Linda Smith (1)Recensioni

There's a good chuckle here, courtesy of the sweet (and slightly stupid) Mr. Potter, a man who doesn't want a nearby tree to be lonely. I adored the writing, and the pictures weren't bad either.

"On a knotty little hill, / In a dreary little funk, / Mrs. Biddlebox rolled over / On the wrong side of her bunk." So begins this rollicking rhyme of a picture-book, as the eponymous Mrs. Biddlebox finds that everything about the day either gives her a headache or makes her grumpy. Finally, having had enough, she uses her magical broom to sweep up the dreary, gray day, baking it (together with some sunshine) into something altogether better. Delightedly feasting on her cake, Mrs. Biddlebox confronts the beauties of the night, before heading to bed...

Having enjoyed author Linda's Smith's Mrs. Crump's Cat, as well as numerous titles from illustrator Marla Frazee, from her own The Farmer and the Clown to Liz Garton Scanlon's All the World, for which Frazee was awarded a Caldecott Honor, I was sure that I would enjoy Mrs. Biddlebox, particularly as I have a weakness for witchy picture-books. I was not wrong, and although I had to wait quite a while to read it - the very kind children's librarian at my local branch personally brought a reference copy of the book from another branch, so that I could read it on the library premises - it was worth the wait! The story has a matter-of-factly magical quality that is quite appealing, and the text itself is a pleasure to read. The accompanying artwork is delightful - beautifully expressive, and perfectly suited to the enchanted nature of the tale. The final scenes, in which stars sparkle against a bluish/blackish night, were simply gorgeous! Although Mrs. Biddlebox is never named as a witch, her magical broom, and the fact that she is described at one point as taking "witchety" pleasure in her spell, make it clear that she is. Highly recommend, to all picture-book readers who enjoy magical tales, as well as to fellow fans of Frazee's lovely artwork. I was sad to read, on the rear dust-jacket blurb, that Smith died of breast cancer in 2000, having only penned five picture-books. What a terrible shame!

open your door to friendship"
Well, I hoped that would be be truly what the book is about, but apart from being more civil to the grocer, Crump (where's the Mr.? ?�Is his absence the reason for the missus' grumpy aloofness?) only opened her door to a cat. ?áA very simple/ simplistic story, imo, with cartoony pictures that show nothing of the grace of cats, that I do not care for. ?áSorry."

There lived an old lady who was very grumpy and didn't like children. She also had a cat who was just like her and hated kittens and other small things. When a family with five children move next door, the old woman becomes annoyed and decides she is going to find a way to get rid of them. When she comes across a witch with a potion to get rid of the children, her plan backfires when it doesn't work and the children turn into grumpy and needy old people! The old lady goes back to the witch to get a new potion in order to change them back to children when she realizes how them being older is way worse then being kids. When they are turned back into kids again, the old lady decides to give them a chance and she actually liked the kids and enjoyed being around them. The rhymes in the book were fun and easy to read and I think young kids will love this book. The illustrations are big and colorful and will draw the kids into the story.

The moon falls down and with the farmer's cow goes out and about the town...looking through shop windows. It was an obvious borrowed theme with the moon dancing with the cow..... the Rhyme was not so easy to read aloud and the group of preschoolers were not into this particular story.... The illustrations while attractive were subdued and not particularly interesting.

Sort of a play off of the "cow jumped over the moon", the moon falls out of the sky and he and a cow go on an unforgettable adventure together.

This story of a mean old woman who learns the error on her ways through a foiled attempt to rid herself of some children is simple and nicely told. The moral is pretty plain and the story has humorous illustrations to tie it all together.

Nothing like a woman who decides to take matters into her own hands and eliminate a bad day from existence just so she can enjoy a beautiful night.

This was a nice poem of a personified moon adventure with a personified cow. The whole thing was fantastically presented and it was a fun book. Nothing more to say than that.

When a beautiful golden cat turns up on Mrs. Crump's porch one rainy day, the older woman wants nothing to do with it. Cats, of course, have their own ideas about these sorts of things, and soon the feline is ensconced before Mrs. Crump's fire, and turning up his nose at the slice of bread she offers him. Determined to put the cat out as soon as it is dry, Mrs. Crump instead finds herself buying some cream down at the local grocery story, giving the cat a bath when she discovers he has fleas, investing in a nice collar with a bell, and generally acting like any other person captivated by their feline. When wise Mr. Henry at the grocery store suggests that she put up signs to find the cat's former owner, but accept it as her own if no one responds, Mrs. Crump produces the perfect announcement - "Found. One sneak, finicky, troublesome, WET yellow cat with FLEAS" - and waits to see if anyone gets in touch.

A delightful tale of a somewhat curmudgeonly older woman who discovers the feline companionship she never knew she was missing, Mrs. Crump's Cat is the kind of animal story that I love! There's something about a homeless kitty finding a safe and loving home and family that just speaks to me, probably because I am such a cat-lover myself. Author Linda Smith, who (according to the biographical blurb on the rear dust-jacket flap) sadly died after writing this, really captures the appeal of our feline friends: their winning ways, and cunning tricks. Illustrator David Roberts does the same with his charming artwork, as both Mrs. Crump and her exquisite golden cat emerge as distinct and appealing characters in his quirky and expressive paintings. Highly recommended to all young cat lovers, and to those who read them stories!

