Books in New York Review Books Children's Collection series

50th Anniversary Edition Do you know the history of the pushcart war? The REAL history? It’s a story of how regular people banded together and, armed with little more than their brains and good aim defeated a mighty foe. Not long ago the streets of New York City were smelly, smoggy, sooty, and loud. There were so many trucks making deliveries that it might take an hour for a car to travel a few blocks. People blamed the truck owners and the truck owners blamed the little wooden pushcarts that traveled the city selling everything from flowers to hot dogs. Behind closed doors the truck owners declared war on the pushcart peddlers. Carts were smashed from Chinatown to Chelsea. The peddlers didn’t have money or the mayor on their side, but that didn’t stop them from fighting back. They used pea shooters to blow tacks into the tires of trucks, they outwitted the police, and they marched right up to the grilles of those giant trucks and dared them to drive down their streets. Today, thanks to the ingenuity of the pushcart peddlers, the streets belong to the people—and to the pushcarts. The Pushcart War was first published fifty years ago. It has inspired generations of children and been adapted for television, radio, and the stage around the world. It was included on School Library Journal’s list of “One Hundred Books That Shaped the Twentieth Century,” and its assertion that a committed group of men and women can prevail against a powerful force is as relevant in the twenty-first century as it was in 1964.

Michael Farrell was forced to grow up quickly after his father disappeared hunting for treasure on the fabled lost island of Inishmananan. Struggling to get by, one evening he and his mother receive a mysterious message from a ragged tramp who stops by their farm. The old man has proof that Michael’s father is alive! Although no one seeking the island has ever returned, Michael and his friend Joe board the first boat they can, only to find out it is run by a treacherous gang of sailors. Braving the unknown seas, they embark in a grand search for Michael’s missing father, the spectacular fortune, and the island’s long-lost secret. Set amid Ireland’s picturesque west coast, plots against Michael and the adventures that befall him make this magical and suspenseful narrative a page-turning, rough and tumble adventure story.

In an ever-expanding city, one young man claims the job of his dreams, operator of the tallest crane around. Since others envy his position, he never leaves his crane, always eager for the day—and work—to begin.As the seasons pass, man and machine almost become one. "The crane was a giant with iron sinews, and the craneman was its heart." Then people begin to hoard their goods, grinning ravens multiply throughout the land, and war is at hand. But the craneman never falters, remaining at his post even when the land is flooded, ready for reconstruction to begin.

The little hero of this tale has a shock of blond hair, a devoted dog, and a frisky cat, but today he has a problem, a big problem, in fact: he’s just too big to do the things he wants to do. He’s too big to put on his little hat and coat, too big for his mother to pick up, and too big to ride around on the dog’s back. Luckily he’s not too big to dream of the time when he’ll be big enough to relish the challenges ahead and to set out on bold new adventures of his own.In glowing primary colors, Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, famous for their luminous retellings of the Norse and Greek myths, paint a charming portrait of a typical toddler feeling his way into the world. Based on a story that enchanted the d’Aulaires’ own little boy, Too Big is a wise and winning tale of growing up and discovering that though there are some things you just can’t do, that still leaves everything you can.

Winner of the Carnegie MedalIn the English village of Midmeddlecum, Major Palfrey asks his two daughters to behave themselves while he is off at war. Sighs Dinah, "I think that we are quite likely to be bad, however hard we try not to be," and her sister Dorinda adds helpfully, "Very often, when we think we are behaving well, some grown-up person says we are really quite bad. It's difficult to tell which is which." Sure enough, the mischievous sisters soon convince a judge that minds must be changed as often as socks, stage an escape from the local zoo (thanks to a witch's potion which turns them into kangaroos), and—in the company of a golden puma and silver falcon—set off to rescue their father from the tyrant of Bombardy. A tale of hilarity and great adventure, The Wind on the Moon is also a work of high seriousness; after all, "life without freedom," as the valiant puma makes clear, "is a poor, poor thing."

When you’re a kid, there are lots of things you’re not supposed to do. But what if you didn’t really do any of those things, what if you just imagined them? Then it wouldn’t matter if your supposings were silly, impossible, or even a little naughty—because they’re all just in your head. Alastair Reid’s book is a monument to the liberating power of unfettered thought. Here he reunites with a frequent collaborator, the famed illustrator and designer Bob Gill, to muse on the possibilities:Supposing I read a book about how to change into animals and said a spell and changed myself into a cat and when I climbed on the book to change myself back I found I couldn’t read. . .Supposing I had a twin brother but we never told anyone and only went to school half the time each. . .Supposing a very beautiful lady fell in love with me and wanted me to marry her but I just yawned and said Maybe . . .

In The Two Cars the celebrated husband and wife team of Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, famous for their illustrated versions of Norse and Greek myths, offer young children a playful modern twist on the ancient fable of the tortoise and the hare.Two cars sit side by side in the same garage. One is fast, shiny, and ready to go; the other is a comfortable old jalopy, a little worse for wear but as reliable as can be. On a magic moonlit night, the doors of the garage swing open and they head out for a spin, each determined to prove that he is the “best car on the road.” Over hill and dale and roundabout they go, encountering—and narrowly missing—trains, trucks, wildlife, and even, in the form of a policeman on a motorcycle, the long arm of the law. Before the two cars’ nocturnal caper is over, each will have discovered the being the “best” is not so simple as you might suppose.

EVEN IF she has lived ten terrible years, terrible, horrible Edie really isn’t terrible and horrible at all, but rather one of the most charming and engaging and gutsy children in American children’s fiction. It’s true of course that Edie does get into—and not always without it being at least a little bit her fault—some pretty terrible and horrible scrapes, and that sometimes she will sulk, but these are the kinds of things that happen to the kid sister of two snooty boys and one fancy-pants girl, not to mention having to deal with the distraction of two half sisters who are no better than babies. Edie’s father and stepmother have headed to Europe for the summer, and though the rest of the family can look forward to good times at a beloved summer house on the sea, Edie still has to fight to hold her own. Adventures on a sailboat and on an island, and the advent of a major hurricane and what Edie takes to be a military coup, all come to a climax when Edie solves the mystery of who stole the neighbor’s jewels and saves, at least for one day, the day. This story of Edie and the other members of the Cares family may remind readers of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, except that Edie has an experimental, even anarchic streak that is all her terrible, horrible own.