Ginger Pye

By Eleanor Estes

Winner of the Newbery Medal: This quirky, heartwarming tale of a family searching for their missing dog is “absorbing . . . sure to please” (Kirkus Reviews).

Meet the marvelous Pyes. There’s Mrs. Pye, the youngest mother in town. Mr. Pye, a famous bird man, who handles all the nation’s important bird problems. Rachel Pye, who is so reasonable she can make unreasonable ideas sound like good ones. Jerry Pye, who knows about rocks of all sorts and plans to grow up to be a rock man. Uncle Bennie, who is Jerry and Rachel’s uncle—even though he’s only three years old.

And then there’s Ginger Pye—the “intellectual dog” Jerry bought for a hard-earned dollar. The most famous pup in all of Cranbury, Connecticut, Ginger knows tons of tricks, is as loyal as he is smart, and steals the hearts of everyone he meets . . . until someone steals him!

“An outstanding book.” —The Horn Book

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 1, 2000
• ISBN: 9780547539881

Eleanor Estes

Eleanor Estes (1906-1988) grew up in West Haven, Connecticut, which she renamed Cranbury for her classic stories about the Moffat and Pye families. A children’s librarian for many years, she launched her writing career with the publication of The Moffats in 1941. Two of her outstanding books about the Moffats—Rufus M. and The Middle Moffat—were awarded Newbery Honors, as was her short novel The Hundred Dresses. She won the Newbery Medal for Ginger Pye.  

Book preview

Copyright © 1951 by Eleanor Estes

Copyright renewed 1979 by Eleanor Estes

All rights reserved. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Harcourt Children’s Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1951.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [e-mail] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

www.hmhco.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Estes, Eleanor, 1906–1988.

Ginger Pye/Eleanor Estes; illustrated by the author.

p. cm.

Summary: The disappearance of a new puppy named Ginger and the appearance of a mysterious man in a mustard yellow hat bring excitement into the lives of the Pye children.

[1. Dogs—Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.E749Gi 2000

[Fic]—dc2100-26700

ISBN: 978-0-15-202499-4 hardcover (OSI)

ISBN: 978-0-544-92781-0 paperback

eISBN 978-0-547-53988-1

v4.1119

To Cici and Gretchen

1

The Pyes and Pets

Would Gracie-the-cat be jealous if the Pyes got another pet—​a dog? That was what Jerry Pye wanted to know and what he was dreaming about as he sat with Rachel, his sister, on their little upstairs veranda. Gracie had belonged to the family for eleven years. This was longer than Rachel, aged nine, or even Jerry, aged ten, had. She had been a wedding present to Mama, and she was known in the neighborhood as the New York Cat. Jerry was trying to imagine what Gracie’s feelings would be if the Pyes did get another pet—​a dog.

The one thing that Jerry Pye wanted more than anything else in the world right now was a dog. Ever since he had seen the new puppies over in Speedys’ barn, he was not only more anxious than ever to have a dog, he was most anxious to have one of these Speedy puppies. He had the particular one picked out that he would most like to have as his own. This was not easy to do for they were all wonderful.

Jerry had chosen this certain special puppy because he was convinced he was the smartest of the new puppies. Naturally, he would love any dog he had, but imagine owning such a smart puppy as this one! When he owned him he would teach him to heel, be dead dog, sneeze, scratch his stomach when Jerry scratched his back, beg, and walk on his hind legs. If he had this dog, that is. And he looked speculatively at Gracie-the-cat who had pushed open the screen door and was now lolling with an agreeable expression on the rope mat. He would not want to hurt her feelings and he thought some more whether it would or would not hurt Gracie’s feelings if he brought a puppy into the house.

It was a Friday evening and Jerry and Rachel had been sitting, reading, on the little upstairs veranda of their tall house. Rachel had The Secret Garden from the library, and Jerry had one of the Altsheler books, and neither one of these books was an I book. They both always opened a book eagerly and suspiciously looking first to see whether or not it was an I book. If it were they would put it aside, not reading it until there was absolutely nothing else. Then, at last, they would read it. But, being an I book, it had to be awfully good for them to like it. Only a few, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, and Swiss Family Robinson, for example, survived the hard I book test. These were among their best beloved in spite of the obvious handicap.

