The Pushcart War

This is one of those titles (Jean Merrill, 1964) that I probably read in the third or fourth grade, but had no real memory of, so I had to read it again. It was really funny! I don't know how many students will really appreciate all of the references to how history books are written, but the account of a fictional war between trucks and pushcarts is still funny. It will go down best with some explanation, though-- one fake preface is dated 1996. Need to explain why this is no longer in the future.

Also read Lensey Namioka's The Valley of the Broken Cherry Trees (1980). A good samurai mystery-- for the big fans of Hoobler's Ghost in the Tokaido Inn series this will be a good read, but since most of the series is out of print, it's not quite worth picking up more than the sequel, which I have here.