Customer Reviews

Truman's Aunt Farm

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for my daughter and my nephews when theywere 5, 6, and 7 y.o. They loved it and understood the aunt/ant wordplay. We read and reread this book, and even I never tired of it. And at the end of the book I always asked them, what did Truman's aunt do that made her so special, and they replied she really listened and she had fun with him. Good things for adults to do with kids.

Truman has an interesting and clever aunt who seems to enjoy sending him unpredictable and adventurous gifts for his birthday. Naturally he is suspicious whenever the packages from his aunt arrive. However, in this instance he is overjoyed, because his aunt has apparently fulfilled his fond wish to own an "ant" farm. After sending away for this farm, however, what arrives at his doorstep is a growing collection of "aunts", in various shapes and sizes and temperaments, all very aunt-like. What he does with this situation takes up most of the rest of the book. My four year old daughter had a bit of trouble understanding the subtle word play between "ant" and "aunt"--not being able to detect the difference in spelling and needing me to explain the difference as we went along--which took away much of the impact. An older child might enjoy it quite alot more.

I found myself thinking that the person who would really enjoy this book was my younger sister, all of forty-something, who is the quintessential aunt and would probably find the book hilarious. But I wouldn't buy it for a four year old.

This book, about a boy and his eccentric aunt who accidentally sends him an aunt farm instead of an ant farm for his birthday, is just precious. The boy sends his aunt a letter explaining the confusion, stating that he has an abundance of aunts, only she fails to understand what has happened and responds to his letter - telling him to check and see if any of his friends would like some of his ants. So he puts out a sign which reads: "Aunts... free to good home". Eventually all his Aunts are sent off with children who are happy to have them.

The silliness of this story will keep kids engaged and entertained.

DeeDee Fox, author and illustrator, The Ruby Red Slippers