Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Aunt Minnie and the Twister
Illustrator: Betsy Lewin
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 8
Clarion, 2002 ISBN: 978-0618111367
Aunt Minnie lives on a farm in Kansas with her nine nephews and nieces. The children are all orphans and Aunt Minnie has given them a home. Of course the little farm house is a little crowded at times but Aunt Minnie and the children manage. Together they care for the livestock and the garden, they harvest the vegetables and fruits when they are ready, and in the winter they are able to enjoy eating all the good things that are stored in the root cellar under the house.
One spring day a storm blows in. Aunt Minnie rings the bell which she uses to bring the children home. As they ran for the root cellar Aunt Minnie and the children see a funnel- shaped cloud racing towards them. It is a “twister”, a tornado, and they did not have a moment to loose.
Thankfully Aunt Minnie and her children get to the cellar in time and there they stay until the tornado has passed them by. When they come out of their refuge they soon discover that something quite extraordinary has happened to Aunt Minnie’s house.
Children will love this warm love-filled tale which not only tells the story of a how a family survived a tornado, but it also describes the life of a very special old lady who, though she did not have much, opened her home and her heart to no less than nine homeless and parentless children. Young readers will see that one does not need much in life to be happy so long as one has “each other.”
