The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill, illustrated by Ronni Solbert

I was helping someone find a book earlier this week, and by chance The Pushcart War caught my eye. Instantly my memories took me back to when I was 10 years old. I had loved this book, it was one of those chapter books that I read multiple times. I loved the action, the humor, and the struggle of the underdog.

Here it is 25 years later and I wanted to see what I would think of the book today. I decided this would be my lunch break book. I was instantly sucked in, and enjoying the book thoroughly. This is an excellent book illustrating the tension between large corporations and individuals and small businesses. If this book was rewritten today, instead of it being a war between trucks and pushcarts maybe it would be a war against SUV's.

The humor and the silliness of it holds up. Quite unbelievable for a book that is 40 years old this year. Jean Merrill does a fantastic job of using multiple writing styles to tell a story from multiple perspectives. Merrill uses diary entries, stenographer's notes, speeches, newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and plain old narrative to move this story along.

I will say it again, I LOVE THIS BOOK. Its about fighting for yourself and its about using your brain over your brawn.

Ages: 9-13
223 pages