Reviews
"[F]or a whimsical, lighthearted, unique reading experience, look no further."--School Library Journal, "Readers expecting a story arc, plot progression, and a certain amount of sense in their novels are bound to be disappointed with the madcap meanderings of Mazarin, his father Soda Pop, and his grandfather Dartanyong. However, if zany characters and a world with just a twinge of normality are a welcome change in your reading, this book, first published in Sweden in 1970, fits the bill. Mazarin lives in a house among the pines and firs and anthills with his 'really great dad [who] couldn't care less about anything.' Out in the dilapidated shed lives Mazarin's grandfather, 'alone in the woodshed so other people's germs can't jump out and grab him.' There is also a giraffe that 'wanders off from time to time eats whatever it can find,' as well as scaring the cows. The barn is filled with a 'swarm of tigers,' and the tigers are traded for a thousand hot dogs from the hot-dog man to feed everyone. Did I mention that each day Grandpa Dartanyong wakes with a different identity and, shall we say, very unusual problems? Fans of the wackier reaches of Jack Gantos and Polly Horvath will love these random ramblings that make up in emotional sense what they lack in conventional storytelling."--The Horn Book Magazine, "Fans of the wackier reaches of Jack Gantos and Polly Horvath will love these random ramblings that make up in emotional sense what they lack in conventional storytelling."--The Horn Book Magazine
