Given that I started the Tales from Deckawoo Drive with Books Five and Six before going back to the beginning, I've pretty much come full circle with this fourth book.

No, it isn't the most common thing for a grown woman to indulge in children's chapter books for herself, but these aren't just simplistic little kiddie yarns. While kids can certainly enjoy them (and I'm sure they do!), the stories speak on more than one level—including through what's wonderfully illustrated and also through what's deftly left unsaid.

After reading about the adventure of Eugenia's younger sister and getting a closer look into the Lincoln sisters' relationship in the previous book, it was something to now witness Eugenia's own adventure (even if she probably wouldn't call it that). The story also gives another deeper peek into the Lincolns' sistership, and I always love it when their young neighbor Frank shows up.

Now that I know more about the Deckawoo bunch as a whole, I imagine it'll be even more fun to revisit Books Five and Six.

(The sixth one, about Frank, is one of my all-time favorite books, by the way—and not just one of my favorite children's books. It's one of my favorite books period.) ( )

Eugenia Lincoln is an extremely practical person. Her sister, Baby Lincoln is the complete opposite. When an unexpected, large box is delivered to their house, Eugenia wants to refuse it, but the delivery man tells her it can't be done. She is not happy about the unexpected delivery and is even more unhappy to find it contains an accordion! She has no use for it and is determined to get rid of it some how. Meanwhile her neighbours are delighted with the surprise delivery and think she should keep it as it could add some fun and joy to her life. ( )

Two elderly sisters find a package on their stoop one day marked for the elder sister and containing an unsolicited accordion. When she tries to get rid of the accordion, she finds that’s not as easy as she thought as she’s encouraged to find the music in her heart instead of being so closed off.

I think I’m being generous with my two-star rating of this book; it really did absolutely nothing for me. The supposed quaint “folksy” charm of the book came off as stereotypical and mocking to me, and the one-note characterizations were similarly off-putting. Pair that with illustrations that continue to correlate appearance with personality (e.g., the prim and proper, no fuss-no muss sister is portrayed with a pinched face), and the result is a disservice to children I think.

Likewise, the “problem” is neatly tied up by the sister beginning to play the accordion and immediately having a beautiful-sounding song come out. There’s just no basis in reality for that; children know that it’s hard work to get an instrument to sound good and, again, it’s a disservice to tell them otherwise.

Perhaps those who have read other books in this series have more of an attachment to these characters and setting, but again it did nothing for me. I wonder if the young audience it’s intended for will even get reference like calling information, looking through a print encyclopedia, etc. Based on their hairstyles, two of the characters are meant to be African-American but their skin color is still white in the illustrations. What an odd choice.

Honestly, I have difficulty seeing how this series is popular or finding anything about this book to recommend it. ( )

This was a cute book about a beautiful relationship between sisters (even if they are as different as day and night). I liked the story, it was funny- the reason I gave 4 stars is because the language was heavy on the first pages for kids and repetition (not specific to this version, all mercy books have this) gets to you after awhile. ( )

My son loves this series and this book did not disappoint. Although he still prefers Mercy Watson, this book was just as enjoyable. ( )