Thursday, September 3, 2009

Book Review: Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes

Rufus M., part of Eleanor Estes' series about the Moffat family of Cranbury, Connecticut, focuses on the youngest Moffat, seven-year-old Rufus. He persists at everything he wants to accomplish, whether it's checking out a book from the library the first time, figuring out the identity of an invisible piano player, knitting washcloths for soldiers, helping his family when the pipes freeze, joining his sister's baseball team, or commemorating special family and international events.
Readers will enjoy this book for the characters and the plot, but it is also interesting for the setting and time--small town life during the last years of World War One. Readers learn about rationing, Red Cross work, Victory gardens, and war stamps and war bonds. Younger readers will also find intriguing life when kids entertained themselves without benefit of radio, television, or the type of formal sports teams popular today.

Note

Estes, Eleanor. Rufus M. New York: Harcourt, 1970.

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