Aunt Minnie and the Twister [Hardcover]

Mary Skillings Prigger (Author), Betsy Lewin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

From warm-hearted storyteller Mary Skillings Prigger and award-winning illustrator Betsy Lewin comes another affectionate, humorous tale about the indomitable spinster Aunt Minnie and her nine adopted nieces and nephews. Minnie keeps her growing kids busy—they plant in the spring, harvest in the summer, and can in the fall. But when a wild twister sweeps through the farm one spring day, everything turns topsy-turvy. Luckily, Aunt Minnie knows just what to do! Evocative, rhythmic text and joyful watercolors depict the passing of seasons on a small farm and paint an affectionate portrait of a true problem solver and her spirited and loving family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to Aunt Minnie McGranahan, the tidy Kansas spinster takes on a tornado and its effects the same way she earlier took in nine orphaned nieces and nephews with humor, determination, love and top-notch organizational skills. Enlivened by Lewin's characteristically witty, invigorated pen-and-watercolor art, the story affords an enlightening and entertaining look at 1920s Midwestern farm life. Prigger details the family's well-structured and chore-filled life (interesting in itself) and sets the stage for the whirlwind storm that arrives one spring day. Lewin does the twister full justice, picturing it moving through a lemon-colored sky, the wind almost palpable as the children, trying to hold on to each other, struggle toward the root cellar. After the family emerges safely, they find their small home unscathed but turned around: "The front was facing the johnny house, and the back was in the front!" Her can-do disposition intact, Minnie simply decides to make a new front to the house and add another room onto the back for her growing charges, "and Aunt Minnie's kids knew they had a home for as long as they wanted." This heroine and her brood prove once again that they can weather any storm. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

reschool-Grade 3--Tornado-prone Kansas is the setting for this affecting sequel to Aunt Minnie McGranahan (Clarion, 1999). Lewin's whimsical watercolors, outlined with fluid black strokes, depict the nine lively orphans in their crowded, but loving home. Minnie runs a tight ship, and the children have learned to drop everything when her old school bell starts clanging. It summons them to safety in the root cellar just as a twister threatens, and when they emerge (Minnie's face in the sunlight, framed by shadows is priceless), the family discovers that the house has been turned around. The front door faces the outhouse! Reversing front and back and adding a "new room on the back of the old front of the little house" solves that problem as well as the space issue. The creativity and strength of the family against the backdrop of disaster makes for a satisfying read. A perfect choice for intimate settings.
Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books (April 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618111360
• ISBN-13: 978-0618111367
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,502,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoy it, August 24, 2008

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Ulyyf "Connie" (NYC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Aunt Minnie and the Twister (Hardcover)

This is the sequel to Aunt Minnie McGranahan, a book that always makes me cry (in a good way).

Like the first book, this book includes several interesting pages of description of Aunt Minnie's system and the routines of living on a farm. Then it gets to the meat of the story - a tornado comes, the family huddles together in the storm shelter, and when it's all over they see that their house has been turned right around!

So, they add a new room to the house and make the front the back, and the family reaffirms its togetherness.

It's a very touching story. Maybe not quite as good as the first book, but then, that book is in a class of its own.