Aug 13, 2007

The Pushcart War

by Jean Merrill
****
FIC MER

Two sides are against each other in what seems like a never ending war. The two sides are the pushcarts and the giant trucks. The trucks, owned by "The Three": Mammoth Moe (Big Moe), Louie Livergreen, and Walter "The Tiger" Sweet. The war begins when a pushcart driver, Morris the Florist, gets his pushcart run over by Albert P. Mack (Mack). All the people with pushcarts meet together and come up with a plan that will (hopefully) get the trucks off the streets of New York City forever. And that plan could get them a free ticket into jail for flattening the trucks' tires. The plan just might work, but things don't go as expected. What I liked best is that the author, Jean Merrill, created this book in an interesting way so that it seems like the Pushcart War really happened. This book is set in New York City, where truck population is sky-rocketing. They're crowding up the streets of New York City. The trucks are causing immense traffic jams all over the city. Cars and taxis can't get around the way they used to.
E.K. (5th grade), 2004