MIA, GRANDMA AND THE GENIE

Another of Jeschke's peculiar blends of the far-fetched and the homey, featuring a little girl and an old woman as deliberately unattractive as ever. Mia lives with her grandmother who, to Mia's scorn, thanks the sun each morning, apologizes to the furniture, and chats with the genie in the jar. As far as Mia can see, the jar is empty, but later when Grandmother is in the hospital and a lonely Mia decides to take her the genie jar to cheer her up, the genie also cheers Mia along the way and even saves her from two robbers who have stolen Grandmother's beloved furniture and are about to make a fire of it. This strange experience converts Mia to Grandmother's view of things, and though not all readers will be as easily convinced, Jeschke's off-beat quality keeps the otherwise undistinguished story from cloying.