What's in Aunt Mary's Room? - Softcover

Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard was born in Baltimore and grew up in Boston. She has degrees from Radcliffe College and the University of Pittsburgh, and has worked as a teacher of children's literature and a children's librarian. Ms. Howard lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Lawrence. They have three grown daughters, Jane, Susan, and Laura, and two grandchildren, Sarah and Jonathan.

Kindergarten-Grade 2?Howard offers another episode in the lives of the characters she introduced in Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) (Clarion, 1991). This time Sarah and Susan's visit to their great-great-aunt's house centers around the exploration of a locked room that once belonged to their Aunt Mary, who died when she was 98. Ever since, Aunt Flossie has been filling the room with "things to save, things to keep." The girls' speculations about what those items might be come to an end when they are asked to make their way over and under boxes and furniture to retrieve the family Bible. Then Susan has the honor of adding her name and birth date and that of her sister to the carefully preserved volume. Lucas's pastel illustrations are paler and less defined than James Ransome's depictions in the previous book about the family. Paradoxically, the girls look younger while Aunt Flossie looks older and less fashionable. Still, a strong sense of intergenerational sharing, pride, and family ties permeates this story as it did the first.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.