McBroom's Ear [Hardcover]

Sid Fleischman (Author), Kurt Werth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1982

The war is on when the grasshoppers attack Josh McBroom's fabulous one-acre farm and prize ear of corn.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (Juv) (April 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316285390
• ISBN-13: 978-0316285391
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,775,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since his autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life, was published in 1996, Sid Fleischman has been stealing the spotlight with his exuberant brand of nonfiction. Sir Charlie: Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World is Fleischman's fourth true tale, following the widely acclaimed The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West and the best-selling Escape! The Story of The Great Houdini.
Fleischman's books have been made into films, performed as plays, and translated into nineteen languages. The author was awarded the Newbery Medal for The Whipping Boy.
Sid Fleischman lives in Santa Monica, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars More "corny" fun with the McBrooms and their wonderful farm, January 11, 2010

By 

Muzzlehatch (the walls of Gormenghast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

The third book about the adventures of farmer Josh McBroom, his wife Melissa, and their several red-haird children (WillJILLHesterCHESTERPeterPOLLYTimTOMMaryLARRYandlittleCLARINDA) was originally published in 1969 and is illustrated by original series artist Kurth Werth. This one, typically, shows the kinds of near-calamaties and amazing fortunes that can occur on the fabulous one-acre farm (where ANYTHING will grow, and grow wildly fast and large) because of the weather - in this case, summer weather so hot that you have to boil water to cool it off, so hot that wax beans melt on the vine and that flies drop out of the sky with sunstroke. You get the idea.

This tall tale mostly concerns the McBroom clan's attempts to get their amazing crops ready to take to the fair, only to be thwarted by the biggest clouds of grasshoppers you ever did see. McBroom's ingenious plan? Plant hot peppers in the miracle soil, and give them hoppers a tongue-torture that'll keep them away from the farm just long enough to grow one special crop to top all the prize winners that ever were. Even when a gigantic ear of corn is eventually ready to go, though, our family's troubles aren't over - and you'll just have to read it yourself to see how they get it to the fair, and what happens after.

Great fun for tall-tale lovers of all ages, one of my favorites of the five books I've read now though I think McBroom's Zoo remains at the top of the heap, and that's probably the one I'd pick for new readers to try first.