While researching books by Marla Frazee (for my review of “All the World”), I was reacquainted with an old friend; Mrs. Biddlebox. Mrs. Biddlebox by Linda Smith was one of the first book purchases I made as a new children’s librarian. The dark, yet vibrantly exciting cover caught my eye and I wanted to read for myself what this Mrs. Biddlebox was up to. Upon reading the book, I became instantly enthralled and shared the book with all I came in contact with. Then more books were published, and there were more storytimes to prepare for, so eventually, I lost contact with Mrs. Biddlebox. What a joy to find this grumpy woman again. Yes, she does wake up on the wrong side of the bed and just has a dreary awful day, but she doesn’t sit around stewing about it! She takes action! Mrs. Biddlebox grabs her brooms and attempts to gather up that bad day so that she can bake it into a cake and eat it! Sounds good to me. If it truly could be done, I’d be eating a lot of cake lately, but alas, it is nice to fantasize, and in the midst of that, gain a bit of hope that the bad days isn’t going to last forever. That’s what Mrs. Biddlebox does; she teaches you to take action, dump that gloomy day, eat it up and move on. You can’t help but smile yourself when you see her smiling face at the end of the book when she looks out into the beautiful night. Know someone who’s having a bad day? Introduce them to Mrs. Biddlebox.

When Mrs. Biddlebox wakes up to a terrible morning, she decides to fix the whole day into a baking pan, bake it, and eat it.

This cleverly written rhyming book tells the story of an old woman living in a boot. She is the neighbor of the nursery rhyme woman that lives in a shoe with many kids. The bitter old woman plots against the kids only to have her plan backfire. The rhymes are very impressive.

I was sad to hear that the author of this book died of breast cancer in June 2000. Now I understand the story better and can see it from the author's perspective. She was Mrs. Biddlebox and she wished to just bake a dreadful day into a sweet day. The illustrations go really well with the story.

This spoof on the nursery rhyme "There was an Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe" tells the story of that lady's next door neighbor. The woman is annoyed by the children, so she buys a potion to age them. The children become grouchy old people, and the woman despises them more this way. She buys the counter potion, and turns the kids (and her cat by mistake) into their young selves again. Such a cute story with wonderful rhymes.

This book is about a man that sitting comfortably in his house. While he sits he is thinking that something is not right. Therefore he try to figure out what is that thing. He realizes that the tree outside standing alone. He tries to help the tree by bringing it inside. It causes disaster. After somehow making the life back to normal, he again thinks something is not right!! This time he wants to help the cow which is standing outside.
It is a cute story. I liked the illustrations. I think they add a lot to the text. I like the face of the main character and the way he dresses. It exactly transfers the message of what kind of personality the main character has. The story by itself is also well done. It has a message that everything has its own place and we should not try to change that, like bringing a tree into the house.

Marla Frazee's illustrations bring this rhyming text to life. Her images go beyond the actions of the story to really spark one's imagination. And even though it's about an adult, children will laugh at Mrs. Biddlebox's crazy antics while learning an important lesson: that each of us can turn a bad day into something great.

Colorful book that children would find silly. I picked this book because i thought it might have something to do with trees or nature, well this book really doesn't have that. Its a book about enjoying the simple things in life

This is a lovely story of a lonely woman who befriends a cat found on her doorstep. She keeps telling herself she doesn't want a cat, in the meanwhile purchases some cream, a little yellow collar and comes up with reasons with why she can't send the cat off each day.

Mrs. Bittlebox starts off the day getting up on the wrong side of the bed. But with determination and humor she gets out of her "dreary little funk" by baking. Illustrations reflect the mood of Mrs. B.½

This was a very colorful book with a simple plot and light humor. Adults will enjoy reading this to children as much as children will enjoy hearing it read to them. While nature is part of the plot, you will not find anything to do with environmentalism or climate change in this wonderful book. It's merely about enjoying tea in the evening and wanting to share that experience with the dog, and maybe others. I also recommend this book to children who cannot read well but who like to pretend to read to themselves. It is easy to turn the pages and let the child narrate the story without reading all the words. The illustrations narrate the story well.

This was a very colorful book with a simple plot and light humor. Adults will enjoy reading this to children as much as children will enjoy hearing it read to them. While nature is part of the plot, you will not find anything to do with environmentalism or climate change in this wonderful book. It's merely about enjoying tea in the evening and wanting to share that experience with the dog, and maybe others. I also recommend this book to children who cannot read well but who like to pretend to read to themselves. It is easy to turn the pages and let the child narrate the story without reading all the words. The illustrations narrate the story well.

Told in rhyme, Mrs Biddlebox got up on the wrong side of bed. She is cranky and everything is going wrong. So she decides to bake the day into a cake, she rolls up the sky, twirls up the fog, hooks a ray of sun and she puts it all in a pot and beats it into a cake. She then happily eats it and gets ready for bed all content.

A grouchy woman wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and decides to make the rotten day into a cake. Written in poetry with wonderful, gloomy illustrations. Illustrated by Marla Frazee.

In author Linda Smith's two year battle with cancer she may have learned more than her fair share about "waking up on the wrong side of the bunk" but she also learned about how to use her talents to deal with those "dreary little funks." She has given us the delightful story of Mrs. Biddlebox, a very clever and talented witchey lady with a big curly black ponytail who, one day, wakes up in a very dreary funk indeed! Even the singing birds give her a headache. She decides "I will cook this rotten morning! I will turn it into cake! I will fire up my oven! I will set the day to bake!" With a wealth of magical know-how Mrs. Biddlebox does exactly that and the results are tasty! Marla Frazee has illustrated the enchanting Mrs. Biddlebox to perfection and helped to create a wonderful picture book filled with humor and whimsy that is guaranteed to cure any dreary funk that might come your way. Enjoy!