Sheldon and Mrs. Levine, An Excruciating Correspondence

by Sam Bobrick, Sam Bobrick, Julie Stein

In a parody of the best-selling Griffin & Sabine, an angst-ridden young man and his eccentric, meddlesome mother trade blows over his latest infatuation in a series of hilarious letters. 75,000 first printing.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Art, Comedy, Family

43 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1994

Reviews

[Shelli]

For a while there, Sheldon and Mrs. Levine was starting to hit way too scarily close to home, but then it took a turn for the absurd and ended on a note everyone can laugh at, even those with smothering mothers.

The authors were very clever in adapting both the format and the plot highlights of Nick Bantock's seminal work (and gave him a great, disclaiming shoutout). Cute!

[Katie]

I loved this book! It is a hilarious portrait of the love between a son and his mother. The book itself was well worth the shelf space. There were letters in envelopes within the hardcover edition and amusing drawings on the correspondence. Like a picture book for older people.

[Kelly (Maybedog)]

Excruciatingly funny. I probably found it funnier than many because I used to live in New York and I knew people exactly like these two.

[Courtney]

At first I wasn’t too sure about this parody and then I laughed at the mother’s brief response of ‘so what?’ to her son’s accusation. The

I also liked that it worked in the ‘psychic’ link, or however it is best described, and the ending was also well done.

[Joseph Hamm]

This may be the rare time that a parody of a work is a better product than the actual work (and I enjoyed the Griffin and Sabine books)!

[Natasha M.]

So these type of books are a guilty pleasure of mine. Reading postcards! Reading letters! There's something so divine about that to me but then again, I DO love writing and receiving letters and postcards. I definitely had a different take on this than I did as a child. I don't think I understood half of what was going on and was mostly there for the styles of the stationary. Re-reading it now I find myself older than the son and while I wish to sympathize with him... I know that mother will just reel him back in again.

Unfortunately my copy of this (and the Griffin&Sabine books) were all at a bunny level... so they still show the edges that my rabbit reached with his teeth (I miss you Valentine, even if you did ruin many of my books and sweaters!) Doesn't diminish my ability to read it so at least there's that. Graphically this isn't quite as stunning or interesting as the aforementioned Griffin & Sabine books but it's still charming in it's own way. It's easy to read in an hour, I just tried to draw it out for as long as possible.

[Justwinter]

I'd actually place this book at 1.5 stars. It was given to me by a friend who knows how fond I am of Nicolas Bantock's Griffen & Sabine books, and who knew I'd enjoy the spoof of Bantock's bestselling books.

As an exercise in spoofs, it does a good job mimicking the original Griffen & Sabine story. But I wish Sheldon... had been more witty, pushed a bit more--really stood alone as its own intentionally dreary story. More recent books have done so, with tongue firmly in cheek, like Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Without a previous familiarity with the Bantock series, Sheldon fails to read well alone.

And...as an update, this book failed to make the move with me. Still would rate it 1.5 stars for all the reasons.

[Heidi Belinsky]

Funny parody. Don't expect it to mimic Griffin & Sabine too much. The art is simple and the story is simple. It won't transport you to another world like G&S, but it will make you laugh and cringe!

[Mary Craven]

Clever and funny in an adult sort of the Jolly Postman way. A fellow book lover gave this to me for my birthday.

[Licha]

2.5 STARS

Bought this for a dollar at my library's book sale and then passed it on to someone else so not a waste of a dollar.

The story is a parody and somewhat humorous but also cliché about the relationship between a controlling mother and her son. I'll admit I did cringe a little at how harsh the son's language was towards his mother but it made the ending funnier.

[Natalie]

I read this without knowing it was a parody of another piece of literature. I still enjoyed it for what it was, but the ending was abrupt and disappointing. For that, I'm giving it three stars, with the potential for five if the ending hadn't been such a letdown.

[Cat]

Sooo Funny! Just a fun spoof on the Griffin and Sabine books! If you need a good laugh about mother/son relationships, this is your book!

[Patricia Hart]

Very stupid...what a waste of 15 minutes!

[Rsmith1960]

Love this book. It's a Griffon and Sabine parody. Letters and postcards in Griffon and Sabine between a mother and son. Very dysfunctional. Hilarious.

[Carmen]

Fun, interactive, hilarious riot of a story!

[A. Mickey Perkins]

Started off promising, then turned to nothing.

[Bunny]

Loved this story and shared with many. It hits home and is laugh out loud. engaging story. Well done!

[Sasha]

This is a pretty campy, reverse psychology parody of Nick Bantock's "Griffin & Sabine" series, and I mostly got the humor because I am and I have a Jewish mother.

[Charity]

A humorous take on the Nick Bantock books. Sheldon would love nothing more than to get away from his overbearing mother. Try as he may to break free, his mother always manages to to track him down. However, when his mother finally stops trying to contact him, Sheldon becomes extremely concerned and obsessed with tracking HER down. Such a great read! I absolutely adore the stationery! I reread this every other year.

[Roseann]

I think that I read this book once before, but it was worth a second look. The book is a number of conversations via mail between Sheldon and his overbearing mother. They are funny and over the top. I especially liked that some of the letters can be physically removed from glued on envelopes. I really enjoyed it. It's a very quick read.

[Rich]

Being a fan of Nick Bantok and the Griffin and Sabine series, this book immediately caught my attention. I can't say I was disappointed. Delightful from beginning to end. So funny. So scary. I loved it. I didn't give it five stars just because the quality of literature did not merit it. But for all out fun, this book has it all.

[Kristi]

I am a great fan of the original Griffin and Sabine series, which this book parodies. I am also a fan, in general, of parodies and humor. With that in mind...I just didn't find this book very amusing.

[Sharon Jones]

This, I think, is a take-off on the Griffin & Sabine Trilogy but a cleverly done, humorous look at a son and his mother! If you want a laugh, light reading and another interesting way to tell a story in the form of "actual" letters and postcards - you must get this book.

[Virginia]

Genius send up of the Griffin & Sabine stories. Loved it.

[Laura Seagraves]

If you enjoyed the Griffin and Sabine books, this book is worth the 10 minutes it will take to read... a very funny parody.

[Clare]

Fabulous! Great humor of the cynical, passive agressive, and sarcastic variety.
A parody of Griffin & Sabine, I greatly prefer Sheldon & Levine.

[Aaron]

One of, if not THE funniest book I have ever read. It will only take you about 10 minutes to read this. It is great!

[Lea Moore]

one of the funniest books ever!!

[Sylvia]

A fun book with interactive pages. Definitely for adults, though.

[Mckinley]

This was ok (2 stars) in a twisted way. Letters between a mother and son.