Thurber has fun with a world where no words containing the letter "O" are allowed, but maybe not 72-pages worth. On the other hand, I kept this book in the car as something to read and it took over a year to finish it, so maybe it reads faster under better circumstances. ( )

Two pirates meet in a tavern one with a map, the other with a ship. Off they go to find the island called Ooroo and a hidden treasure. Once they arrive we find that one of them hates the letter "O" and while they take over the small island looking for the jewels they decide to forbid the existence of the letter 'O' in writing and speech by the inhabitants. This causes immense problems as one can imagine.

On the top this is a silly little story with a lot of fun wordplay while underneath it is a story of the fight for freedom. A fun romp that children old enough to manipulate the removal of the 'O's in words will surely enjoy. The message underneath is clear enough and one roots for the islanders to rid themselves of these treasure-hungry dictatorial pirates. Marc Simont is not one of my favourite illustrators as he does get into doing some awfully dark blotchy shadowy paintings but fortunately they appear only a few times in this book. His sketches on the other hand have a delightful comic appeal to them and are completely entertaining. This is a classic children's book and I advise waiting till the child is old enough to read on his own as the wordplay looses its effect when read-aloud. Not Thurber's best children's book, as I can remember that would be Many Moons, but certainly a fun romp for the older kids by one of America's greatest humourists. ( )

A cute book about an island's attempt to function without the letter O when it is banished by pirates. I didn't enjoy it as much as I do Thurber's other works. Still, it was fun to read. ( )

This is a funny little fairy tale about an island taken over by pirates who ban the letter "o" and many things that have "o" in their names (floors, doors, oboes, you name it). The island-dwellers have to figure out how to get "o" back. It seems like the kind of book that was fun to write. ( )

first line: "Somewhere a ponderous tower clock slowly dropped a dozen strokes into the gloom."

What happens when a particular letter is denied an island's citizens? When using it is deemed criminal activity? Writer James Thurber (NB, his name lacks said illicit letter!) tells us exactly this in his well-penned, whimsical children's tale.

Wow. Who could foresee how tough avoiding "o" would become?

Anyway, this book is fun -- silly but with a message of hope, valor, love, and other "o" words. Great to read out loud, with lots of wordplay not unlike that in Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters. ( )