Kirkus Reviews QR Code
KNEE PANTS by Emile C. Schurmacher

KNEE PANTS

By

Pub Date: Feb. 23rd, 1949
Publisher: Crowell

With Father a veterinary and living in an apartment house in New York's Yorkville section, young Emile had an unexpected and sometimes exciting life and his record of juvenile mishaps and misdirections is set mostly against pre-World War I years. Mother's desire to move to the country complicated their outings in the redoubtable Ford; Father's hatred of the term ""horse doctor"" led to trouble; his calls at stables, his appearances in court delighted his young son. There is the creative inventiveness behind the cop trap and the tinkering with the music rolls of the pianola, the excitement and drama of the epizoodic of glanders, the art lessons (? -- !) via bill board advertising, the denouement atteing an old horse's retirement, the impossibility of a Long Island real estate development, the summer house in New Jersey where a Chinese valet's dream of millions via mushrooms had a sad aftermath, a Central American trip with Father -- and finally graduation from knee pants. All in all -- neither boisterous nor hearty, these are nonetheless amusing reminiscences of a New York City boyhood with specialized accents.