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    Ginger Pye
    Ginger Pye
    Ginger Pye
    Audiobook5 hours

    Ginger Pye

    Written by Eleanor Estes

    Narrated by Kate Forbes

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Ten-year-old Jerry Pye wants a dog more than anything. And not just any dog. He has a puppy all picked out. But someone else wants him, too. So Jerry and his sister must hurry to earn enough money to buy him. When they get Ginger home, strange things start to happen. A sneaky stranger in a yellow hat starts following them everywhere. When their precious Ginger disappears on Thanksgiving Day, they start looking for the man in the yellow hat. If they find him, they'll probably find their pup. Finally, after months of fruitless searching, their determination is rewarded by a stroke of good luck and a gust of wind. Fresh, touching, and unforgettable, this book takes listeners back to a time and place alive with innocence and family tradition. Kate Forbes' lively narration lets listeners see the world through the fresh eyes of a close-knit family enjoying each other through both good times and bad.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 2, 2008
    ISBN9781436141147
    Author

    Eleanor Estes

    Eleanor Estes (1906-1988) grew up in West Haven, Connecticut, which she renamed Cranbury for her classic stories about the Moffat and Pye families. A children’s librarian for many years, she launched her writing career with the publication of The Moffats in 1941. Two of her outstanding books about the Moffats—Rufus M. and The Middle Moffat—were awarded Newbery Honors, as was her short novel The Hundred Dresses. She won the Newbery Medal for Ginger Pye.  

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    Reviews for Ginger Pye

    3.5/5

    318 ratings33 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Charmingly written story about a boy and his lost dog. A classic dog story that still melts the heart.
    • 5/5
      This is a very interesting book I love it it is awesome ?
    • 5/5
      It's a very very good book! I like the way it was written.


      ****
      Age 10
    • 3/5
      It it a cute book but be aware that children who are sensitive may find it too sad. My 8 yr old was very upset when ginger went missing so we skipped to the last chapter for the resolution. We have a dog so maybe it hit too close to home.
    • 3/5
      It's an endearing novel, which manages to be clever, and the thing that struck me the most: really understand how most ten and eight-year-olds think and feel: how they perceive, imagine and exaggerate certain situations. I swear I could relate to some of the things Rachel and Jerry experienced. I think it would be a book a child would enjoy reading.
    • 4/5
      Ginger Pye, the 1952 Newbery Medal winner, is the story of a dog and his family, the Pyes (no relation to the nasty clan of that name in L. M. Montgomery's Anne books, by the way!). The Pye children, reasonable Rachel and her brother Jerry, consider their family to be quite distinctive in their little town of Cranbury. For one thing, their mother is the youngest mother in town. For another, their father is a well-known expert on birds. But the crowning point of the Pye family fame is Uncle Bennie, age three, born several years after his nephew and niece. For surely there is nothing more unusual and interesting than an uncle who is a baby!Jerry and Rachel love their dog Ginger, who was purchased as a puppy by the aid of a miracle and an afternoon of hard work. Soon Ginger becomes famous in his own right for his intelligence and loyalty. But someone else sees the potential of the little dog, and when Ginger is suddenly stolen, the children are heartbroken. The story continues on, however, as the Pyes try to find their stolen dog, with no success. And lurking on the outskirts of the story is the yellow-hatted "Unsavory Character" (as the children dub him), mysterious and sinister. Was it he who stole Ginger?Some things about the story are slightly artificial—everyone is happy and nice, and there are no visible complications in the family relationships. But there are other moments of startling honesty; life isn't all perfect and wonderful. It takes forever to get Ginger back, and when they do, there is sad evidence that the little dog was cruelly abused by the thieves. The Pyes are poor, and although the children are unexpectedly able to earn the dollar they need to buy their puppy, it's very clear that Ginger would have gone to some other home if fate had not intervened. One also feels some sympathy for Wally Bullwinkle, whose unhappy home life is hinted at but never explored. In short, this is very much a children's book. There are sad and bad things, but they are peripheral, not yet the main things. It is a comforting read.This book was "assigned" to me by a friend who wanted me to experience this classic of his childhood. Eleanor Estes is a familiar name in circles devoted to children's literature, but somehow I missed her books as I was growing up. I'm glad this has been remedied, as I found Ginger Pye to be a rosy-colored but also honest tale, capturing perfectly that childlike reasoning that makes so much sense at the time—and that some of us can still remember. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      If you like this book read the book the Moffats also by Elenor Estes
    • 4/5
      It took a long time to figure out where the dog was but other than that it was a cute story.
    • 2/5
      Too predictable. Many pages where nothing happens.
    • 3/5
      Ginger Pye won the Newberry Award for 1952, beating out Charlotte's Web, which is quite a mystery. The book has some strengths, but some definite weaknesses as well.On the good side, the book is funny at times, and sweet at times. The events take place in a quiet small town, somewhere between New York and Boston. The type of small town where, (in 1951 at least) young children could roam about town unattended by adults and come home after dark with no one worrying. A town where nobody locks their doors, and the jail at the police station has been empty for over ten years consecutively. This all has a certain old-fashioned charm to it. The book is dated, yes, but that didn't bother me. (The parents in his perfectly happy family met when the father was 35 and the mother was 17 and married almost immediately. I guess in 1951 that didn't seem as creepy as it does today!) Another delight was that the children behave very much the way children really do behave, rather than in the adult-leaning way they often do in children's books. However, this feature may well appeal to an adult reader like myself more than to a child - who is of course the target audience.On the down side, the actual plot is minimal. The bulk of the book is taken up by unending little side-stories which have little or nothing to do with the basic story line. These stories are often entertaining, but rarely give any insight to the story. The tale is of the Pye children, who buy a puppy on Labor Day. The puppy is stolen from them on Thanksgiving day, still a puppy, and a good deal of time passes before they are reunited. Though Estes doesn't dwell on this sad fact, it looms in the background nonetheless. Who stole the puppy is quite a mystery for the children, but no mystery at all for the reader, as it is made obvious who the villain is before the dog even goes missing. The conclusion, reuniting the dog to the family, feels rather tossed in. The plot doesn't really lead up to it. It just happens when the author decided it was time to wrap up this book. Do the strengths outweigh the weaknesses? For me the did, but only by a margin.
    • 2/5
      Although this is a Newbery Award Winner... I felt that the story was rather disjointed and written in a style more conducive for adult readers. The author's voice was affected....