The children had read for a long time, but then it had grown dark. Now they were just sitting quietly, thinking, and watching the bats and bugs hurl themselves against the tall streetlamp which had suddenly come on and was casting a purple glow. Jerry was getting ready to bring up the matter of the dog to discuss with his sister Rachel, but first he liked to sit and dream about the wonderful idea that it was.

Rachel and Jared, called Jerry, Pye were very close companions. Of course they had many friends too; for instance, Dick Badger, who lived next door and who had a huge gray hound that knew how to scratch its stomach when you scratched its back, was Jerry’s best friend.

Rachel’s best friend was a girl over on Bugle Street named Addie Egan. All the boys and girls in Grade Five said Addie Egan had cooties and she really did not have cooties at all. Rachel stuck up for Addie whenever the occasion arose and she said, Let Addie sign your character books. She does not have cooties.

But then Rachel stuck up for everybody who was picked on. There was a little girl named Evvie Powers in the next block and sometimes the older boys and girls picked on her. Police! Come and get Evvie! they would cry, trying to scare the wits out of Evvie. But Rachel, if she heard them, would cry out, Police! Don’t come and get Evvie! And she would run and put her arms around the little girl. Evvie just worshiped Rachel and wanted to be with her every minute. This was a nuisance, for Evvie wasn’t even up to onesies in the game of onesie-twosie and Rachel was up to fivesies! But Evvie had to be protected nevertheless. Rachel would give her a smile and a pat and say, Don’t worry, Evvie. I won’t let the police get you. Then she would run off to find Addie or Jerry and Dick or someone her age, leaving Evvie wiping her eyes and looking after her adoringly.

Rachel was an eager skinny little girl who almost always wore skirts and blouses that didn’t stay tucked in, or sweaters, and her nose was frequently runny, because she had hay fever. Jerry was skinny too, but his nose didn’t run. Jerry had black hair and Rachel’s was reddish gold though, at this moment, sitting under the streetlamp, the hair of both of them looked purple.

To lead up to the subject that was nearest his heart Jerry said, Rache, which is more important—​a dog or a cat?

Rachel and Jerry were in the habit of having discussions as to what was the most important of anything—​the most important, or the prettiest, or the best, or the funniest. For instance, in the dictionary, almost their only picture book except for Mr. Pye’s books of birds, they had excited discussions over which was the prettiest fish on the shiny colored page of fish, or the prettiest bird, or butterfly. One favorite discussion of theirs was the one they had whenever they played train, calling out like conductors, New York to Boston! Which was more important, they asked one another, New York or Boston?

New York, Jerry would say. Because it has the Museum of Natural History in it.

Boston, said Rachel. Because it sounds more important.

Why?

It just does.

Rachel couldn’t explain the reason she thought Boston sounded more important than New York but it probably had something to do with the roundness of the letters, the B and the o’s. For the same reason she thought London sounded more important than Paris, though Paris sounded prettier. Sometimes, since Jerry was one year older than she, she wondered if she, too, should not say, New York. Still, to her, Boston sounded rounder, bigger, more solid—​more important.

Their town, Cranbury, was between these two big cities. The trains went streaking past, running back and forth from Boston to New York, from New York to Boston. Mama was from a little town near New York, and Papa was from Boston. This made it doubly hard to choose the more important. How had Mama met Papa when they were at two different ends of the railroad?

It happened this way. Papa was much older than Mama. He was thirty-five when he met Mama and up till then he had not had a minute to get married because all he thought about was birds, birds, birds. Already, he was a quite famous bird man. Well, one day Papa happened to be standing in a New York subway station. Though he came from Boston he had frequent business in New York. In this particular subway station there was an escalator and all of a sudden Papa decided to see if he could run up the escalator, not the up escalator, the down one. He would have to run pretty fast to beat the stairs that were trying to bring him back downwards. Papa said he had always wanted to try this but naturally he did not want to make a fool of himself in front of other people of whom there were plenty in New York. This time, however, there weren’t any other people around and it was a splendid opportunity. So. Up he flew, several steps at a time, and he did manage to reach the top.

