Nelly May Has Her Say

One of thirteen children in an impoverished home, plucky Nelly May sets out to make her own way in the world in this adaptation of an English folktale, applying to become housekeeper and cook to Lord Ignasius Pinkwinkle. She is given the job, but only on the condition that she adopt her employer's idiosyncratic personal vocabulary. Doing the best she can, she refers to his lordship as "Most Excellent of All Masters," his bed as a "restful slumberific," and his dog as a "fur-faced fluffenbarker." But when a fire almost destroys both dog and house, Nelly May puts her foot down and has her say. Is this the end of her job...?

According to the front dust-jacket flap, Nelly May Has Her Say is a retelling of the traditional English tale, Master show more of All Masters. No other information as to source is given, although some cursory investigation reveals that the story is one which can be found in Joseph Jacobs' 1890 collection, English Fairy Tales, and which has been retold in picture book form before, in Marcia Sewall's 1972 Master of All Masters: An English Folktale. Apparently there was another picture book retelling published that same year, with artwork done by Anne Rockwell. In any case, I found this telling from author Cynthia DeFelice and illustrator Henry Cole entertaining, and think that with its many silly words and its colorful and amusing illustrations it would make an excellent read-aloud selection. A good storyteller should be able to play on the absurdity of the vocabulary to good effect, I would think. It is for that purpose, as well as to young folklore enthusiasts who enjoy funny stories, that I would recommend it. For my part, I will have to track down the original and see how it compares. show less

I thought this was a clever little book that would make a fun read aloud. Great for showing students that they can be their fun quirky selves, no matter who is around you.

What a delightful book! Readers will enjoy the colorful illustrations and silly names that Lord Pinkwinkle invents for everyday objects and items. Nelly May is a hard worker, but best of all is full of spunk and energy. Readers will enjoy learning what happens when Nelly May has had enough!

Nelly May is a great character and a strong leader for young readers. She is motivated and wants to help out more by getting a job to help pay for her room and rent since her parents have a hard time taking care of their big family. Nelly May goes to be a maid essentially to Lord Pinkwinkle who has a strange name for everything- something that younger readers would love. Nelly May stands up for herself and quits her job, yet Lord Pinkwinkle admires her actions and agrees to change rules to have her keep working there. The illustrations are detailed and the color scheme is rustic in the beginning, reflecting Nelly May's humble home, and then the colors become richer and more vibrant showings Lord Pinkwinkle's wealth. This is a silly and show more therefore fun book for grades 2nd and below. show less

Cute enough - but I'm glad they didn't dwell on the size of the heroine's family, because I cannot bring myself to countenance having 13 children when you're clearly in a position to support only 2 or 3.

This book is about a young girl who has a giant family. She decides that since she is old enough she is going to go to work to earn her room and board. She finds a job at the home of Lord Pinkwinkle. He makes her call everything weird names. She is even called a weird name. One night, the house almost catches on fire. She runs to wake him up and has to explain what is going on using all of the weird names. At the end of her speech about the fire she has had enough. She quits and returns home. In the morning, Lord Pinkwinkle comes to her house and begs her to come back, saying that she is the best housekeeper he has ever had and that he needs her. She agrees to come back on one condition: that she does not have to use all of the silly show more names any longer. He agrees, besides the fact that he wants her to call him Pinky. She is content and accepts his offer.
This is an alright story. I do not understand how it fits into the category of traditional literature. It was listed under that in the choices to pick from but I just don't see the correlation. There are no author's notes or cover on the book that I got from the library so I didn't find any information about it that way either. Overall, the story is good. It would be fun to share with students so they could get a good laugh at all the silly names that he has her use for everyday things. It also has very sweet illustrations which are nice to look at. show less

Nelly May Nimble has 12 brothers and sisters, and it gets hard at times to have food to eat when you have such a large family. This is why Nelly May decides that she id going to work for her neighbor, who requires her to use strange names for everyday objects, which makes her job challenging. This is a book that I know children would enjoy very much. There are colorful illustrations used as well. The thing about this book is that it must be read with silly voiced for children to really enjoy. Since this is a folktale, teachers could inform children on what that is, and children could possibly make their own version of this story.