Jean Bethell

We recently unearthed 15 boxes of books in my dad's old storage building. They are all from the 1970s and earlier. Some of them are my books from childhood, so I have to hang on to a few of them. This is one that I remember enjoying. From the book:

"This light-hearted spoof on the 'cowboy western' will please even the book-shy youngster. Clyde is a slapstick, offbeat, lovable hero, and his triumphant encounter with the 'bad guys' will tickle young readers. A real "yarn"--told in fewer than 150 words."… (mer)

I snagged this at the library book sale last year and finally got around to reading it. I figured it would be good for a laugh, and it was... kind of. However, most of this book was just dreadfully tedious. My favorite parts were looking for the Barbie merchandise plugs and learning Barbie's last name (Roberts, if you were wondering).

I'm convinced that the person who wrote this thing hated Barbie and availed herself of every opportunity to take not-so-subtle digs at Barbie's intelligence. For example, in the perennial classic titled "Barbie's Birthday," Barbie philosophically muses, "Tomorrow she would be a whole 365 days older than she was today. That seemed strange, but that was the way it would be."

Indeed, Barbie. Indeed.… (mer)