It so happened that when, panting, Papa did reach the top, there was a certain young girl who was about to come down the escalator; and here Papa came racing up it so fast, he couldn’t help it. He knocked the young lady down. Now this girl happened to be Mama who had come to the city for the opera matinee. The opera was Tannhäuser, the first she had ever seen, and she was floating through the air, almost, she was so transported by the magnificent music, when all of a sudden she landed flat on her back, knocked over by this crazy man who was flying up the down escalator.

Well, of course, since Mama was such a young little thing and wore only a size two shoe, and, moreover, ate like a bird, Papa had to marry her. They fell in love at first sight and though she was only seventeen, they got married as soon as all the permissions could be granted.

It was the most interesting way for a mother to meet a father of any that Rachel and Jerry had heard so far. Addie Egan’s mother had met her father at the high school prom, for example. And Dick Badger’s mother had met his father at a Sunday school picnic. And so it went. At any rate this was how it happened that Rachel and Jerry had the youngest mother in the town of Cranbury, and the youngest grandmother, and the youngest uncle, their Uncle Bennie, Mama’s baby brother, who was now only three years old.

Papa and Mama came to Cranbury to live so that Papa could study the birds of the marshes and the woods and the fields, and because Cranbury was in the middle between New York and Boston. Perhaps they, too, could not make up their minds which was more important, New York or Boston, and had to settle halfway.

After a while Gramma and Grampa moved to Cranbury too, so that Uncle Bennie would grow up knowing his niece and nephew, Rachel and Jerry, and none of them be strangers to any of them. Grampa was a piano tuner and he said he’d just as lief tune pianos in Cranbury as where he was and moreover he could have a boat in Cranbury, which he couldn’t in New York. Sometimes Rachel and Jerry asked Grampa which he thought was more important, New York or Boston, and between plinking the piano keys, he’d say, New York. But then, naturally, being from there he could not be a traitor and say, Boston.

After Rachel had been taken to visit both cities, New York and Boston, finding them both wonderful, she didn’t know what to say in the importance game. To keep it interesting, however, she continued to say, Boston. What would be the sense of both her and Jerry saying, New York? There would not have been any game then. And, anyway, the name, Boston, still sounded more important.

It was Papa who had taken Rachel on her first visit to Boston. And it was Mama who had taken her on her first visit to New York. The time she went to Boston with Papa happened to be over the Thanksgiving weekend, just a few years before this story begins. They were to spend the weekend with an old aunt of Papa’s, Auntie Hoyt, who had been the first to steer Papa toward birds. She was a spinster aunt and she was very old and fragile and Papa was very fond of her.

That weekend was a cold, raw, and bleak one. Rachel slept on a small cot in the parlor and she could not get warm the whole night. She didn’t have enough covers and her feet would not warm up. She stayed awake and stayed awake and though she scrunched herself up into a tight ball, she still stayed cold. Since Auntie Hoyt was poor, Rachel imagined she did not have any more covers in the cupboard and she felt she should not embarrass her by asking for more. Anyway she didn’t want to be a nuisance and wake anybody up, so she shivered and shook. Also she didn’t want Papa to think he had such a cold daughter he could not possibly take her on any more trips. Rachel longed to go on bird trips with Papa, to the coldest North and the hottest South and traipse through the swamps of Florida. She had to be stoic. It must have been about three in the morning before she ever fell asleep.

The next night as Rachel got ready for bed she viewed the cold couch of night with horror. She felt she could not stand the cold another minute. Papa was reading The Auk, and Auntie Hoyt a little book of Forget-me-nots. Whispering, so Auntie Hoyt would not hear her, and hoping the question would not fill Papa with such disgust he would never take her to Labrador, she asked Papa where they had hung her overcoat—​she planned to sleep in it. Then he and Auntie Hoyt, who had heard, were sorry and piled a hundred coats on her couch. She was still cold, however, and could not get her feet warm the whole time she was there, in Boston.

In Boston, one day, she had an unusual experience. While Papa and Auntie Hoyt waited out of sight somewhere, she had to go by herself into a large room in a department store and listen to someone dressed up like Santa Claus read a Christmas story and ’Twas the night before Christmas. This seemed odd to her for at Thanksgiving time, she was not ready for Santa Claus. In Cranbury they got through the turkeys and the pumpkins and the Pilgrims before they brought out the Santa Clauses. She was quite relieved when the whole occasion was over and instead of being abandoned she found Papa and Auntie Hoyt waiting, beaming, at the door.

