LITTLE OBIE AND THE FLOOD

by Martin Waddell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1992

Life on the generic American frontier, as imagined by a capable, prolific British picture-book author (Farmer Duck, p. 401), is dominated by calamities: in the first of four easily read chapters, Little Obie and Grandad rescue Obie's friend Many, who has barely survived the flood that killed her pa and washed away the cabin where Little Obie and his grandparents live; the orphened Many pines until Effie (Little Obie's grandmother) is bitten by a hog and Many pitches in with needed help. Later, the two save the life of Old Gerd, who's ""building a cabin all on his own"" and gets trapped beneath a tree. Pleasant open format and soft pencil drawings signal Wilder territory; but though the relationships are wholesome and the events certainly exciting, there is virtually no sense of real historical time or place here; and, while Waddell is fairly skillful in sprinkling his text with down-homey names and turns of phrase, the American accent is not quite convincing. At best, adequate supplementary reading.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1992

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Candlewick--dist. by Penguin USA

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992

Categories: CHILDREN'S