AUNT MINNIE AND THE TWISTER by Mary Skilling Prigger

This blog was created for class at TWU.


Bibliography


Prigger, Mary Skillings. 2002. Aunt Minnie and the Twister. Ill by Betsy Lewin. New York: Clarion Books.


ISBN 0-618-11136-0


Summary
This is a story about a lady named Minnie who has nine nieces and nephews that live with her. Sometimes the kids complain about being cramped and Aunt Minnie says that they "don't have much room but we have each other." Aunt Minnie rings a school bell when she wants to get the kids attention for something. When a storm comes she rings the bell and gets all of the kids in the storm cellar. When they come out of the cellar after the storm they find that things are all messed up. The strangest thing is that the house is fine but it is turned around backward. The front door now faces the outhouse. To fix the problem they build a new room where the old front door was and built a new front door on the other side of the house.


Analysis

This book was not one of my favorites. I felt it was pretty boring and it did not grab my attention. However, it did teach a good lesson. It talked about being happy and thankful for what you have. The book also showed how to make lemons out of lemonade in a sense. When the house got flipped around instead of getting upset Aunt Minnie came up with a solution that would also give the family more room.



The book did have large illustrations. The illustrations were colorful but not overly bright, they fit well with the story. The characters faces were simply drawn but you could still read the emotions that they were feeling. I feel that my students would be able to relate to the book due to the fact that we live in "tornado alley." The book showed that there was some danger in tornadoes but it did not seem too scary or frightening.

Review Excerpts

Horn Book Magazine review: "The homespun text and unpretentious cartoon artwork present a 1920s family that is resolutely upbeat, except when the kids complain about their cramped living space."

School Library Journal review: "The creativity and strength of the family against the backdrop of disaster makes for a satisfying read."

Connections

A connection that comes to my mind is using this book as a way to introduce tornado safety. I think it shows tornadoes in a real but not to scary way. I would show my students how Aunt Minnie and the children went into the cellar for safety. You do not see a lot of cellars anymore so that will probably need to be explained. I would then ask them to come up with what they would do if they were at home in a tornado.