They went on an underground trolley car in Boston which went too fast around corners and it was a wonder it did not bump into the wall. For almost every meal Auntie Hoyt gave them baked beans out of a can and cold boiled ham both of which Rachel was very fond of but for which Auntie Hoyt apologized, saying hard times had hit her. In Boston, she also saw the Common, the old North church, the Bunker Hill monument, and where John Adams was buried. It was all like walking through the pages of the history book. Could New York come up to this?

The following year when Mama took her down to New York, she saw that it could, but in a different way. It is true she had a number of ideas about New York before she got there which came in for quite a reshuffling when she saw how things really were. For instance, she had expected the elevated railway to be a little train running on narrow tracks from pole to pole about a half a mile in the air, really elevated. A sky train, she had thought, reached perhaps by ladder, and she had anticipated riding on it with the greatest delight. On the contrary the elevated was so low down, the trolleys that ran over the viaduct from Cranbury to the city were almost as exciting.

The subway, too, was not as she had expected. She had thought a subway would be a shining thing way way down in the middle of the earth. But there, one had merely to go down a flight of stairs and one beheld the subway; and she did not see the escalator that Papa flew up.

But in New York Rachel tasted the best meal she ever had in her whole life. She and Mama had walked for miles and miles and hours and hours. They had had nothing to eat because on the train Rachel had eaten up the hard-boiled egg sandwiches that were supposed to be eaten in some quiet park with the squirrels and pigeons. Her footsteps lagged; she was hot, hungry, and tired. Finally her mother caught on and took her into a long, narrow store—​she said afterwards it was the five-and-ten-cent store—​and there Rachel was served this delicious dinner of pot roast and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas, and not too much, just enough, on a thick little hard white plate. Her dinner cost ten cents, Mama said, and it impressed Rachel that for either five or ten cents, one could buy almost anything in New York.

Even dresses. For after this wonderful little dinner they went into an enormous place and there, for ten cents apiece, Mama bought Rachel two dresses, a blue one and a brown one, and these were the first bought dresses Rachel had ever had. Mama made all her

Reviews for Ginger Pye

[tehya13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took a long time to figure out where the dog was but other than that it was a cute story.

[brannonsg · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too predictable. Many pages where nothing happens.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ginger Pye won the Newberry Award for 1952, beating out Charlotte's Web, which is quite a mystery. The book has some strengths, but some definite weaknesses as well.On the good side, the book is funny at times, and sweet at times. The events take place in a quiet small town, somewhere between New York and Boston. The type of small town where, (in 1951 at least) young children could roam about town unattended by adults and come home after dark with no one worrying. A town where nobody locks their doors, and the jail at the police station has been empty for over ten years consecutively. This all has a certain old-fashioned charm to it. The book is dated, yes, but that didn't bother me. (The parents in his perfectly happy family met when the father was 35 and the mother was 17 and married almost immediately. I guess in 1951 that didn't seem as creepy as it does today!) Another delight was that the children behave very much the way children really do behave, rather than in the adult-leaning way they often do in children's books. However, this feature may well appeal to an adult reader like myself more than to a child - who is of course the target audience.On the down side, the actual plot is minimal. The bulk of the book is taken up by unending little side-stories which have little or nothing to do with the basic story line. These stories are often entertaining, but rarely give any insight to the story. The tale is of the Pye children, who buy a puppy on Labor Day. The puppy is stolen from them on Thanksgiving day, still a puppy, and a good deal of time passes before they are reunited. Though Estes doesn't dwell on this sad fact, it looms in the background nonetheless. Who stole the puppy is quite a mystery for the children, but no mystery at all for the reader, as it is made obvious who the villain is before the dog even goes missing. The conclusion, reuniting the dog to the family, feels rather tossed in. The plot doesn't really lead up to it. It just happens when the author decided it was time to wrap up this book. Do the strengths outweigh the weaknesses? For me the did, but only by a margin.

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Although this is a Newbery Award Winner... I felt that the story was rather disjointed and written in a style more conducive for adult readers. The author's voice was affected....

I know that this is a very popular book and many children like it.....I just felt it was lacking, especially during the part where Ginger Pye disappears....