      I know that this is a very popular book and many children like it.....I just felt it was lacking, especially during the part where Ginger Pye disappears....
    • 3/5
      As an adult I worked out the mystery of this dog napping story fairly quickly, but I did enjoy reading it all the same. I expect that if your child is into mysteries, they might figure it out faster than they would like, but that shouldn't change the fact that the story is interesting. There is more that is going on here than just a missing dog. The book takes place around the 50's (at least that was when it was written), which provides a tiny insight into history, but most of all, this is a story about relationships within a family.The winner of the Newbery Medal in '52, this book is full of the charm of the stories of the era and is descriptively written. It seems to perfectly capture the thoughts of children at the age of 10 and should be a fun read for that age group especially.
    • 4/5
      Ginger Pye is about Rachel and her brother. They both want a puppy and finally get one. They name him Ginger. They see this guy in a yellow hat following them. They soon forget about him and keep playing with Ginger. When Ginger is still a puppy, he dissapears! They have to get clues and find out who the man in the yellow hat is. I liked this book a lot because it was very descriptive and I love mysteries. I hope that you will read this book too, and enjoy it as much as I did!
    • 2/5
      Sweet story that is a little dated but nevertheless warm. The author avoids contractions like the plague and it just sounds funny to my ear.
    • 3/5
      The book was a bit rambly in places for my tastes (what can I say? writing styles have changed a lot of the last 60 years), but the story still had its moments and is worth reading - for the glimpse into a simpler time, if nothing else.
    • 3/5
      First saw this at a used book store and though I didn't buy it, made a note of it and finally got around to checking it out at the library. It's a cute book and reminds one of how much people took for granted back then! Would like to read more of her books. Thought it was a bit odd about their Uncle Benny though. That just seemed like a strange character to throw into the story! But that's just my opinion! Loved Sam Doody though!
    • 4/5
      Jerry and Rachel Pye live in Cranbury with their parents and Gracie-the-cat, but Jerry is thinking of adding a new addition to the family: a dog. Another person wants this dog, however, and a mysterious person with a yellow hat keeps appearing.I loved the Moffats when I was younger, so I was ready to enjoy this Newbery award-winning story by Eleanor Estes. The Moffats are referred to a couple of times, in fact, and I kind of want to go back and reread their stories now. The characters are funny - Rachel with her too-serious way of thinking everything was like a story book, Uncle Benny who is famous because he is three and the Pye's uncle. It wasn't hard for me to figure out where the story was going, but I liked the homey tone of the narration, even when it was going off on tangents. This would make a great read-aloud book.
    • 4/5
      Ginger Pye, the 1952 Newbery Medal winner, is the story of a dog and his family, the Pyes (no relation to the nasty clan of that name in L. M. Montgomery's Anne books, by the way!). The Pye children, reasonable Rachel and her brother Jerry, consider their family to be quite distinctive in their little town of Cranbury. For one thing, their mother is the youngest mother in town. For another, their father is a well-known expert on birds. But the crowning point of the Pye family fame is Uncle Bennie, age three, born several years after his nephew and niece. For surely there is nothing more unusual and interesting than an uncle who is a baby!Jerry and Rachel love their dog Ginger, who was purchased as a puppy by the aid of a miracle and an afternoon of hard work. Soon Ginger becomes famous in his own right for his intelligence and loyalty. But someone else sees the potential of the little dog, and when Ginger is suddenly stolen, the children are heartbroken. The story continues on, however, as the Pyes try to find their stolen dog, with no success. And lurking on the outskirts of the story is the yellow-hatted "Unsavory Character" (as the children dub him), mysterious and sinister. Was it he who stole Ginger?Some things about the story are slightly artificial—everyone is happy and nice, and there are no visible complications in the family relationships. But there are other moments of startling honesty; life isn't all perfect and wonderful. It takes forever to get Ginger back, and when they do, there is sad evidence that the little dog was cruelly abused by