A Long Way

This is an extremely cute story of a little girl that is sent on a mission by her mother to take a present to grandmother's house. Her mode of transportation is a big brown box. This is one of those beginning readers that can be way, way over intellectualized by the adult reader and by mucking around with it, completely ruin it, the story, for the kid. This is a beginning reader. The words are simple. The story is told more through the excellent art work by Tricia Tusa than the simple text by Katherine Ayres. The little girl's imagination soars and the box becomes first a car, then a boat, then an airplane and finally a subway. The story takes place, for the most part, in the little girls mind, although it is pretty much a given that the grandmother's house is more than likely next door. I had quite a number of toys when I was a child, considering the times, but I probably had more fun with large packing boxes, when I got my hands on them, than anything else. Through my imagination they, the boxes, became cars, forts, houses, planes, covered wagons, hideouts, bomb shelters, reading rooms, spaceships, and on and on and on. They were a delight and this little work brought some of that delight back from my fading memory. This is a fun book for kids to read. No, it is not logical in places, there is no hidden deep seated message...it is about a little kid using her imagination to have fun. Adults may miss the point of this work but I can assure you any kid who has ever been lucky enough to get their hands on a big box will "get it." Love this book and highly recommend it. The art work is fantastic. Don Blankenship The Ozarks