Synopses & Reviews
Life savers can come in surprising shapes! Hannah's grandmother never jeeps presents, such as the furry slippers Hannah and her parents brought on their last visit downriver to the candy store in the Bronx, New York. Sensible Grandma says about any gift, "Thank you very much, but it's not a necessity." This visit to her grandparents--her first on the bus by herself--Hannah brings a surprise of her own choosing: a bright silver whistling teakettle with a little red bird on the spout so Grandma won't have to keep running back to the kitchen behind the store to check whether the tea water's boiling. "A necessity" if Hannah has ever seen one! On her first night with her grandparents, two suspicious characters ("they weren't regular") come to the store for more than malteds. They are robbers. And the teakettle, sounding very much like a policeman's whistle, saves the day--hilariously and animatedly in the robust, rollicking illustrations. Grandma decides to keep Hannah's present after all. "That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!" she says. And life is a necessity.
Review
Skolsky conveys all the warmth between family members that permeate her other Hannah books, and the artwork only underscores their bond. Period details hark back to the days of leisurely afternoons at the soda fountain, while the characters' universal emotions make the illustrations accessible and familiar. (Publishers Weekly)
Review
This frolicking picture book is... also a full-fledged thriller, deftly told and wonderfully illustrated. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Review
Hannah decides to travel all the way from the country to the Bronx to see her grandparents. It's her first time traveling alone. Even though her grandmother is notorious for refusing presents that are 'not a necessity,' Hannah brings her a special whistling teakettle. At first, Hannah's grandmother refuses the gift, insisting her old nonwhistling one works fine. However, after the whistling kettle saves Grandma, Hannah, and Grandpa's candy store from robbers, Grandma decides to keep it because 'Life is a necessity.' This sweet, warm-hearted story of family life in 1930s New York is charmingly illustrated by Palmisciano in bright colors, with characters and settings having a fun, comic strip feel to them. Except for details such as hairstyles, clothing, and five-cent phone booths, the story is timeless. (Booklist)
Review
Confident and enterprising, Hannah has a springtime urge to travel, and so her parents agree to let her visit her grandparents. As they hurry her off to catch the bus for her first solo venture to New York City, they stop at a store to pick out a present for Grandma, who feels gifts are frivolous. 'Not a necessity,' is her standard response, but Hannah's practical choice of a whistling teakettle ultimately succeeds in a surprising way. Readers will savor the child's independence and the setting as she travels across the George Washington Bridge, flies into her waiting grandfather's arms, and finally runs through the door of her grandparents' Bronx store. It's a fine old-fashioned candy store, selling ice cream and sodas at 1930s prices. The ice cream makes a satisfying mess, too, during a late-evening visit by robbers, who mistake the whistling kettle for a police siren and flee. Finally, a gift Grandma can appreciate: 'That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!' ...And life, she said, 'was a necessity!' There's a spring in everyone's step throughout the line drawings, warmly colored in oil pastels and moving energetically through the open white pages. An ebullient and delicious tale of humor and affection, this will be widely enjoyed as independent and shared reading. (School Library Journal)
Review
Hannah's grandmother, a loving granny, but a hard case when it comes to accepting gifts, learns the pleasures and benefits of receiving in this story of expectations. Hannah is on a visit to her grandfolks and their soda fountain in the Bronx. She has brought along a whistling teapot as a present for her grandmother, who routinely returns most gifts as frivolous. That appears to be the fate of this one as well when grandma gives it the curse: "It's not a necessity." When grandma's attention is distracted by a customer out front, Hannah takes the opportunity to put the kettle on the old stove and demonstrate that her grandma no longer need let her tea water boil silently away. Two strange men enter the shop and while one tries to distract Grandma, the other jimmies the pay phone. Next thing you know all chaos breaks loose as a high-pitched whistle cuts the air. Thinking it's a police whistle, the robbers skedaddle. Grandma figures she'll keep the kettle after all: 'That little bird on the kettle maybe saved our life!' Hannah's grandmother had said. And life, she said, was a necessity. "Palmisciano's artwork is filled with little details that fix the time period as a gentler one: Grandma's sagging socks, Grandpa's two-tones shoes, and the old-fashioned shop with its 20 cent sundaes. A charming story from a more innocent time. (Kirkus Reviews)
Review
Unlike the more frequently encountered scenario, this time it's the grandparents who live in the city, and the country-bred child who makes her first solo visit to them. Before Hannah boards the bus, she stops to buy her grandmother a present. Grandma has always returned her previous gifts, claiming each is 'not a necessity.' But the excited Hannah is sure she's found a necessary gift this time: a whistling teakettle with a little red bird on the top. When robbers arrive in grandma's candy shop (true to the innocent tone of the story, they set to rob the phone booth of its change), we know that whistling bird will save the day. Skolsky has a wonderful time bringing the mayhem to its climax, and gently caricatured Hannah and her grandparents help keep the outrageous theatrics in comic perspective. Looking like a cousin of the sophisticated Eloise who makes her more permanent home in the city, Diane Palmisciano's Hannah, sporting a sailor dress with accompanying red hair ribbon and socks, adds her own energy to the perky text. Playful typeface allows the teakettle's whistle the necessary space to sound off. Young readers will add their own whistle of approval. (The Horn Book Magazine)
Synopsis
When she goes to visit her grandparents in the Bronx, Hannah wonders if her grandmother will consider whether Hannah's tea kettle is worth keeping after it foils a robbery with its whistling sound--just like the policeman's whistle. Full-color illustrations.
About the Author
Mindy Warshaw Skolsky's first book for DK Ink, and for somewhat older readers, was the novel Love from Your Friend, Hannah, called "lively" by PW in a starred review. She lives in Smithtown, New York. Diane Palmisciano illustrated Cari Best's Last Licks: A Spaldeen Story for DK Ink and many other books as well. She had particular fun in researching phone booths, buses, and hair buns of the 1930s for this warmhearted comedy. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.