The Demons' Mistake: A Story from Chelm

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0688175651, Hardcover)

For all those in today's workaday world who wonder just who to curse when their computers go haywire, the milk turns sour, and the traffic lights get fouled up, the answer is plain. The demons! These mischievous imps like nothing better than to spoil people's fun, and will go to great lengths to do so. Take the demons of Chelm, Poland, for example. Bored with messing up the foolish villagers' hair and making livestock fly, the demons decide to take their mischief on the road--to an amazing-sounding place called New York. There, they've heard, the streets are paved with gold, the buildings are made of silver, and there are parties every day--a perfect opportunity for havoc wreaking. So the small-town demons sneak into a crate en route to America. A series of mishaps keeps them stranded in a warehouse near the shipyards for fifty years. When they are finally freed they find themselves in a stranger world than they ever imagined. It's going to be a challenge to find ways to torment this all-new variety of humans who bustle around in cars, speak on cell phones, and watch TV--but they'll manage.

Francine Prose and Mark Podwal's clever tale will delight readers of all ages with its sly humor and mysterious full- and double-page smudgy gouache illustrations. This entirely original tale tastes strongly of the Old World, with the wry seasoning of modernity. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter