Wheels Over the Bridge

New York: Harper & Brothers. Very Good. 1st Edition (B-Q). Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a good sound copy, slight fading to spine cloth, old birthday gift inscription at top of half-title page, very slight bumping to upper corners]. (pen-and-ink drawings) An early and uncommon book (his third) by this popular Dutch-born children's author (1906-1991; resident in the U.S. from 1914), several of whose later works were Newbury award-honorees, and who in 1962 became the first American author to receive the International Hans Christian Andersen Award for his body of work. Set on a geographically indeterminate farm (Southern? Midwestern?), it's the story of the hardscrabble life of a tenant farmer and his family, who contend with a skinflint landlord and various misfortunes. A particular focus of the book is the family's love for their farm animals (including a mischievous cow, an unruly flock of turkeys, and a troublesome dog); one critic described them as "simply too kindly and too fond of animals to be tough about dairy-farming." The New York Times reviewer, noting that it incorporated "drama, near-tragedy and high comedy," found it "an oddly beautiful and memorable book," and praised it for the balance struck between its "realistic account of poverty and discouragement [and] its portrayal of a high-spirited, laughing family who fight for what they cherish." .