Keeping House

From Publishers Weekly Lizzie Firkin, a songwriter, lives in a decaying old house with her cat and parrot, and spends her nights performing in a nightclub. When the exhausted Lizzie can no longer pick up after herself--and can't walk across the room for clutter--she calls on the services of Robin Puckertucker, a professional housecleaner with a dynamic reputation. Lizzie notices her cat asleep in the breadbox and, worried that the housekeeper will think she is too sloppy, begins to tidy up. By the time Robin arrives, he is dismayed to find that Lizzie's house looks very neat. Noting one idiosyncrasy--all of the cupboard doors are nailed shut--Robin toys with a nail, and is soon buried in an avalanche of debris. Mahy's eccentric story-telling style and Smith's ramblingly explicit drawings are a perfect match. The characterization of Lizzie as a slovenly young woman in the grip of artistic compulsion is wonderfully complete, and the looks she gets from her two pets are priceless. Ages 5-9. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 2-- Slight entertainment in which most of the joy of the story is in its telling. Lizzie Firkin makes her living writing songs, playing the trombone, and tap-dancing. After her long nights, she is naturally too tired to clean house. In fact, she's taken to nailing particularly messy cupboards shut. Finally, the chaos gets to her and she hires Robin Puckertucker to clean. Of course, she doesn't want him to see how sloppy she really is and begins to clean; Robin arrives to discover an immaculate house and an exhausted Lizzie. As this is rather usual for him, he despairs until, curious, he un-nails the cupboards and discovers Lizzie's guilty secret. This is the approach to take with his other clients: making them open their cupboards as well. A rather predictable plot is given a unique spin by Mahy's inventive use of dialogue and detail, which makes the characters and their actions come alive in a lovably raffish manner. In her cleaning fit, for example, Lizzie dusts the parrot and shakes the crumbs off the cat. Smith's watercolors, with their loose lines and clever detail, follow Mahy's witty lead. While not the most memorable or distinguished book by either author or artist, this is good fun. --Christine Behrmann, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.