The Pepins and Their Problems

by Polly Horvath, Marylin Hafner (Illustrator)

Overview

Whether it's waking up to find toads in their shoes, becoming trapped on the roof, or searching for cheese when their cow makes only lemonade, the Pepin family always seem to get into the most bizarre scrapes. Lucky for them, they have an author with large psychic antennae and great problem-solving readers who can join the Pepins on their hilarious adventures. And they need all the help they can get!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312377519
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	03/04/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.85(d)
Lexile:	920L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Polly Horvath has written many books for children and young adults, among them Everything on a Waffle, The Canning Season, and One Year in Coal Harbour. She has won numerous awards including a National Book Award, Newbery Honor, Toronto Dominion Award, International White Raven, and Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book of the Year. She has also been short-listed for Germany's most prestigious literature award, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, as well as the Writer's Trust Vicky Metcalfe Award for her body of work and many others. Her books have been New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestsellers and Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah picks. She is translated into over 25 languages and her books are taught in children's literature curricula in North America and internationally. She lives in British Columbia.

Marylin Hafner has illustrated numerous children's books. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

	Toads in Their Shoes	3
	Grilled Lemonade Sandwiches, Anyone?	12
	The Dapper Man at the Door	25
	Junebug Arrives	38
	The Mysterious Envelope	55
	The Other Very Fine Neighbor	64
	The Mouse Squisher	77
	The Very Fine Neighbor-Off	91
	Mrs. Pepin Wishes to Be ... (well, that would give it away)	107
	A Little Night Flying	120
	Mr. Bradshaw Steps Out	130
	The Pepins' Plan	143
	The Pepins Behave Like Relics of a Lesser Civilization	159

Editorial Reviews

Following her National Book Award-winning dark comedy The Canning Season, Horvath reprises the unalloyed giddiness of Everything on a Waffle—and ups the ante with some outrageous, Pirandello-like flourishes . . . the sly running jokes about place names and brazenly funny developments keep the conceit and the comedy energetic all the way to the finish line.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Distinctive and decidedly hilarious . . . Young readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough to discover the Pepins' newest predicament. . . . A delight.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Horvath spins deliciously silly stories about a family rivaling Hale's Peterkins for foolishness and Cresswell's Bagthorpes for effervescent wit. Each preposterous event holds fresh surprise. . . . Hafner's line drawings visualize the shenanigans with comic amiability. Here's one reader beaming thoughts to both author and illustrator: Thanks for the laughs! More, please!” —The Horn Book Magazine, Starred Review

“The sly humor is just right for upper-elementary-school kids, and this book should be a fun read-aloud for younger listeners.” —School Library Journal

“Horvath spins a delightful yarn . . . the wordplay is a great argument for reading this aloud; adults will enjoy the story almost as much as children.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

Horvath puts a distinctive and decidedly hilarious spin on the "problem novel" with this chronicle of a family's unusual (to say the least) mishaps. She also carries the metafictional conceits of Allen Ahlberg's Better Brown Stories (1995) and such a step further-for not only does she converse with her characters, she invites readers to chime in psychically from wherever they may be, duly recording any suggestions she "receives," along with their towns of origin. Poor Pepins: if it's not a rash of toads in their shoes, or a cow who's suddenly giving lemonade when it's cheese that's in short supply, it's Mrs. Pepin's latest crying jag, or the mysterious disappearance of all the tableware. Young readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough to discover the Pepins' newest predicament, to find out its seldom-obvious cause, to check out the reader comments winging in from the likes of Boring, MD, Forks of Cacapon, WV, and other real places-but mostly to meet the Pepins, part Bagthorpes, part fugitives from Chelm, and their fittingly quirky neighbors, all of whom are rendered in Hafner's sunny, simply drawn cartoons. A delight. (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews

The Pepin family does, indeed, find itself in an endless stream of preposterous predicaments. How can a responsible family provide appropriate hospitality when its cow suddenly dispenses lemonade instead of milk? What is the appropriate phrase with which to inform a very fine neighbor that he’s fallen in love with a barber pole? The Pepin family’s ridiculous vignettes will be enjoyed by elementary-age listeners while the book’s impressive vocabulary will be appreciated by teachers and parents. Julie Halston’s reading of this odd story evokes the image of a librarian reading to young children. Perhaps the story could have been more lively if it had been narrated by someone with a knack for accents and goofy voices. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

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