The townsfolk of Bonnyripple align their priorities when old Cornelius, the Grudge Keeper, falls prey to a storm in Mara Rockliff's (Me and Momma and Big John) charming tale brimming with wordplay.
In Eliza Wheeler's (Miss Maple's Seeds) pen-and-ink and watercolor wash, old Cornelius's house resembles the Old Woman's Shoe, overflowing with "ruffled feathers, petty snits, minor tiffs and major huffs." They're rolled up under his bed, stuck in glass jars and loaded on a wheelbarrow. Rockliff lists a few of them: Minnie Fletcher's goat gulping down Elvira Bogg's prize-winning zinnias, student Sylvester Quincy snagging the schoolmaster's toupee and Big Otto stomping on Lily Belle's new shoes at the spring fling. When a strong wind sails through Bonnyripple, it delivers the schoolmaster's toupee to Minnie Fletcher's hungry goat and wreaks havoc with the grudges ("low blows rested high" and "left-handed compliments... landed on the right-hand side"). Mischievous though he may be, Sylvester Quincy finds Cornelius buried beneath the grudges. As the townsfolk dig him out, they let their complaints go, until "not a single grudge remained." One last domino effect occurs, but it ends with a happily-ever-after.
Wheeler fills her compositions with tantalizing details. Big Otto perpetually leans forward as if to step on any shoe in his path. Sylvester Quincy, arms outstretched, looks about to pilfer anything he covets. All the more miraculous, then, when the Grudge Keeper's home and hearth become the heart of the community. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness