Mary Smith (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) [Hardcover]

Andrea U'Ren (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)

Time to get up!

Did you ever wonder how people woke up in time for school
or work in the days before alarm clocks? In the early twentieth century, townspeople in England hired "knocker-ups" like Mary Smith for a few pence a week. Mary Smith traveled through predawn streets armed with a peashooter and a pocket watch, waking her clients at whatever hour they requested by plinking dried peas at their bedroom windows.

In rollicking words and pictures, Andrea U’Ren re-creates one busy morning in the life of her intrepid true-life subject – a morning when Mary Smith helps her town start its day in timely fashion, only to receive a rude awakening when she comes home. Could it be that the knocker-up’s own daughter has been sleeping in?

 

Mary Smith is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-In the days before alarm clocks, people like Smith had an important job in England-they were "knocker-ups," hired to wake the townsfolk for a few pence each week. The opening archival photograph establishes the woman as a historical figure, hand on hip, aiming a peashooter. What follows is a colorful tale of one day in her life, told with energetic prose and delightfully bold color illustrations. The peas hit windows: "TOCK! TOCK! TOCK!" "PLIK PLOK!" "CLICK CLACK SNAP!" rousing the laundry maids, the fishmonger, and the sleepy mayor, who sums up the contribution of the woman's humble work to the functioning of the community: "Without you- everyone would still be asleep in bed, no one would be working, and I wouldn't have a town to run-because everything would be shut down!" The ending has a humorous twist. Outlined in black, U'Ren's art has a clean, graphic appearance that perfectly complements the simplicity of the story. Particularly amusing are the expressions on the characters' faces. A historical note gives supplemental information about the real Mrs. Mary Smith and the role of the knocker-ups. A rollicking read.
Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. Bulky Mary Smith strides through the streets with her peashooter, blowing pellets at people's windows. Mary is a "knocker-up," and her job is to wake people. The baker, the laundry maids, even the mayor are targets, and they wave to show Mary they're arising. But when Mary arrives home, her own daughter is still in bed. Has the girl, of all people, been allowed to oversleep? No, she's been sent home from school for awakening a sleeping child with her own peashooter. Kids who don't (or can't) read the flap copy may wonder what's going on at first, but they will soon figure out the "what" and, more slowly, the "why." The excellent afterword focuses on the real-life Mary and a few surprising facts about the first "wake-up calls." Set against a background of early-morning blues and grays and traditional English buildings, U'Ren's well-drawn characters are full of humor, especially the robust Mary, who takes her job seriously, indeed. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374348421
• ISBN-13: 978-0374348427
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,142,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical fiction, March 7, 2004

By 

ardnam "ardnam" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mary Smith (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful work of historical fiction. The real photo of Mary Smith adds to the engagement of young children. My class loves this book and I do,too. This is a part of history that I had never heard before. Cute ending that the children loved. I buy a lot of books for my classroom; some are "keepers" that I allow the children to use for a few days and are returned to my personal collection while others are placed in the children's collection which they have continual access to. This one is a "keeper".

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!, September 22, 2003

By 

A Charles (Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary Smith (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

Besides an interesting peek into a unique aspect of history this book is charming in it's presentation. The photo of Mary Smith at the beginning of the book immediately gives the book credibility and tugs at the readers curiosity. A surprise ending is light-hearted and an added bonus. Fun and informative!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended by NPR and me & my son too!, October 15, 2007

By 

A.K. Douglas "Hobbit And Tolkein" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary Smith (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

This book, MARY SMITH, was read by Daniel Pinkwater and Scott Simon in late August 2007 on NPR's Weekend Edition. It was great to hear on the radio as well as being a great book to read out loud. My son loves the spread where Mary runs throughout the town waking people up. I didn't notice that there were "little Marys" in the illustration, but my son's eyes spied her. We even found a foot of hers, dodging behind a corner of a house.
This book is really interesting because of the fact I knew nothing about "knocker-ups" and it is as Daniel Pinkwater attests, "Deceiving well done." It seems simple, but U'Ren in very few words made a book that is historical, educational, funny, and engaging. A great read for my budding reader, my son.
Highly recommended for the story and the art. Thank you NPR for bringing it to my attention!