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Lynne Jonell’s sequel to Hamster Magic, Lawn Mower Magic (A Stepping Stone Book) is a magical, fun story for newly independent readers.
The four Willow children have recently moved to an older home in the country. There is a big yard to play in, but no neighbor children to play with. When their lawn mower breaks down, that’s just another expense for their parents. Mitchell is particularly disappointed, because he was hoping that his parents would buy him a train ticket to visit his old friends.
On a lark, the children dig through the old tool shed and find an old push mower. This could solve all their problems, right? Unfortunately, Mr. Willow knows how difficult it is to push a manual mower; it could never mow the whole yard. Mr. Willow makes a deal with Mitchell: if he can mow the whole yard with the old mower by the time they come back from town, he will buy him the train ticket.
As the children are sitting by the mower discussing their problem, their littlest sister, Celia, throws some grass on the blades. The blades star to turn. Sure enough, when they put the mower on the lawn, it starts to move on its own! The more it mows, the faster it goes. This must be some kind of magic, just like what happened with the hamster in the other book.
The mower goes crazy as the children try to control where it goes. In the end, there seems to be no way to stop the mower from mowing down the neighbors’ vegetables, until Celia comes up with a plan which sacrifices her favorite toy to stop the mower.
Although the beginning is a little slow, the author develops the simple plot and the magic of the lawn mower in a manner which is engaging and keeps the reader’s attention throughout. The well-defined central storyline is perfect for newly independent readers. It is a terrific model of rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion–easy to follow, well-developed with a strong sense of tension as the mower goes out of control.
The cover is bright and attractive, giving the reader a good sense of what the book will be about. The interior illustrations break up the text and reinforcing the important parts of the plot and aiding comprehension.
Jonell does an excellent job developing the setting and uses just a few characters to make the whole story easy to grasp. This fun chapter book is a terrific choice for newly independent readers.
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Lawn Mower Magic (A Stepping Stone Book)