Truman's Aunt Farm

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story, wonderful illustrations!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story, wonderful illustrations!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Clever adult ideas masquerading in a children's book.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Clever adult ideas masquerading in a children's book.
Review: 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.