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The Pushcart War

The Pushcart War

by Jean Merrill, illustrated by Ronni Solbert

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Ages 10-14 Available as E-Book Children's Literature
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Also available in hardcover. 

50th Anniversary Edition

Do you know the history of the pushcart war? The REAL history? It’s a story of how regular people banded together and, armed with little more than their brains and good aim, defeated a mighty foe.

Not long ago the streets of New York City were smelly, smoggy, sooty, and loud. There were so many trucks making deliveries that it might take an hour for a car to travel a few blocks. People blamed the truck owners and the truck owners blamed the little wooden pushcarts that traveled the city selling everything from flowers to hot dogs. Behind closed doors the truck owners declared war on the pushcart peddlers. Carts were smashed from Chinatown to Chelsea. The peddlers didn’t have money or the mayor on their side, but that didn’t stop them from fighting back. They used pea shooters to blow tacks into the tires of trucks, they outwitted the police, and they marched right up to the grilles of those giant trucks and dared them to drive down their streets. Today, thanks to the ingenuity of the pushcart peddlers, the streets belong to the people—and to the pushcarts.

The Pushcart War was first published fifty years ago. It has inspired generations of children and been adapted for television, radio, and the stage around the world. It was included on School Library Journal’s list of “One Hundred Books That Shaped the Twentieth Century,” and its assertion that a committed group of men and women can prevail against a powerful force is as relevant in the twenty-first century as it was in 1964.

by Jean Merrill, illustrated by Ronni Solbert

Additional Book Information

Series: NYRB Kids
ISBN: 9781590179369
Pages: 232
Publication Date:

Praise

The Pushcart War had a profound impact on me; when I was a kid I devoured it several times, and I've carried it deep inside me ever since. The book gave me a point of entrance—my first, I imagine—into the world of resistance to political and economic injustice and chicanery. It made opposition, even non-violent civil disobedience, seem fun and right and necessary and heroic, and something even someone as powerless as a kid could and should undertake.
—Tony Kushner

Finally, parents can get their hands on new copies of the best book about politics ever written for children...What makes The Pushcart War so wonderful is not simply its inventive premise or its deftly-sketched cast of characters...These elements alone would have made the book a great deal of fun, but Merrill accomplishes something greater. She manages to put together a plot that introduces children to almost every element of a political controversy...this lively, lovely novel is an argument for staying hopeful about the possibility of bringing about change, even when you are going up against entrenched and powerful interests.
—Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post

The definitive history of New York's war between the pushcarts and the trucks is one of those rarities—a book that is both humorous and downright funny. Such a lively book will need little introducing; once a boy or girl discovers it, the news will spread.
—The Horn Book Magazine

This is satire on almost every conceivable aspect of modern urban life...To all it should be funny, and to many it will have the disturbing ring of truth.
—School Library Journal, starred review

An utterly captivating book...the satire cuts deep into some of our most hallowed institutions. Best of all, the dialogue and situations are irresistibly funny.
—The New York Times Book Review

Merrill's story, full of unexpected reversals and understated witticisms, feels exceptionally modern. And by the end—after the two sides have hammered out a peaceful and deeply reasonable compromise—one can only hope that we'll catch up to Merrill's future one day.
—Adam Mansbach, NPR, You Must Read This

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