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Summary
Summary
Life savers can come in surprising shapes! Hannah's grandmother never jeeps presents, such as the furry slippers Hannah and her parents brought on their last visit downriver to the candy store in the Bronx, New York. Sensible Grandma says about any gift, "Thank you very much, but it's not a necessity." This visit to her grandparents--her first on the bus by herself--Hannah brings a surprise of her own choosing: a bright silver whistling teakettle with a little red bird on the spout so Grandma won't have to keep running back to the kitchen behind the store to check whether the tea water's boiling. "A necessity" if Hannah has ever seen one! On her first night with her grandparents, two suspicious characters ("they weren't regular") come to the store for more than malteds. They are robbers. And the teakettle, sounding very much like a policeman's whistle, saves the day--hilariously and animatedly in the robust, rollicking illustrations. Grandma decides to keep Hannah's present after all. "That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!" she says. And life is a necessity.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Confident and enterprising, Hannah has a springtime urge to travel, and so her parents agree to let her visit her grandparents. As they hurry her off to catch the bus for her first solo venture to New York City, they stop at a store to pick out a present for Grandma, who feels gifts are frivolous. "Not a necessity," is her standard response, but Hannah's practical choice of a whistling teakettle ultimately succeeds in a surprising way. Readers will savor the child's independence and the setting as she travels across the George Washington Bridge, flies into her waiting grandfather's arms, and finally runs through the door of her grandparents' Bronx store. It's a fine old-fashioned candy store, selling ice cream and sodas at 1930s prices. The ice cream makes a satisfying mess, too, during a late-evening visit by robbers, who mistake the whistling kettle for a police siren and flee. Finally, a gift Grandma can appreciate: "`That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!'-And life, she said, was a necessity!" There's a spring in everyone's step throughout the line drawings, warmly colored in oil pastels and moving energetically through the open white pages. An ebullient and delicious tale of humor and affection, this will be widely enjoyed as independent and shared reading.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nostalgia and humor are savory ingredients in Skolsky's picture-book tale (adapted from a story in The Whistling Teakettle: And Other Stories About Hannah, 1977) starring the heroine of Love from Your Friend, Hannah. Here Hannah visits her grandparents, who own a candy store in the Bronx. Rendered in oil pastels, Palmisciano's (Last Licks: A Spaldeen Story) animated, brightly colored pictures credibly convey the 1930s setting and capture the affectionate bond between two generations. Before boarding the bus, Hannah deliberates over what gift to buy for her practical grandma, who routinely returns presents with the explanation, "Thank you very much, but it's not a necessity." The girl decides on a silver teakettle with a little red bird whistle on the end of its spout. While the woman initially reacts to the gift in her customary fashion, an unusual turn of events makes her change her mind. Skolsky conveys all the warmth between family members that permeate her other Hannah books, and the artwork only underscores their bond. Period details hark back to the days of leisurely afternoons at the soda fountain, while the characters' universal emotions make the illustrations accessible and familiar. Ages 5-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) Unlike the more frequently encountered scenario, this time it's the grandparents who live in the city, and the country-bred child who makes her first solo visit to them. Before Hannah boards the bus, she stops to buy her grandmother a present. Grandma has always returned her previous gifts, claiming each is ""not a necessity."" But the excited Hannah is sure she's found a necessary gift this time: a whistling teakettle with a little red bird on the top. When robbers arrive in grandma's candy shop (true to the innocent tone of the story, they set to rob the phone booth of its change), we know that whistling bird will save the day. Skolsky has a wonderful time bringing the mayhem to its climax, and gently caricatured Hannah and her grandparents help keep the outrageous theatrics in comic perspective. Looking like a cousin of the sophisticated Eloise who makes her more permanent home in the city, Diane Palmisciano's Hannah, sporting a sailor dress with accompanying red hair ribbon and socks, adds her own energy to the perky text. Playful typeface allows the teakettle's whistle the necessary space to sound off. Young readers will add their own whistle of approval. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Hannah's grandmother, a loving granny, but a hard case when it comes to accepting gifts, learns the pleasures and benefits of receiving in this story of expectations. Hannah is on a visit to her grandfolks and their soda fountain in the Bronx. She has brought along a whistling teapot as a present for her grandmother, who routinely returns most gifts as frivolous. That appears to be the fate of this one as well when grandma gives it the curse: ``It's not a necessity.'' When Grandma's attention is distracted by a customer out front, Hannah takes the opportunity to put the kettle on the old stove and demonstrate that her grandma no longer need let her tea water boil silently away. Two strange men enter the shop and while one tries to distract Grandma, the other jimmies the pay phone. Next thing you know all chaos breaks loose as a high-pitched whistle cuts the air. Thinking it's a police whistle, the robbers skedaddle. Grandma figures she'll keep the kettle after all: `` `That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!' Hannah's grandmother had said. And life, she said, was a necessity.'' Palmisciano's (A Spaldeen Story, 1999) artwork is filled with little details that fix the time period as a gentler one: Grandma's sagging socks, Grandpa's two-toned shoes, and the old-fashioned shop with its 20 cent sundaes. A charming story from a more innocent time. (Picture book. 5-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 6^-8. Hannah decides to travel all the way from the country to the Bronx to see her grandparents. It's her first time traveling alone. Even though her grandmother is notorious for refusing presents that are "not a necessity," Hannah brings her a special whistling teakettle. At first, Hannah's grandmother refuses the gift, insisting her old nonwhistling one works fine. However, after the whistling kettle saves Grandma, Hannah, and Grandma's candy store from robbers, Grandma decides to keep it because "Life is a necessity." This sweet, warm-hearted story of family life in 1930s New York is charmingly illustrated by Palmisciano in bright colors, with characters and settings having a fun, comic strip feel to them. Except for details such as hairstyles, clothing, and five-cent phone booths, the story is timeless. --Marta Segal