Nora and Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business

Riverside Kids #2

by Johanna Hurwitz

Because Nora and her brother live in an apartment, personal privacy, making friends, and finding places to play are sometimes a problem, in a reissue of a popular series with new illustrations. Original.

Genres: Childrens

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Johanna Hurwitz is an American author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another childhood favorite that I got to read with Hugh. I wish I had remembered the "tooth fairy" section- had to do some creative adlibbing when we got to that part! When I was little I loved the thoughts of staying in your pajamas all day and the blackout, and Hugh loved those parts, too.

[Kiely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new to be seen here. Had I known it would tell my son that there is no tooth fairy, I'd have stayed far, far away.

[AS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet book and a nice one for kids beginning to read chapter books. I thought it might be a nice one to read aloud to students to give them ideas about writing their own stories about things they'd experienced in their neighborhoods, since the stories are short and simple, but things kids can relate to. I especially liked the part about the cardboard box clubhouse :)

[Teddy Pridemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun because they found Teddy in a hole.

[Melissa Namba]

A cute book where Nora learns more about her neighbors. The first book in this series will always be my favorite, but this is still a cute book for kids.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nora and Mrs.-Mind-Your-Own-Business builds a little bit on this first book. Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business got such a nickname when she accused Nora of being a busybody, but her name turns out to be Mrs. Ellsworth. Throughout the chapters of this book, she appears again and again, when the kids are trick-or-treating, when they need a babysitter, when they accidentally head outside in pajamas, slowly revealing herself to be a kind person beneath her gruff exterior. By the end of this book, Nora is out of kindergarten and into first grade, which sets us up for the third book.

Observations:
The coffee in Nora's kitchen percolates on the stove, rather than in a coffee maker.

The children are not permitted to go trick-or-treating because their father equates it with begging. I don't think this is necessarily a dated point of view, but I thought it was an interesting approach to Halloween. I also liked that the kids brought treats to their neighbors, instead of the other way around.

The book reveals the truth about the tooth fairy. Again, not a dated reference, but something I wish I'd known before I sent it home with a four year old and her mom the other day. The mom came back in to tell me that she caught it in time and didn't read the whole chapter to her daughter, but wanted me to make sure to warn other families.

[Connie Gunderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meh. We've read a few others of the Hurwitz books and they're sweet enough as early chapter books. This one wasn't super fun. Plus one of them, holy hell, if I'd been paying 1% less attention, I'd've accidentally spilled the beans on the Tooth Fairy.

[elissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my less favorite books in this series, but they're all good! One warning: In one of the chapters one of the kids finds out that the tooth fairy isn't real, so if that's something you don't want to read with a young child, you could easily skip that chapter in this book!

[elissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my less favorite books in this series, but they're all good! One warning: In one of the chapters one of the kids finds out that the tooth fairy isn't real, so if that's something you don't want to read with a young child, you could easily skip that chapter in this book!

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out slow and it got really good during the 3rd chapter or so.

[Johnny Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty standard fair for little kids. The topics were to simple for kids capable of reading that much text. My girls had no interest.