Kids' Books We Love
Book reviews from Youth Services

The Boys Start the War

  Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds

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Publisher: Delacorte Press
Number of Pages: 133
Check the availability of this title at Skokie Public Library
More information about this title.

Genres:

Humor
Friendship

Material Type/Location:

Youth Fiction

Reading Level:

4-5

Awards:

Voice of Youth Award Nominee

Why I liked this title:

Told from the point of view of two fourth graders, one a boy and one a girl, this story begins a "war" between the Hatford brothers and the Malloy sisters which is continued in other books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. When the Malloy girls move into a house across the river from the Hatford boys in West Virginia, the boys decide to drive the girls out and make them return to Georgia. The girls turn out to be much more trouble than the boys expect and the pranks go back and forth with each side giving as good as they get! The pranks are really funny and include dead fish, stealing jockey shorts off a clothesline, and pretending to be dead! I loved the fact that the opposing sides really admired each other's tricks and I think that if they were not fighting they might actually be friends! If you like funny stories that go back and forth, this "War" is for you. And remember, there are many more books about the Hatfords and the Malloys.

Reviewed by: Louise Barnett on 4/1/2004

Similar Authors:

Ellen Conford
Paula Danziger
Lois Lowry
Beverly Cleary

Similar Titles:

The Gadget War by Betsy Duffey
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
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