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A Bouquet of Mary Stolz Books
Dec. 11th, 2023 08:02 amSince I’ll be leaving Indianapolis soon, I figured I’d better take advantage of the Indianapolis Library while I had the chance, specifically by borrowing the books of many mid-to-late twentieth century authors whose books fall in the awkward zone of “still in copyright but often not still in libraries.”
Naturally, Mary Stolz was high on my list. I started off with Emmett’s Pig, an easy reader about a young boy who lives in New York City, but yearns to have a pet pig. Eventually, his parents buy him a pig that lives on a farm, which Emmett names King Emmett, and he corresponds with the farmer about his pet. Charming illustrations by Garth Williams.
In the author bio of Emmett’s Pig, I discovered that my recent read Coco Grimes is actually the last of a quartet of books, the earlier books being Storm in the Night, Go Fish, and Stealing Home. (This was not in any way indicated on Coco Grimes itself. I’ve found that it’s often surprisingly hard to piece together whether older books have a sequel, or are a sequel, or part of a series, or what have you.)
Storm in the Night is a picture book, with beautiful blue-tinted nighttime illustrations by Pat Cummings (for which the book won a Coretta Scott King award). One evening, after a storm knocks out the electricity, Thomas’s grandfather tells him a story about a storm in his own childhood.
Go Fish is an easy reader - like Betsy-Tacy, the reading level in this series grows with the characters - in which Thomas and Grandpa catch some fish for dinner off the pier near their Florida home. (This starts with a delightful chapter where Grandpa is trying to read and Thomas, while not directly interrupting him, keeps talking to himself loudly in the hope that Grandpa will be distracted.) A peaceful, pleasant book.
By Stealing Home, Thomas is ten, and the book is therefore a regular children’s chapter book. Thomas and Grandpa’s happy life of fishing, storytelling, and listening to baseball on the radio when Aunt Linzy, Grandpa’s sister-in-law, moves in. Which means taking over Thomas’s room, so Thomas has to sleep on a cot in Grandpa’s room. She doesn’t approve of fishing, doesn’t care for baseball, and paints the house barn-red, which Thomas likes but Grandpa doesn’t.
Nowadays if someone wrote to an advice columnist and asked, “My sister-in-law, whom I’ve never gotten along with, wants to move in. Do I have to let her?” the response would be a resounding NO. Linzy’s not even a blood relation, for goodness sake! But even if she was his sister, the advice columnist would probably say NO.
But in Stealing Home, published in 1992, Grandpa takes it as a matter of course that he should and must take Linzy in, even though she hasn’t indicated how long she intends to visit or even why she’s coming to stay with them. (Will she be out on the street otherwise?) It’s a striking example of a social change that has happened almost under the radar: the sense of family obligation that extends past one’s own children has just quietly slipped away. Convenient if you expect that you’ll always be the one with the house and the money, of course. Less so if you might, one day, be the one who needs help.
Naturally, Mary Stolz was high on my list. I started off with Emmett’s Pig, an easy reader about a young boy who lives in New York City, but yearns to have a pet pig. Eventually, his parents buy him a pig that lives on a farm, which Emmett names King Emmett, and he corresponds with the farmer about his pet. Charming illustrations by Garth Williams.
In the author bio of Emmett’s Pig, I discovered that my recent read Coco Grimes is actually the last of a quartet of books, the earlier books being Storm in the Night, Go Fish, and Stealing Home. (This was not in any way indicated on Coco Grimes itself. I’ve found that it’s often surprisingly hard to piece together whether older books have a sequel, or are a sequel, or part of a series, or what have you.)
Storm in the Night is a picture book, with beautiful blue-tinted nighttime illustrations by Pat Cummings (for which the book won a Coretta Scott King award). One evening, after a storm knocks out the electricity, Thomas’s grandfather tells him a story about a storm in his own childhood.
Go Fish is an easy reader - like Betsy-Tacy, the reading level in this series grows with the characters - in which Thomas and Grandpa catch some fish for dinner off the pier near their Florida home. (This starts with a delightful chapter where Grandpa is trying to read and Thomas, while not directly interrupting him, keeps talking to himself loudly in the hope that Grandpa will be distracted.) A peaceful, pleasant book.
By Stealing Home, Thomas is ten, and the book is therefore a regular children’s chapter book. Thomas and Grandpa’s happy life of fishing, storytelling, and listening to baseball on the radio when Aunt Linzy, Grandpa’s sister-in-law, moves in. Which means taking over Thomas’s room, so Thomas has to sleep on a cot in Grandpa’s room. She doesn’t approve of fishing, doesn’t care for baseball, and paints the house barn-red, which Thomas likes but Grandpa doesn’t.
Nowadays if someone wrote to an advice columnist and asked, “My sister-in-law, whom I’ve never gotten along with, wants to move in. Do I have to let her?” the response would be a resounding NO. Linzy’s not even a blood relation, for goodness sake! But even if she was his sister, the advice columnist would probably say NO.
But in Stealing Home, published in 1992, Grandpa takes it as a matter of course that he should and must take Linzy in, even though she hasn’t indicated how long she intends to visit or even why she’s coming to stay with them. (Will she be out on the street otherwise?) It’s a striking example of a social change that has happened almost under the radar: the sense of family obligation that extends past one’s own children has just quietly slipped away. Convenient if you expect that you’ll always be the one with the house and the money, of course. Less so if you might, one day, be the one who needs help.