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As an adult I worked out the mystery of this dog napping story fairly quickly, but I did enjoy reading it all the same. I expect that if your child is into mysteries, they might figure it out faster than they would like, but that shouldn't change the fact that the story is interesting. There is more that is going on here than just a missing dog. The book takes place around the 50's (at least that was when it was written), which provides a tiny insight into history, but most of all, this is a story about relationships within a family.The winner of the Newbery Medal in '52, this book is full of the charm of the stories of the era and is descriptively written. It seems to perfectly capture the thoughts of children at the age of 10 and should be a fun read for that age group especially.

[karra.mcds · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ginger Pye is about Rachel and her brother. They both want a puppy and finally get one. They name him Ginger. They see this guy in a yellow hat following them. They soon forget about him and keep playing with Ginger. When Ginger is still a puppy, he dissapears! They have to get clues and find out who the man in the yellow hat is. I liked this book a lot because it was very descriptive and I love mysteries. I hope that you will read this book too, and enjoy it as much as I did!

[satyridae · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sweet story that is a little dated but nevertheless warm. The author avoids contractions like the plague and it just sounds funny to my ear.

[tntexas_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was a bit rambly in places for my tastes (what can I say? writing styles have changed a lot of the last 60 years), but the story still had its moments and is worth reading - for the glimpse into a simpler time, if nothing else.

[briannad84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First saw this at a used book store and though I didn't buy it, made a note of it and finally got around to checking it out at the library. It's a cute book and reminds one of how much people took for granted back then! Would like to read more of her books. Thought it was a bit odd about their Uncle Benny though. That just seemed like a strange character to throw into the story! But that's just my opinion! Loved Sam Doody though!

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jerry and Rachel Pye live in Cranbury with their parents and Gracie-the-cat, but Jerry is thinking of adding a new addition to the family: a dog. Another person wants this dog, however, and a mysterious person with a yellow hat keeps appearing.I loved the Moffats when I was younger, so I was ready to enjoy this Newbery award-winning story by Eleanor Estes. The Moffats are referred to a couple of times, in fact, and I kind of want to go back and reread their stories now. The characters are funny - Rachel with her too-serious way of thinking everything was like a story book, Uncle Benny who is famous because he is three and the Pye's uncle. It wasn't hard for me to figure out where the story was going, but I liked the homey tone of the narration, even when it was going off on tangents. This would make a great read-aloud book.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ginger Pye, the 1952 Newbery Medal winner, is the story of a dog and his family, the Pyes (no relation to the nasty clan of that name in L. M. Montgomery's Anne books, by the way!). The Pye children, reasonable Rachel and her brother Jerry, consider their family to be quite distinctive in their little town of Cranbury. For one thing, their mother is the youngest mother in town. For another, their father is a well-known expert on birds. But the crowning point of the Pye family fame is Uncle Bennie, age three, born several years after his nephew and niece. For surely there is nothing more unusual and interesting than an uncle who is a baby!Jerry and Rachel love their dog Ginger, who was purchased as a puppy by the aid of a miracle and an afternoon of hard work. Soon Ginger becomes famous in his own right for his intelligence and loyalty. But someone else sees the potential of the little dog, and when Ginger is suddenly stolen, the children are heartbroken. The story continues on, however, as the Pyes try to find their stolen dog, with no success. And lurking on the outskirts of the story is the yellow-hatted "Unsavory Character" (as the children dub him), mysterious and sinister. Was it he who stole Ginger?Some things about the story are slightly artificial—everyone is happy and nice, and there are no visible complications in the family relationships. But there are other moments of startling honesty; life isn't all perfect and wonderful. It takes forever to get Ginger back, and when they do, there is sad evidence that the little dog was cruelly abused by the thieves. The Pyes are poor, and although the children are unexpectedly able to earn the dollar they need to buy their puppy, it's very clear that Ginger would have gone to some other home if fate had not intervened. One also feels some sympathy for Wally Bullwinkle, whose unhappy home life is hinted at but never explored. In short, this is very much a children's book. There are sad and bad things, but they are peripheral, not yet the main things. It is a comforting read.This book was "assigned" to me by a friend who wanted me to experience this classic of his childhood. Eleanor Estes is a familiar name in circles devoted to children's literature, but somehow I missed her books as I was growing up. I'm glad this has been remedied, as I found Ginger Pye to be a rosy-colored but also honest tale, capturing perfectly that childlike reasoning that makes so much sense at the time—and that some of us can still remember. Recommended.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute little book, perfect for kids. It is written from a child's viewpoint and infused with that particular "magical view" of the world that many children have. Another thing that makes this story stand out is that the emotions are real and not glossed over. The ending, in particular, emphasizes both the ecstasy of reunion and the heartbreak of all the months of separation.

