Knee-Knock Rise

HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW






Book: Knee-Knock Rise



Author and Illustrator: Natalie Babbitt



Publisher: Square Fish, Reprinted  2007



ISBN-13:  978-1417793105 Hardcover



ISBN-10: 1417793104 Hardcover



ISBN-13:  978-0312370091 Paperback



ISBN-10:  0312370091 Paperback



Language level:  2



(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)



Recommended reading level: Ages‎ 8-12  and up



Rating: **** 4 stars



(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)



Category: General children’s literature



Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker



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     Babbitt, Natalie.   Knee-Knock Rise (Published in 1970 by Sunburst Books, an imprint of Farrar Straus and Giroux, Boston, MA). Young Egan lives with his mother and father but goes to the annual Fair held every autumn at the village of Instep in the Mammoth Mountains where he is staying with his Uncle Anson, who is a clock-maker, Aunt Gertrude, cousin Ada, and their pet cat Sweetheart.  Also staying with them is Uncle Ott and his dog Annabelle.  From the misty peak of nearby Knee-Knock Rise, on stormy nights when the rain drives harsh and cold, an undiscovered creature called the Megrimum raises its voice and moans. Nobody knows what it is―nobody has ever dared to try to find out and come back again. 



     However, when Egan arrives at Instep, Uncle Walt has disappeared, leaving Annabelle behind.  Where has Walt gone?  Will anyone seek to locate the Megrimum?  What does Egan do?  Publishers Weekly says, “Here is a folktale that is not a retelling of an old folktale.  It is a new folktale.”  The School Library Journal says, “Here’s a wonderfully fluent fable about man’s need to have something to believe in.”  There are several references to smoking a pipe, and the term “Good Lord” is used once as an exclamation, but otherwise this is a fairly harmless story.  Author Natalie Babbitt (1932–2016) is perhaps best known for her novel Tuck Everlasting , but Knee-knock Rise earned a Newbery Honor in 1971.