I quite liked this one. It was nonsensical fairy tales in all the right ways. A decent number of lines were laugh-worthy, and I loved the roundabout logic that most of the characters used. (For example, if a clock is THAT expensive, CLEARLY it must tell proper time. Case closed.) The stories alternated between using poetry and not. I was able to enjoy the poetry as well (I'm not a poetry person), but it was nice to get breaks. I do think the stories were where the author really shined in wit. I'm very fond of that kind of whimsy. ( )

A collection of stories and fables that won a Newbery Honor, but has not aged very well. ( )

One of six titles chosen as a Newbery Honor book in 1929, The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo - a collection of seventeen poems and short stories - is an example of what I like to think of as a "Wonder Book," in honor of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1852 retelling of the classical myths, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys. Quite popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these collections often presented fantastic stories, as well as both traditional and original fairy-tales - the latter often set in an imaginary Far and Middle East - as light-hearted bedtime fare. Such is certainly the case here, with selections set in China (the titular poem, The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo), and the imaginary Persian city of Chunder-abad-dad (The Astonishing Story of the Caliph’s Clock and The Persian Columbus) - apparently first (?) invented by Elizabeth Gaskell, in her nineteenth-century novel, Cranford.

These selections would undoubtedly fall under the rubric of "Orientalism," as conceived by scholar Edward Said, as they rely on a heavily stereotyped view of Asian and Persian peoples, although it must be said that, with a few notable exceptions, the characters found in the more "western" tales are no less silly. Indeed, these tales, and the two hundred "comical silhouettes" that accompany them, are obviously intended as humorous nonsense. The Caliph, in The Astonishing Story of the Caliph’s Clock, attempts to remake time with a western clock, forbidding the use of more traditional methods, while the king in The Barber of Sari-Ann, outlaws all shaving, after he himself has an accident.

But although Bennett's intent is clear enough, I found myself mostly unamused by, and uninterested in his poems and tales. They struck me as either vaguely racist - albeit more in the manner of unconscious condenscension than overt prejudice - or tired and overdone. His poems didn't read very well, and his language in general was larded with purposefully anachronist vocabulary (lots of "Ye Olde" this and that) which I found rather irritating. The only selection I found genuinely enjoyable was the poem, A Jest of Little John, in which Little John of Sherwood entertains the young daughter of the Sheriff of Nottingham one May day, but then, I've always had a weakness for anything Robin Hood related.

Despite this notable exception, my overall reaction to the text of The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo was less than enthusiastic, and I cannot imagine it will have much interest, other than to the children's literature scholar or Newbery completist. Judged on this basis alone, I probably would have awarded it two stars. What saved the experience for me, were the many delightful silhouettes, which were genuinely entertaining. Fans of this style of art might want to track this one down, as it contains many fine examples. ( )