[kizzie123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When it got to a certain part in the book, I was so scared to know what happened that I didn't read the book for two weeks! The author pulls you in with suspense and i loved it! I h ope you will too!(It's okay what happened in the end!=)

[sylvatica_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kids’ books used to be so much simpler and yet richer. Over the course of this book, very little “happens,” plot-wise, but it fits a child-like sense of time, space, and wonder. The children in this book are very accurate – once they’ve decided what the Unsavory Character looks like, they are looking for a guy with a silent-movie-villain moustache, for example. Ginger pup is very cute, and his humans are cuter. It takes place a decade or two before it was written, so there is some nostalgia there, as well, though it is not overt. (pannarrens)

[alindelof_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jerry just got a dog called Ginger Pye but there is a mysterys footstepper that is triing to take Ginger. One day Ginger disappers what are they going to do. This book is good for people that like dognapping and mysterys.

[gvandevel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about Jerry and Rachel that really want a dog just like Miss Speedy. They here that she gets pups and is selling them for one dollar. Be sure to read this book and Miss Speedy gets tackled the same day and gets to be in the hospital! This book is GREAT!

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 1952 Newbery Medal winner Ginger Pye was a childhood favorite of mine, a book I can still remember my mom reading to my brother and me when we were very young indeed. My continuing love for it might be simple nostalgia, but I think the fact that it has lingered in my mind all these years is proof of the book’s simple power, and I enjoyed it just as much as an adult as I did as a child—in parts a bit more, because when Estes discusses such things as the first and third persons (in a very round-about, child-like manner), I am now in on the joke.The Pyes are a unique bunch: Mr. Pye is a famous “bird man” (the children’s word for an ornithologist) who is always being called on to solve all the nation’s bird problems; Mrs. Pye is the youngest housewife in town, having literally bumped into the 35-year-old Mr. Pye on when she was only 17, thus causing him to fall madly in love with her; Jerry is a normal 10-year-old boy, interested in rocks and dogs; his younger sister Rachel wants to be a “bird man” like her dad and makes up the wildest explanations for things she doesn’t really understand, and finds them entirely sensible; and Gracie-the-Cat is a lazy old thing whose only great virtue, besides rat-killing, is her ability to unlock the front door. I should probably add Mama’s brother Bennie as well, as he visits every Saturday and is considered a hero in Cranbury because he is an uncle at only three years of age. All their lives change for the better when Jerry inducts a new pet into the household, the lovable puppy Ginger, whom he bought for a hard-earned dollar. But it seems someone else wants Ginger too, an Unsavory Character whose mysterious footsteps and dirty yellow hat are the only clues they have as to his identity....There are certain passages of this book that have stuck in my mind like bubble-gum to the bottom of school desks. The story of how Mr. and Mrs. Pye met is one of them, Mr. Pye having knocked her over while he was foolishly trying to go up the “down” escalator, only to find himself head over heels in love: “Well, of course, since Mama was such a little thing and wore only a size two shoe, and, moreover, ate like a bird, Papa had to marry her.” And who could ever forget Rachel’s argument with her friend Addie Egan over the pronunciation of the word “villain,” especially Rachel’s assertion that “it must be vilyun because vilyun sounds more vilyunous than villun”? I could even remember Dr. Kelly’s pink and green kinds of medicines: “Both tasted awful but the green was worse because it also looked bad.” It’s little touches like this that make the book really breathe, and help create the impression that the Pyes are actual people living in an actual city called Cranbury, somewhere between Boston and New York.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the kind of simple story about ordinary happy families that I read in bulk as a child. (I remember reading this particular story, in fact.) Rachel and Jerry are brother and sister, living with their mom and dad in a quiet little town. Jerry wants a dog, but he knows it is nearly impossible for him to earn the dollar he needs in time to buy the dog. Lo and behold, an opportunity to earn money avails itself to Jerry and, before he knows it, he is the proud owner of Ginger, a brilliantly clever dog. But, alas, others learn of Ginger’s brilliance.Ginger disappears. The rest of the book is devoted to searching for Ginger. And that’s the whole book. No family turmoil. No dysfunctional people. Everyone in the story seems, well, focused and kind and happy and…gosh, nice. Was Estes deluding herself? Were families really like this? Are most families like this now? One can always hope.

