Title: Admirable lesson, simplistic treatment
Product review: Each year, I dig into the works of a classic children's writer. Eleanor Estes caught my attention because her novels, many published 60 years or more ago, have recently been reissued. This one has terrific illustrations by Louis Slobodkin, a huge talent in his own arena. The story here is simple, which may be obvious, but I'm fascinated by how something so basic becomes so beloved. The writer's style is skilled and serviceable, but there's nothing magical about the language (as with E.B. White). The dated material is occasionally offputting. The main characters are so thinly sketched as to be cliche. And the true payoff, the reality of the "hundred dresses," is almost thrown away. Is the childhood memory of a beloved book what makes it a classic?
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