MATTIE FRITTS AND THE FLYING MUSHROOM

by Michael Jennings ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 29, 1973

Mattie Fritts, a little old lady who talks to her hat when she isn't ""gently chiding"" her toaster, somehow finds herself airborne with a giant mushroom as a sort of parachute-sail and an upside-down octopus for a ship. ""If you pass through Louisville, Kentucky, would you give some kids there my love?"" calls out a seedy-looking bearded stranger as she is swept up off the sidewalks of New York; coincidentally, she soon picks up a turtle and a dog who happen to be following the same kids to Louisville, and inevitably that's where they land up -- right in the middle of the Kentucky Derby, where Mattie finds herself riding the dog to a neck-and-neck victory over the front running horse. There are a few chuckles along the way -- as when Mattie drives the thirsty octopus ingeniously disguised by Bodecker as an antique auto) to a car wash -- and the photo-finish ending is suitably frenetic, but Mattie and her adventures are never as lovably dotty as Jennings tries to make them.

Pub Date: May 29, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Windmill--dist. by Abelard-Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION