The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt
Common Sense Note
The biggest thing to talk about here is they way these people treat each other -- their love and kindness, acceptance of eccentricity, the blithe way they romp through life. Is it possible for people to be like this?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
MacLachlan's stories are a rarity in today's children's books; simple, gentle tales of children who manage to be reasonably nice kids without being insipid. Minna Pratt is a amazingly delightful book, a book that makes you smile all through it, a book that makes you want to know all of the characters in real life.
MacLachlan doesn't seem to believe in villains, and her books, especially this one, will make you wonder why anyone ever thought they were necessary. In the world of Minna Pratt, people can be good and kind and thoughtful and still, amazingly, likable and real and fascinating. The book is wonderful for all children who can enjoy a story without a lot of action and adventure, but for budding musicians it will be a special treat.
From the Book:
Next to Minna, leaning against the seat, is her cello in its zippered canvas case. Next to her cello is her younger brother, McGrew, who is humming. McGrew always hums. Sometimes he hums sentences, though most often it comes out like singing. McGrew's teachers do not enjoy McGrew answering questions in hums or song. Neither does the school principal, Mr. Ripley. McGrew spends lots of time sitting on the bench outside Mr. Ripley's office, humming.
Minna smiles at her brother. He is small and stocky and compact like a suitcase. Minna loves him. McGrew always tells the truth, even when he shouldn't. He is kind. And he lends Minna money from the coffee jar he keeps beneath his mattress.
Plot Summary:
Minna is growing up and has a wonderful assortment of oddball friends and relatives, blithe spirits all, who sometimes seem to her to move through the world with more ease and confidence than she can muster. Her brother, McGrew, loves lurid headlines, and sings most of the time, much to the annoyance of his teachers. His best friend is Emily Parmalee, the catcher on his baseball team, who likes to wear feather earrings.
Minna loves Mozart and the cello, and in her music class is a boy named Lucas, who has a vibrato, collects frogs, and has, so she thinks, the perfect family. Her mother is a writer who believes that "fact and fiction are different truths." She has a music teacher named Porch (called by McGrew "Old Back") who calls the chamber group "mass assembled sound". In this book even the taxi driver can end up fixing the kitchen sink and demonstrating a new way to make coffee.
Related Books:
Other Books by Patricia MacLachlan
Arthur for the Very First Time
Baby
Cassie Binegar
Baby
Journey
Mama One, Mama Two
Three Names
Through Grandpa's Eyes
Tomorrow's Wizard
Unclaimed Treasures
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Skylark
Caleb's Story
More Perfect than the Moon
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