TAKE IT EASY

Another setting from Mountain Boy (1947) and Yaller- Eye (1951) but again a superior story of make-believe and growing up in a small town. Slow, dawdling Margie Benton's dreams come true when she polishes a family antique- a brass elephant- and the efficient but tight-lipped genie, Mr. Askew, materializes. Through the summer he is the ever obliging source of her ability to amaze her family and her friends- but the trouble is that Margie's deeds never get done in the right way (neatly or on time) because Mr. Askew must be kept a secret. Only at the end of the summer when Margie has to save a friend from drowning, without his help, does she realize the value of independent action and gives her genie his leave to go. Unflagging wit, adult characterizations and the exact but soft detail of Corydon Bell's drawings provide a lovely book.