the thieves. The Pyes are poor, and although the children are unexpectedly able to earn the dollar they need to buy their puppy, it's very clear that Ginger would have gone to some other home if fate had not intervened. One also feels some sympathy for Wally Bullwinkle, whose unhappy home life is hinted at but never explored. In short, this is very much a children's book. There are sad and bad things, but they are peripheral, not yet the main things. It is a comforting read.This book was "assigned" to me by a friend who wanted me to experience this classic of his childhood. Eleanor Estes is a familiar name in circles devoted to children's literature, but somehow I missed her books as I was growing up. I'm glad this has been remedied, as I found Ginger Pye to be a rosy-colored but also honest tale, capturing perfectly that childlike reasoning that makes so much sense at the time—and that some of us can still remember. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      This is a cute little book, perfect for kids. It is written from a child's viewpoint and infused with that particular "magical view" of the world that many children have. Another thing that makes this story stand out is that the emotions are real and not glossed over. The ending, in particular, emphasizes both the ecstasy of reunion and the heartbreak of all the months of separation.
    • 4/5
      When it got to a certain part in the book, I was so scared to know what happened that I didn't read the book for two weeks! The author pulls you in with suspense and i loved it! I h ope you will too!(It's okay what happened in the end!=)
    • 5/5
      Kids’ books used to be so much simpler and yet richer. Over the course of this book, very little “happens,” plot-wise, but it fits a child-like sense of time, space, and wonder. The children in this book are very accurate – once they’ve decided what the Unsavory Character looks like, they are looking for a guy with a silent-movie-villain moustache, for example. Ginger pup is very cute, and his humans are cuter. It takes place a decade or two before it was written, so there is some nostalgia there, as well, though it is not overt. (pannarrens)
    • 4/5
      Jerry just got a dog called Ginger Pye but there is a mysterys footstepper that is triing to take Ginger. One day Ginger disappers what are they going to do. This book is good for people that like dognapping and mysterys.
    • 5/5
      This book is about Jerry and Rachel that really want a dog just like Miss Speedy. They here that she gets pups and is selling them for one dollar. Be sure to read this book and Miss Speedy gets tackled the same day and gets to be in the hospital! This book is GREAT!
    • 4/5
      The 1952 Newbery Medal winner Ginger Pye was a childhood favorite of mine, a book I can still remember my mom reading to my brother and me when we were very young indeed. My continuing love for it might be simple nostalgia, but I think the fact that it has lingered in my mind all these years is proof of the book’s simple power, and I enjoyed it just as much as an adult as I did as a child—in parts a bit more, because when Estes discusses such things as the first and third persons (in a very round-about, child-like manner), I am now in on the joke.The Pyes are a unique bunch: Mr. Pye is a famous “bird man” (the children’s word for an ornithologist) who is always being called on to solve all the nation’s bird problems; Mrs. Pye is the youngest housewife in town, having literally bumped into the 35-year-old Mr. Pye on when she was only 17, thus causing him to fall madly in love with her; Jerry is a normal 10-year-old boy, interested in rocks and dogs; his younger sister Rachel wants to be a “bird man” like her dad and makes up the wildest explanations for things she doesn’t really understand, and finds them entirely sensible; and Gracie-the-Cat is a lazy old thing whose only great virtue, besides rat-killing, is her ability to unlock the front door. I should probably add Mama’s brother Bennie as well, as he visits every Saturday and is considered a hero in Cranbury because he is an uncle at only three years of age. All their lives change for the better when Jerry inducts a new pet into the household, the lovable puppy Ginger, whom he bought for a hard-earned dollar. But it seems someone else wants Ginger too, an Unsavory Character whose mysterious footsteps and dirty yellow hat are the only clues they have as to his identity....There are certain passages of this book that have stuck in my mind like bubble-gum to the bottom of school desks. The story of how Mr. and Mrs. Pye met is one of them, Mr. Pye having knocked her over while he was foolishly trying to go up the “down” escalator, only to find himself head over