The Pepins and Their Problems (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) [Hardcover]

Polly Horvath (Author), Marylin Hafner (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)

Horvath invites readers to guide the plight of a problem-prone family

Whether it's waking up to find toads in their shoes, becoming trapped on the roof, or searching for cheese when their cow makes only lemonade, the Pepin family always seem to get into the most bizarre scrapes. Lucky for them, they have an author with large psychic antennae and great problem-solving readers who can join the Pepins on their hilarious adventures. And they need all the help they can get!

In this joyfully absurd romp Polly Horvath is in top comedic form, and Marylin Hafner's pictures add to the fun.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–The Pepin family's troubles range from a cow that gives lemonade to disappearing kitchen utensils to their very fine neighbor falling in love with a barber pole. Like Harry Allard's Stupids, the characters' nonsensical antics offer plenty of humor. The individual Pepins, including a cat and dog, have fairly distinct personalities that come through in the dialogue. It's Horvath's arch narration, though, that adds spice and unpredictability. At each chapter's end she calls upon readers to "think" their solutions directly to her own "unusually large psychic antennae," then shares the suggestions she receives in the next chapter. Most of the "readers" hail from towns with especially unusual names such as Nanafalia and Zigzag, eventually representing all 50 states. And from their ideas, they seem to be about as confused as the Pepins themselves. Horvath's mock serious commentary sets just the right tone and makes the novel more than just a series of silly episodes. The author also responds with good humor to the suggestions she receives ("Your author declines even to comment on this"). The sly humor is just right for upper-elementary-school kids, and this book should be a fun read-aloud for younger listeners.–Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. Using the omniscient narrator to solicit advice from "dear reader," Horvath spins a delightful yarn introducing the Pepins, a family unable to solve even the most obvious problem. Faced with the dilemma of toads in their shoes, the Pepins decide to follow the suggestion of a Kalamazoo reader, who recommends finding toadstools for the toads to sit on. When the family cow gives lemonade instead of milk, the Pepins serve lemonade-cheese to their very fine neighbor, Mr. Bradshaw. The chapters are episodic, but the story does reach a climax of sorts: the Pepins seem finally able to manage their own difficulties--prompting a family vacation to visit and thank those dear readers for all their suggestions. Absurd characters and situations and witty repartee are Horvath's strengths, and although her asides may occasionally go over the heads of her audience, the wordplay is a great argument for reading this aloud; adults will enjoy the story almost as much as children. Hafner's black-and-white sketches add to the fun and help to break up the chapters for younger readers. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374358176
• ISBN-13: 978-0374358174
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frolic with Polly Horvath!, September 27, 2004

By 

C. J. Black (Fort Collins, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pepins and Their Problems (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) (Hardcover)

As an elementary school teacher, if I could be rewarded with the privilege of spending a day of leisure with one children's book author, I would quickly choose Polly Horvath. Her manic imagination and wit and her outrageous humor is extraordinary and charming. It would be a frolic to relish and remember--she's a total "stitch!"

The Pepin family and "their very fine neighbor Mr. Bradshaw" are zany noodleheads creating and/or encountering the most improbable and hilarious experiences. Throughout the vignettes, Ms. Horvath adds flourish by cleverly engaging the the reader, as well as the characters, in asides from the commentary. It's novel and endearing.

Then there is Ms. Horvath's wordsmithery. The writing contains rich vocabulary that even an adult will find compelling. (My curiosity had me going to the dictionary on a couple of occasions!) The audience may be a tad older than 4th grade as suggested in the School Library Review; the most precocious 5th and 6th grade readers will truly reap the gifts Ms. Horvath bestows. Encountering enticing words makes Ms. Horvath as writer all the more memorable.

