his capture by the Chinese. Like ... Read More




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