Yard Sale! [Hardcover]

DK Publishing (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Everybody loves a yard sale, even in sleepy Spudville. On a bright spring day, the whole town turns out for Mr. Flotsam's great deals, and they all go home happy. But the next morning, Mr. Flotsam's neighbors learn they've gotten a lot more than they bargained for. The Zings' new carpet flies away with their son, Mrs. Applebee's new phone rings off the hook with calls from the beyond, and the seeds Mr. Twitchett plants in his garden keep growing... and growing... and growing ...The whole neighborhood is up in arms! But gradually the townspeople begin to appreciate their quirky purchases--and turn their exasperation into a party that lasts all year... until the next yard sale! A fun, fanciful story plus Mitra Modaressi's sprightly art--now that's a deal!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flea market shoppers get more than they bargain for in this tall tale, a latter-day "Aladdin and the Lamp." One morning, residents of Spudville pore over the pickings at Mr. Flotsam's yard sale: a rug, a typewriter, a phone, a pasta-maker. The objects seem ordinary, but when the shoppers get home, inexplicable things happen. The rug flies off, with a boy aboard. The typewriter produces a novel. And when Mrs. Applebee's new telephone rings, "It was her great-great-great-grandmother, just calling to say hello!" The townspeople, initially outraged and demanding refunds, grow to appreciate their magical possessions. As in her The Dream Pillow, Modarressi sets uncanny events in a tree-dotted small-town America. With understated, offhand wit, she demonstrates the secondhand-store credo that one man's trash is another man's treasure. The pasta-maker churns out a "waist deep" pile of spaghetti, but they are the tastiest noodles anyone has ever eaten; the telephone scares Mrs. Applebee, but now Mr. Rotelli "can finally get [his] great-great-great-aunt Sylvia's recipe for carrot cake." The art, in an antiqued palette of mossy green, mauve and butter yellow, features Modarressi's characteristically skewed, eerie but cheery watercolor images. Fun from start to finish. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Spudville is the kind of place where nothing ever happens and people keep to themselves. All that changes when Mr. Flotsam has a yard sale. It looks like any other sale with lots of reasonably priced worn items, but something happens when the goods get to their new homes. The Zings' carpet flies away with their son, Miss Milton's typewriter writes by itself, and Mrs. Applebee's new phone receives calls from her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother and Amelia Earhart. At first everyone is up in arms, but in the end they all find creative uses for their strange acquisitions as well as friendship with one another, and things are never again the same in Spudville. The watercolor illustrations are done in restrained tones with mostly flat backgrounds and just enough detail to tell the story. This keeps the focus on the multiracial cast of characters as they react with horror and dismay as their purchases begin to misbehave. This is an amusing bit of magical realism about looking at things in a new way and the joys of the unexpected.
Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078942651X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789426512
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 10.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,864,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginatively written and expressively illustrated, July 1, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yard Sale! (Hardcover)

Talk about caveat emptor! Mr. Flotsam decides to have a yard sale and everyone comes, curious to see the goods. People buy, they take their goodies home, and then it gets weird. Mr. Rotelli's yard sale pasta machine continually makes pasta without ever turning off! The typewriter Mrs. Milton bought is writing its own novel, with no assistance from her! The telephone Mrs. Applebee bought rings with calls from Mrs. Applebee's ancestors! Everyone is confused and nervous and quite out of sorts until they start helping each other figure out that this is actually all kind of fun.

Mitra Modarressi (daughter of novelist Anne Tyler) pulls together an unusually imaginative story with her own softly-colored but vividly rendered illustrations. All in all, a delightful book for all ages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun story with powerful message, January 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Yard Sale! (Hardcover)

The story and illustrations are absolutely delightful. Children love the scenes of giant vegetables and pasta cooking out of control. But beyond the lively fun is a subtle but extremely important message: not everything worthwhile is immediately evident or comes new from the store. If you'd really like your children to appreciate second hand treasures, buy a USED copy of the book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your child will ask for this again and again, December 18, 2001

By 

Sardan (Round Rock) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yard Sale! (Hardcover)

My 5 year old daughter loves this book. The story unfolds in a lovely way, with people buying innocent-looking items at a yard sale that turn out to have surprising, magical qualities. At first the staid townspeople dislike the surprising items and want to return them, but then with the help of the town's children, they learn to appreciate their newfound treasures.

The book is full of charming, warm watercolor illustrations that perfectly compliment the text.