The experience of reading Polly Horvath for me has been something akin to making smores when you're camping and polishing them down with a glass of Pinot Noir!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine middle grade reader kids will love, September 13, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pepins and Their Problems (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) (Hardcover)

Polly Horvath's Pepin Family is anything but a usual family group: they get stuck on their roof, searches for cheese in a cow which can only produce lemonade, hosts a 'neighbor-off' complete with dog throwers, and generally introduce a zany edge to living. Add Marilyn Hafner's fun black and white drawings and you have The Pepins And Their Problems, a fine middle grade reader kids will love.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You think YOU've got problems?, September 1, 2005

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pepins and Their Problems (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) (Hardcover)

I knew it would happen sooner or later! I knew it! Given enough time, I was certain that if I simply continued to read books written by Polly Horvath that eventually I would hit upon one that I liked. That's a pretty snarky statement to start off a review, especially if it's a review of a book that the self-same reviewer liked. Still, I feel some background is in order. I struggled mightily through, "Everything On a Waffle". I visibly cringed with every word of "The Canning Season". Having grown up in the same town as Ms. Horvath (long live Kalamazoo!) and attended the same church as her mother (fellow children's author Betty Horvath) I've always been rooting for her to write something that didn't take the enamel off of my teeth. At long last, she's done it. She's written a book that I think everyone can enjoy. Even people, like myself, who would rather eat hot mustard raw than read yet another precious child raised by crazy aunts tale (in which she seems, usually, to be stuck).

Of the Pepins, there are four. A mother who works part time doing peanut butter experiments, a father who's a corrugation expert at a cardboard factory, a son who is a genius, and a daughter who has no particular talents of which to speak. When we first meet them, the Pepins have toad problems. More precisely, toad-in-shoe problems. Here the author speaks directly to the readers of this book everywhere and asks them to send her their potential solutions to this abnormality mentally. This is sort of the form of the novel, and depending on how useful the readers' advice is, the Pepins either exacerbate their problems or alleviate them. As we follow them through a series of fun and funny occurrences (such as having a dapper man suddenly appear in their midst or when they deal with the fact that their very fine neighbor is in love with a barbershop pole) the reader has the chance to find a solution to various Pepin-related problems. Sometimes the answers are ridiculously easy (as when the family becomes trapped on their own roof) and sometimes impossible to solve (as when the cow produces lemonade rather than milk). Through it all, however, Horvath's uniquely skewed point of view enlivens a truly bizarre tale that'll have your kids screaming for a third, fourth, and possibly fifth read.

Initially, the book's rather like a slightly older extension of James Marshall's classic "The Stupids" series (complete with cat and dog, no less). As you continue to read it through, however, it grows on you. It's almost a stream of consciousness. A child-friendly "Ulysees", if you will. I would like to concede here and now that it is entirely possible that I'm giving this book a lot of slack because it referenced the musical "Pippin" obliquely. I'm a sucker for any book that knows its Fosse.

Through it all, Horvath throws out phrases like "dei ex machina" and makes references that will sail over children's heads only to be gratefully snatched up by their parents. And it's funny. Very very funny. When Mr. Pepin attempts to speak like an Englishman the book notes that, "The only two Englishmen that Mr. Pepin knew were Sherlock Holmes and Henry Higgins. He was doing his best to become an amalgamation of the two". If you do not find that at least mildly amusing then this is not the book for you.

To come right out and say it, I think I liked "The Pepins and Their Problems" because unlike Horvath's other works it didn't have her usual undercurrent of nastiness running beneath the action. There's only one truly nasty character in this book (a character that could creep into "The Canning Season" and not create so much as a ripple) and she only lasts for about 2 chapters. The only people who will fail to find this book amusing may be those Delaware and Rhode Island natives who could take offense at some of the pot-shots lobbied at them within this book. If those natives are so thin-skinned, however, then perhaps they didn't deserve to read the book in the first place. To my mind, this is Horvath's greatest creation. I highly recommend that you check out the audio version for car trips, by the way. There's a lot of room here for sly asides and pregnant pauses. Altogether, a joy to read, hear, or contemplate while on one's own roof.