You've never met anyone quite like Rufus Moffat. He gets things done, but he gets them done his way.
When he wants to check out library books, Rufus teaches himself to write...even though he doesn't yet know how to read. When food is scarce, he plants some special "Rufus beans" that actually grow...despite his digging them up every day to check on them. And Rufus has friends that other people don't even know exist! He discovers the only invisible piano player in town, has his own personal flying horse for a day, and tours town with the Cardboard Boy, his dearest friend - and enemy.
Rufus isn't just the youngest Moffat, he's also the cleverest, the funniest, and the most unforgettable.

You've never met anyone quite like Rufus Moffat. He gets things done, but he gets them done his way.
When he wants to check out library books, Rufus teaches himself to write...even though he doesn't yet know how to read. When food is scarce, he plants some special "Rufus beans" that actually grow...despite his digging them up every day to check on them. And Rufus has friends that other people don't even know exist! He discovers the only invisible piano player in town, has his own personal flying horse for a day, and tours town with the Cardboard Boy, his dearest friend - and enemy.
Rufus isn't just the youngest Moffat, he's also the cleverest, the funniest, and the most unforgettable.

A collection of largely unrelated short stories about Rufus, the youngest in the Moffat family. He lives with his mother, and three older siblings in Cranbury, Massachusetts. In each story, Rufus ponders and obsesses over some little thing that young children do ponder and obsess over. When a neighbor buys a player piano (which Rufus has never heard of) he believes there is an invisible man in the woman's house playing the piano. When he sees eyes reflecting light in a dark uninstalled water pipeline, he believes it is a wolf, and sets out plans to catch it and tame it. He finds some money frozen under ice on the sidewalk, and is determined to get it out of the ice and buy supper for his family with the money. The stories are all about small things - because small things are big to small children.
A charming, refreshing little book that has aged well. ( )

A library school professor read a chapter of this book to our class to explain how NOT to be a children's librarian, and I remembered how much I had enjoyed Eleanor Estes' "Ginger Pye" as a child. Picking up this charming little book, I found a number of short chapters describing the everyday life of a young boy growing up in New England. Estes' books are wonderful for reading aloud, and I wish more libraries kept them around. ( )

I loved all these stories about all the cousins. I should re-read them. Is this the one where the uncle is the youngest tot? ( )