Mysterious Miss Slade

I have read many Dick King-Smith books including Babe and the Waterhorse. This is by far my favorite. It is a great story about loving people that are different than you and helping others and being yourself. I really recommend it.

Patsy, 8, and Jim, 6, befriend Miss Slade, a neighbor woman who lives in squalor with her six dogs, six cats, donkey, goats and chickens. This is a lovely, gently humorous story with delightful characters, both human and animal. Readers will rejoice when Miss Slade, helped by the kindness of the children and their parents, decides to "turn over a new leaf" on her 70th birthday. The book is generously and charmingly illustrated, too.

This was a great book, and I couldn't put it down. It is a quick read, if you love mysteries. I was throughly in to it, and I really enjoyed it.

Miss Slade has lived in Blackberry Bottom for as long as anyone can remember...but who is she really? Everyone believes she's a witch, or at least someone who's "a bit touched in the head" and steers clear of her. With a pirate patch on one eye, Maggie lives in a shabby caravan with no electricity or plumbing along with her six dogs, six cats, and other miscellaneous critters, it's no wonder she scares people off -- that is, until a new family moves into town....This is a funny sweet little book reminding us that not everyone is as they appear on the outside. Maggie lives the way she does because she wants to, not cause she has to...and even after she makes friends with her new neighbors, she remains her quirky wonderful self. I hope you come to love getting to know the surprising Miss Slade as much as I did.