<i>Stagecoach Sal</i> (review)
2009; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 63; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.0.1208
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Theater, Performance, and Music History
ResumoReviewed by: Stagecoach Sal Elizabeth Bush Hopkinson, Deborah. Stagecoach Sal; illus. by Carson Ellis. Disney/Hyperion, 2009 [32p]. ISBN 978-1-4231-1149-8 $16.99 Sal likes nothing better than to “hold the ribbons” when she accompanies Pa on his stagecoach runs. He’s happy to have her along, since her tuneful bellowing seems to keep “grown-ups from grumbling and babies from bawling.” A household accident involving a tipped ladder and a hornet nest puts Pa temporarily out of commission, and Sal volunteers for the overnight mail run, even though she will pass right through the territory of outlaw Poetic Pete. Sure enough, Pete waylays the stage, but resourceful Sal has a trick up her sleeve. Knowing that Poetic Pete is too polite to ever interrupt a lady, she sings through the entire drive, never letting him spit out his stick-up threat, and delivers him directly to the hoosegow. Ellis’ earth-toned line-and-wash scenes sport the off-kilter scales and perspectives of folk art. Sal, with her springy pigtails and rose-tipped cheeks and nose is all spunk; Poetic Pete, dapper in cravat, bowler, and heavy tilted brow, is all oily comic menace. Much of the success of this readaloud will depend on the hearty vocalization of the traditional songs Sal belts out along the road, and Hopkinson may be a bit optimistic that adults readers will know the tunes for “Polly Wolly Doodle,” “Sweet Betsy from Pike,” or “Shoo Fly.” The persnickety can, of course, turn to Google, while the fearless can simply bull ahead with a rousing improvisation. Either course of action should please listeners, who will cheer Poetic Pete’s comeuppance. A note on the intrepid Delia Haskett, the real-life inspiration for Sal, is appended. [End Page 67] Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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