heels in love: “Well, of course, since Mama was such a little thing and wore only a size two shoe, and, moreover, ate like a bird, Papa had to marry her.” And who could ever forget Rachel’s argument with her friend Addie Egan over the pronunciation of the word “villain,” especially Rachel’s assertion that “it must be vilyun because vilyun sounds more vilyunous than villun”? I could even remember Dr. Kelly’s pink and green kinds of medicines: “Both tasted awful but the green was worse because it also looked bad.” It’s little touches like this that make the book really breathe, and help create the impression that the Pyes are actual people living in an actual city called Cranbury, somewhere between Boston and New York.
    • 3/5
      This is the kind of simple story about ordinary happy families that I read in bulk as a child. (I remember reading this particular story, in fact.) Rachel and Jerry are brother and sister, living with their mom and dad in a quiet little town. Jerry wants a dog, but he knows it is nearly impossible for him to earn the dollar he needs in time to buy the dog. Lo and behold, an opportunity to earn money avails itself to Jerry and, before he knows it, he is the proud owner of Ginger, a brilliantly clever dog. But, alas, others learn of Ginger’s brilliance.Ginger disappears. The rest of the book is devoted to searching for Ginger. And that’s the whole book. No family turmoil. No dysfunctional people. Everyone in the story seems, well, focused and kind and happy and…gosh, nice. Was Estes deluding herself? Were families really like this? Are most families like this now? One can always hope.
    • 4/5
      The plot is fine, and of course the references are archaic. But I did enjoy two aspects: the chapter from the point of view of Ginger (discovering the enemy dog in the mirror, affecting a humble pose to get out of trouble, forgetting that he was trailing Jerry!), and the reminder of what it's like to be a kid. I liked the part where Rachel went to sit among the "meteors" and she reflected that grown-ups thought they were ruins of a building. A playful spirit rides through the story, but the overall effect wasn't deep enough to leave an impact.
    • 4/5
      Jerry Pye wants what every boy wants – a dog to call his own. After earning the money to purchase his first dog, and doing so with little time to spare before the seller was to sell his dog to someone else, Jerry and his “Ginger” become inseparable. Despite the mysterious yellow hat man, whom Jerry believes is the man who also wanted Ginger, Jerry and his dog have many adventures around their town of Cranbury. On Thanksgiving Day, Ginger is stolen out of Jerry’s backyard, presumably by yellow hat man, and the family begins a quest to find their lost Ginger. Months pass without any clues, but on his birthday Jerry finally finds the break for which he’s been searching. Ginger Pye breaks free of her kidnapper’s confines and finds his way back to the family he loves.This was an entertaining read. The setting transported me back to a simpler time when kids played outside and had great adventures with their friends and their dogs. I couldn’t help rooting for Jerry to figure out that his mean classmate, Wally Bullwinkle, was holding Ginger prisoner. The author gave great descriptions of some of the characters in the book, such as “perpendicular swimmer.” In the classroom I would use this book in a literature circle featuring the works of Eleanor Estes. Ginger Pye, Pinky Pye, and The Moffats provide three choices with characters that are woven throughout the books. These choices could speak to various interests and also allow for some big group comparisons. This book would be a good one to use for comparisons between how children spend their time now versus how they spent their time before the advent of television. Students could write about how they spend a typical summer day and then compare it to how Jerry spent his days. This would be an entertaining book to use as a read aloud after lunch.
    • 4/5
      Written in 1951 this book has classic charm. It's written for kids - gradeschool age - but not a bad read for adults either. It's the story of Jared Pye (Jerry) and his dog, Ginger. It opens with Jerry needing to earn a dollar to buy a puppy. His sister Rachel helps him and before long they have the smartest puppy on the block. It's not long before Ginger's talents as the smartest puppy are notice by some unsavory types and he disappears. Of course, being a book for kids it all ends well, but I won't spoil it for you.
    • 5/5
      I loved it!!!
    • 5/5
      Mom loved this as a kid, and I didn't read it until I was an adult, but then I loved it, too--maybe more than I would have as a kid. Adds to my dog-envy!