Penny Candy (original 1966; edition 1970)

by Jean Kerr, Jr. Whitney Darrow (Illustrator)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
99	1	110,673	(3.82)	5

Add to your library

Add to wishlist

▾Book information

Member:	MerryMary
Title:	Penny Candy
Authors:	Jean Kerr
Other authors:	Jr. Whitney Darrow (Illustrator)
Info:	Doubleday (1970), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 186 pages
Collections:	Your library, 2009 Reads
Rating:
Tags:	humor, family life, oral interp

Work details

Penny Candy by Jean Kerr (1966)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

niceguy2, Kaethe, theJowers, robnbrwn, waynerdavy, JoLynnsbooks, berry25, Pages_Aplenty, MDGentleReader

numbers

show all

▾Tags

1 (1) 1.5 (1) 03 (1) adult (1) American (3) American literature (2) autobiography (1) BB (1) Box 13 (1) essay (1) essays (5) family (4) family life (1) fiction (7) funny (1) hardcover (3) have (1) hb (1) HC (1) humor (40) K1 (1) library (3) little book room (1) memoir (4) non-fiction (7) paperback (1) personal stories (1) read (2) St. Louis (1) summer (1)

▾LibraryThing recommendations

Please Don't Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr (1959)
The Snake Has All the Lines by Jean Kerr
How I Got to Be Perfect by Jean Kerr (1978)
White hopes and other tigers by John Lardner
The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck (1976)

At Wit's End by Erma Bombeck (1967)
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (1945)
O Ye Jigs & Juleps! by Virginia Cary Hudson (1962)
Family - The Ties that Bind...And Gag! by Erma Bombeck (1987)
True Tales of American Life by Paul Auster (2001)

see more recommendations for this work

refresh

▾Member recommendations

None.

▾Will you like it?

▾Member reviews

As is true with all Jean's works - as far as I know - this is a collection of very funny essays on the vicissitudes of life and family. Jean Kerr was writing these little gems in the years I was growing up, and I discovered her books in high school. She has a way with words; dry, witty, understated at times, wildly exaggerated at others. Her humor resonates with me.

My favorite piece in this book called "The Poet and the Peasants." Jean outlines the woes of trying to inoculate her boys with a love of poetry. There are lots stumbles along the way - bad limericks, worse performances - but the boys eventually come around, and so does the reader. It even seems possible. (

)