KidLit Forum

When I started to read this book I was surprised of how many repetitions Sandburg used.
At one point, each sentence starts with an "and". The second element I've found very interesting was the way the kids were named: "Please Gimme" and "Ax Me No Questions". In the following pages the author (probably) invents some new countries for his characters but uses Kansas or Canada just to make the other ones to look like real countries. The names of the invented ones are: "Kokomo", "Kankakee", "Kalamazoo". Even the "Rootabaga" place sounds very comic (I still think they don't exist in the real, geographical world ).The puns, wordplays are everywhere, "Chick-a-chick" and "pfisty - pfoost", just like we encountered reading Mac Donald's fairy-tale, The Light Princess.
In their way to Rootabaga country(by train) the family of Gimme the Ax meets another train and when Ax Me No Questions asked what happened, her father told her" One train went over, the other went under" so he explained the name of that country "Over and Under".
Floating in this wonderful journey the family enters the country of the balloon pickers and the next stop should be the Rootabaga country. Reading this colorful story I couldn't find a witch, an evil fairy or some villains and this is the reason why I really recommend you to read it just to go back in your childhood or, why not, to practise those tongue twisting names (aloud)

I must confess that I haven't read this book but when I read your post I soon became interested in it mainly because of the foolish names of both the characters and the places which are presented throughout the story. Although there aren't any fairies in this story the author seems to re-create a " childhood world"- a perfect world, where everything is possible and where there is no evil. Carl Sandburg expressed his thoughts and feelings exactly as they passed through his mind( stream of consciousness ) that's why his stories are so funny and different .
Another thing cross through my mind reading all those funny names- I had the feeling I was reading one of Caragiale's plays with his comical language.