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September 11, 2007
Mr. Pine’s Purple House
I first became aware of Mr. Pine’s Purple House by Leonard Kessler through my late husband, who claimed it as a childhood favorite. I have his copy, in fact:
[Other books: Bri’s childhood copy of The Monster at the End of this Book and the edition of Mr. Pine’s Purple House that is currently in print.]
In this beginning reader (complete with an introduction by Lilian Moore), Mr. Pine owns one of the fifty white houses “all in a line” on Vine Street, an aggressively suburban neighborhood that, when the book was published in 1965, hadn’t yet organized a homeowner’s association. Too bad for them because when Mr. Pine gets to thinking that he’s having a hard time telling which house is his, he doesn’t have to ask anyone else for permission to plant a pine tree (“Pine tree. Pine’s house. See?”). His neighbors (Mr. Gold, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Green, you get the picture) all admire the little tree, and the next day Mr. Pine wakes up to find that everyone on the street has planted remarkably similar trees in their yards. His mnemonic destroyed, Mr. Pine decides to plant a bush next to the tree (“Hmmmmmmm. Big bush. Pine tree. Pine’s House. See?” Hmmmmmm. No, not so much.) only to have everyone on the street copy him yet again. Driven to distraction, Mr. Pine makes his big move and decides to paint the house purple.
This book has all the things one expects from a beginning reader: lots of white space, short lines, large type, repetition, illustrations that support the text. In this case, the illustrations are line drawings colored with increasing amounts of purple as Mr. Pine spirals further into his odd, quiet rebellion. Speaking of odd, there is a bit of a tangent in the middle of the book in which Mr. Pine runs into several slapstick-style mishaps while painting the house. I have to admit that, for instance, watching the cat with the purple bow knock Mr. Pine off his ladder (and the resulting splattering of paint) is fun, but I can’t quite figure out how it ties in to the rest of the book. For a beginning reader, it’s kind of long, and the book would have been just fine without the comedy routine in the middle. Ah, well. In any case, Mr. Pine does finally finish painting, and his copycat neighbors start right in about how much they like it, which causes Mr. Pine to flail his arms: “‘OOH, NO! NO! NO!’ said Mr. Pine. ‘Not FIFTY PURPLE HOUSES, all in a line on Vine Street!’” This burst of caps convinces the neighbors that they shouldn’t cross the recluse who lives by himself and drives a van with no windows in the back. Instead, those crazy ‘60s radicals decide to paint their houses psychedelic colors like red and yellow and pink, and everyone lives (presumably) happily ever after. Mr. Pine is happy, at any rate, and everyone else was just a stock character anyway.
Mr. Pine’s Purple House is currently available in a swell 40th anniversary edition from Purple House Press. Rock on, Purple House!
Posted by adrienne at September 11, 2007 10:15 PM
Comments
I adore Mr Pine's Purple House! Anytime I'm driving somewhere with my sister and mother and we see a purple house we all shout, "Mr Pine." Thanks for letting me know about the anniversary edition.
Posted by: Liz B at September 12, 2007 08:03 AM
I've always read these "Everyone's copying me!" books with a reaction that's a mixture of amusement and bemusement. To the best of my knowledge, the only one who's ever tried to copy me on anything has been my daughter.;)
I'm going to look for Mr. Pine's Purple House anyway. Thanks for the synopsis.
Posted by: Alkelda at September 12, 2007 10:44 AM
Wow, I completely forgot about Mr. Pine's purple house!! That was a pretty nutty story but I know Bri liked it, each generation has their favorites.In my day it was Mike Mulligan and Marianne! Steam Shovels are definitely dated these days, oh well, it was a cute story back then......
Posted by: Bri's Mom at September 12, 2007 09:36 PM
I'm glad other people know the book!
Linda, Don't worry, people are still reading Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. :) I don't think that one can go out of style. It's funny you mention it because Mr. Pine kind of reminds me of another book by the author who wrote Mike Mulligan. (For members of our studio audience, I'm thinking of The Little House, which seems to share something with this book thematically, although not so much in style or plot.)
Posted by: adrienne at September 12, 2007 10:47 PM
so is the 1965 copy still valuable now? I have the original.
Posted by: Lisa Powers at March 5, 2010 10:23 PM
I'm not sure--I've never checked. I know shockingly little about rare and valuable books, considering I'm a librarian. I just know what I like. :)
I'd take good care of it in any case. It's a lovely little book.
Posted by: adrienne at March 6, 2010 09:20 AM