Need help finding title and author of this book...........?

Question

It was a children's to young teen's book, and there were some unique characters with illustrations. There was a female character that was obsessed with raking leaves, and keeping her house and cupboards tidy, and another character that was very short and always wore a hat and scarf, and I thinkl an overcoat as well. I barely remember anything more than this, and the illustrations were unique, and the characters didn't really look too human, but were caricatures of a sort. This is all I have, and wish I could provide more detail. Any help is appreciated. I recall reading this in the late 1970's as a kid, and I think it was a paperback with either a red or brown-orange cover. Thanks!

Answer 1

It's been years since I read this book with our children, so I may not be remembering correctly, but the two characters you mention sound like Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. The cover of the paperback was purple/orange, which blended together into a sorta brown color.

If I am right, the illustrator is Nancy Ekholm Burkert, one of the finest illustrators of the late 20th century, but not as well known as her work deserves. Her best children's illustrated books are Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs (Grimm Bros., tr Randall Jarrell), The Scroobius Pip (hilarious!!, Edward Lear, completed by Ogden Nash), and The Fir Tree (a sad/happy Christmas story by Hans Christian Andersen). But her most ambitious illustrated book probably was Acts of Light (poems of Emily Dickinson).

If this is, indeed, the right book, it is a fantasy. The main character is seven-year-old James, who escapes from his nagging aunts, Spiker and Sponge. His friends, with whom he sets out to float across the ocean to New York City, are a giant Centipede, Miss Spider, Old-Green-Grasshopper, Silkworm, Mrs. Ladybug, and Glowworm.

If I can find our copy of the book, I'll double check whether the aunts fit your description. Even if I'm wrong, I recommend this book. It's delightful. Tim Burton made it into an animated movie, but the art doesn't live up to Nancy Burkert's illustrations.

And by the way, I tried Stump the Bookseller. Save your $2. I never even got an acknowledgement that I had sent in a request, much less a response.
(For years, I've been looking for a book with a dog named Shoestring. No luck!)

Answer 2

Honestly, I've never heard of this website, but how intriguing is this?

If you don't get your answer here....maybe check it out....it's a $2 deal, and it's called Stump the Bookseller.