Customer Reviews

The Ears of Corn (Ike and Mem Story)

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Ike and young Mem's parents drop them off for a couple of days at their grandparents' farm. There are ponies to ride and cornfields in which to play, but there are also "lots and lots of chores" to do. Ike and Mem enjoy the fun stuff, but the grandkids-especially Ike-aren't very happy about the difficult farm chores. It's a fairly prosaic story but younger readers will identify with complaints and rewards around work, and may enjoy the subplot about the mysterious sounds emanating from the cornfield.

The dialogue and description convey personality and setting, but the author overplays his hand. The grandparent characters border on stereotypes: the mischievous, joke-telling (bad jokes, of course) grandfather, and the nurturing (especially with food), but stern and sometimes very gruff grandmother. The two constantly insert the word "best" in their demands (e.g., "Best get on out to the cornfield.") and forever talking in "rural" clichés. Apparently, farm folks always speak the same. This provides some humor, as Ike begins to copy the best phrase. (The cynical among us would believe that his word choice is sarcastic.) Some other spots of humor will promote interest. I don't think that the suggested age range of 9-13 is right; this book is perhaps more suited to a younger age range.

The black and white drawings are adequate but largely unimaginative, and the period farmhouse looks like a modern condo in the mountains. Early readers will enjoy the word repetition, the feeling of reading a grown-up book (55 pages, with un-numbered chapter breaks), the conflict over tasks, and the mystery in the cornfield. However, the dialogue feels contrived, and the surprise ending is fairly predictable (although there is a very clever twist that may require re-reading to make sure the author didn't trick you. This is the fifth "Ike and Mem" book.