Mildred Phillips
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By: Aladdin Publishing Company
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
A joyful riddle 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
The people in Kosnov called it a town, which was like calling a puddle a pond, a leaf a bush, a branch a tree, since the whole place had not more than 12 old wooden buildings clumped together and leaning upon one another to remain upright. The town was so small that when Roshana the wigmaker sneezed, Mishkin the tailor said "God bless you," though he lived a dozen doors away.One day Mendel put a sign in his window that his butcher shop was for rent. The townsfolk worried that Mendel and Molly were moving, or worse, sick. On learning that their neighbors were staying, and would rent only half their shop, they hugged one another in relief.
Oddly enough someone actually came to rent it. Tinker's name should have warned Mendel that something was amiss with his new tenant, and his business--thinking--should have set off alarm bells. But since Tinker paid a week's rent in advance, Mendel thought nothing of it. Molly was off visiting cousins in Glitnik. Mendel burst in on Simka to share the joyous news.
The shop was divided in two by old bed sheets down the middle. Mendel did his week's counting in a whisper. But Tinker, treating Mendel like an old friend, convinced him to sing out his counting. Tinker very shortly knew how many zlotys were in Mendel's box--and through a hole in the sheets--could see the shelf where Mendel kept it.
Tinker borrowed Mendel's horse that weekend and promised to return on Monday. He returned--but with three horses and two policemen--and accused Mendel of stealing his money, by naming the exact sum in Mendel's box.
Simka quickly came to the rescue, and whispered something to the policemen, who discovered that the whole town knew both the sum in Mendel's box and where he kept it.
Then Molly presented Tinker the thinker with a riddle and a pot full of boiling water. How did that help? Hmmmm. Only the people in Kosnov know that secret, and they live in this charming book. Alyssa A. Lappen
Editorial Review:
Mendel's sign has the whole town asking questions! Times are tough, so Mendel must rent out half his butcher shop. When a stranger arrives needing a room, he seems the answer to Mendel's prayers. But someone in the village is a thief, and only Mendel's wife can tell who the villain might be. Margot Zemach's illustrations brim over with keen humor and storytelling in this classic tale of life in a small European village.
