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Homer Price [Paperback]

Robert McCloskey
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 29, 2005 8 and up

Welcome to Centerburg!  Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want;  where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and pet skunk.

The comic genius of Robert McCloskey and his wry look at small-town America has kept readers in stitches for generations!


Frequently Bought Together

Homer Price + Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price + Henry Reed, Inc. (Puffin books)
Price for all three: $17.97

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Product Details

  • Age Range: 8 and up
  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Puffin; Reissue edition (December 29, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0142404152
  • ISBN-13: 978-0142404157
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 7.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

This is a great book for reading to boys and girls, and for them to read themselves. Lynn Newman  |  18 reviewers made a similar statement
"Homer" is one of the all-time champs. JLind555  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Now and then it's good for kids to read a book that makes them laugh out loud. west  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 57 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars I'm A Great Big Help'in Of Me January 21, 2003
Format:Hardcover
Robert McCloskey's Homer Price (1943) is a collection of six short stories about all-American boy Homer Price of Centerburg, U.S.A. Probably a product of McCloskey's own nostalgia for small town life, the book may remind readers of Elizabeth Enright's Thimble Summer (1939), in which young girl protagonist Garnet Linden discovers the adventures of every day life in the rural Midwest.

Homer Price is a quietly confident, unbefuddled, and laconic boy around whom a series of somewhat unusual events occur. In the most memorable episode, Homer tends his progress-seeking but work-shy uncle's lunch counter while its newfangled automatic donut machine, short a piece of its machinery, turns out thousands and thousands of donuts as crowds gather to watch. In other stories, Homer captures a team of robbers with the help of pet skunk Aroma, participates in the winding of what is thought to be the largest ball of string in existence, and helps the sheriff discover the identity of the mysterious stranger that has come to town.

Homer's hobby is building radios, which is significant, as the book's world is a pre-television landscape where simple pleasures such as getting a haircut at the local barber shop, pitching horseshoes, or reading the latest issue of Super-Duper comic book at the soda fountain are the highlights of the day, and the autumn county fair the highlight of the year. Throughout, McCloskey subtly weaves the idea of inevitable change, represented not only by the unstoppable donut machine, but by the 100-house suburb of identical, prefabricated houses (each has 'a print of Whistler's Mother over the fireplace') that sprouts up within a week on historical Centerburg land. But McCloskey honors the past while accepting the present and anticipating the future: there are as many mildly progressive citizens of Centerburg as there are mildly traditional ones.

All the pieces are charming, light, funny, and pleasant. While there are no heavy-handed messages, good manners, strength of character, and acceptance of eccentricity and difference are stressed. McCloskey also quietly and humorously comments on courting and marriage rituals, politics, and the role of boredom and gossip in small town life. Though the focus is on Homer, the book is in fact about all of the citizens of Centerburg, with Homer really only one of the crowd.

Adults will enjoy rediscovering Homer Price and sharing it with children, who may see some merit in Price's unhurried sense of wonder about life, the world, and the simple things around him.

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An undiminished delight October 28, 2002
Format:Hardcover
This book should be at the top of your purchase list for every child in the 7 to 10 age group. Homer is an all-American boy in the all-American small town of Centerburg, somewhere in the all-American midwest, and in six hilarious escapades he keeps the kids (and grownup readers, too) enthralled. The stories are funny, engaging and original, and the illustrations, by the author, are priceless. Everyone will have their favorite chapter in this book; my own favorite was "The Doughnuts"; decades after I first read it as a child, it's still as fresh and funny as it was way back when. I bought this book for my son when he was seven and he was in stitches from the first page to the last. "Homer" is one of the all-time champs.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
You'll roll on the floor holding your splitting sides when you read about Homer Price and the crazy doughnut machine. This is great midwestern 40s stuff, still suitable today for both early teens and self-actualized adults alike.

Homer Price is a kid who's oblivious to difficult challenges. His antics causes each of us to mentally return to the days when frutrations were few and obstructions to new dillemmas just simply did not exist. Homer just takes on each situation as it arises and, somehow, things always turn out okay.

Originally published in 1943, this is one of my two favorite books for young people, (the other being "The Trolley Car Family," by Eleanor Clymer, 1947). The six short stories in this Homer Price volume include:

1. The Case of the Sensational Scent

2. The Case of the Cosmic Comic

3. The Doughnuts

4. Mystery Yarn

5. Nothing New Under the Sun (Hardly)

6. Wheels of Progress

This book is also available in softcover, which is the one I own. You COULD get this book for your kids, especially for boys, but the heck with that idea -- get it for yourself and you won't regret it! My highest recommendation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply one of the best children's book
This is one of the best books ever for children ages 8 to 80. What a great story, a description of a world unknown - the old America.
Published 2 months ago by MarbleTech
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic, Wholesome, and Hilarious
Homer Price is a wonderful book! It was originally published in 1943, but the stories within are timeless. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Erin DeGroot
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
This is a very fun book for kids to read. Its a nice change to read silly and creative writing with meaning.
Published 3 months ago by Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars The story of Aroma, Homer's pet skunk and how he aided in the capture...
These series of stories set in the late 1940's early 1950 are delightful tales of a boy living in the small town of Centerburg. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Gail L. Brightbill
5.0 out of 5 stars Get it now
I think "Homer Price" is really fun and cool. It takes you through Homer price's life. It is not just one story. This one book is a bunch of stories about him. Read more
Published 5 months ago
5.0 out of 5 stars glad I read this book!
I read this book for a book club assignment and was pleased to discover that it was NOT one big story, but many short stories all shining the spotlight on a little boy named Homer. Read more
Published 5 months ago by 11-year-old gal
5.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings
First the bad:
"Homer Price" was my absolute favorite book as a young kid. I recently needed a trip down
a nostalgia path and wanted something valuable from my youth... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Enjoys Wide Range of Music
4.0 out of 5 stars In small-town America
Although published in 1943, these six stories (varying from 16 to 32 pages) make no mention of World War II or its shortages and rationing, and are in fact probably set some time... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Chrijeff
5.0 out of 5 stars Down-Home Humor for the Whole Family
If you haven't met Homer Price, you're missing out on some quality, good-ole-days story telling. Homer is the optimistic young citizen of Centerburg, a quaint town bustling with... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Abigail Larsen
5.0 out of 5 stars Adorable and funny
I'm a mom with a family of boys. My fourth grader read this twice yesterday -- devoured it, more like. We had two long waits and this book kept him entertained. Read more
Published 18 months ago by M. Heiss
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