That's Silly

by William Sleator, Lawrence di Fiori (Illustrator)

Two playmates have unusual experiences with both magic and pretending, and are not always sure which is which.

46 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

William Warner Sleator III was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland on February 13, 1945, and moved to St. Louis, MO when he was three. He graduated from University City High School in 1963, from Harvard in 1967 with BAs in music and English.

For more than thirty years, William Sleator thrilled readers with his inventive books. His House of Stairs was named one of the best novels of the twentieth century by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

William Sleator died in early August 2011 at his home in Thailand.

Reviews

[skein · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite children's book, my favorite book full stop for years and years (until I was eight). It was all so vivid - the wishing, the hot day and the long hill; the wind coming; the horror of being trapped, of running out of paper (!) by huge, unforgiving figures moving closer and closer.
Suddenly we're in a balloon; suddenly we're on the ground. The rules change.

I cannot imagine what wicked person thought it was a good idea to publish a children's learn-to-read book about an unequal friendship and the nature of reality and two children being chased by towering monsters and magic that maybe isn't magic, and an up-in-the-air ending. Thank god they did, cause otherwise where would I be? Re-reading Richard Scarry and rocking back and forth, that's where.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Sleator's Young Adult novels. This one, not so much. It illustrates the border of imagination and reality in the lives of two children.