[goodnightmoon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The plot is fine, and of course the references are archaic. But I did enjoy two aspects: the chapter from the point of view of Ginger (discovering the enemy dog in the mirror, affecting a humble pose to get out of trouble, forgetting that he was trailing Jerry!), and the reminder of what it's like to be a kid. I liked the part where Rachel went to sit among the "meteors" and she reflected that grown-ups thought they were ruins of a building. A playful spirit rides through the story, but the overall effect wasn't deep enough to leave an impact.

[angelaprice · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jerry Pye wants what every boy wants – a dog to call his own. After earning the money to purchase his first dog, and doing so with little time to spare before the seller was to sell his dog to someone else, Jerry and his “Ginger” become inseparable. Despite the mysterious yellow hat man, whom Jerry believes is the man who also wanted Ginger, Jerry and his dog have many adventures around their town of Cranbury. On Thanksgiving Day, Ginger is stolen out of Jerry’s backyard, presumably by yellow hat man, and the family begins a quest to find their lost Ginger. Months pass without any clues, but on his birthday Jerry finally finds the break for which he’s been searching. Ginger Pye breaks free of her kidnapper’s confines and finds his way back to the family he loves.This was an entertaining read. The setting transported me back to a simpler time when kids played outside and had great adventures with their friends and their dogs. I couldn’t help rooting for Jerry to figure out that his mean classmate, Wally Bullwinkle, was holding Ginger prisoner. The author gave great descriptions of some of the characters in the book, such as “perpendicular swimmer.” In the classroom I would use this book in a literature circle featuring the works of Eleanor Estes. Ginger Pye, Pinky Pye, and The Moffats provide three choices with characters that are woven throughout the books. These choices could speak to various interests and also allow for some big group comparisons. This book would be a good one to use for comparisons between how children spend their time now versus how they spent their time before the advent of television. Students could write about how they spend a typical summer day and then compare it to how Jerry spent his days. This would be an entertaining book to use as a read aloud after lunch.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Written in 1951 this book has classic charm. It's written for kids - gradeschool age - but not a bad read for adults either. It's the story of Jared Pye (Jerry) and his dog, Ginger. It opens with Jerry needing to earn a dollar to buy a puppy. His sister Rachel helps him and before long they have the smartest puppy on the block. It's not long before Ginger's talents as the smartest puppy are notice by some unsavory types and he disappears. Of course, being a book for kids it all ends well, but I won't spoil it for you.

[calmc296_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it!!!

[libby8gorman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mom loved this as a kid, and I didn't read it until I was an adult, but then I loved it, too--maybe more than I would have as a kid. Adds to my dog-envy!

[js20_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Ginger Pye was a puppy he could already do many tricksbut then when a misterious footstepper or unsavory character steals Ginger what will happen?

[omrythea_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this, but scarcely remember it.Review`Here is the book for which we have been waiting...a story written with sympathy, humor, and understanding. An outstanding book.' The Horn Book Book DescriptionA heartwarming, yet quirky, story about a boy called Jerry whose much-loved puppy, Ginger Pye, goes missing. Jerry and his sister begin a desperate hunt for Ginger, who they're convinced has been stolen away by the stranger in the yellow hat. After months of fruitless searching the children are about to give up hope when a chance gust of wind reveals the villain to the children and Ginger Pye is saved. BLA book which has stood the test of time and deals with the special relationship between a boy and his dog in a fun and lively way

[eleanorr_34 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book was really bad. There is no point to it. It was stupid. The dog gets lost but they find it in just a little bit. i have know idea how this won a Newberry. It is the worst book i have every read