RIP ROARING RUSSELL

by Johanna Hurwitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 1983

Continuing Hurwitz' Busybody Nora series about the children in a city apartment building: a volume about Russell, ""four going on five"" and entering the Sunshine Nursery School. The story is a little thin, with its cute anecdotes of Russell at home and school (his mother finally learns that Russell's new friend Germy is really named Jeremy), and a little too transparent in handling Russell's problems with baby sister Elisa. For example, when Elisa's teething keeps Russell home from the Columbus Day parade and he complains of having to ""share"" his mommy and daddy, his mother gives him a little talk about how ""Mommies and daddies' love grows bigger and bigger when there are more children in a family."" (Besides, Daddy will take him to the Thanksgiving Day parade.) His mother's treating him as a baby when he decides not to be a ""big boy"" and go to school is another too-pat lesson, and there are others: ""Sometimes a tantrum worked and sometimes it didn't. Mommy always said that big boys talked and didn't yell and scream. Russell decided that the method really worked."" However, an outing at a Chinese restaurant with Nora and Teddy's grandparents is amusingly recognizable without the onus of manipulation; and fans of the Nora stories will enjoy the closing chapter when the children stage their own parade around the block, complete with Elisa in her stroller and 86-year-old Mrs. Wurmbrand, in her wheelchair, beating the drum.

Pub Date: Aug. 22, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION