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The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure
The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure is a children's fantasy novel by William Bowen that was named a Newbery Honor book.
Five-year-old Freddie meets the owner of a nearby tobacco shop, Mr. Toby Littleback; his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda; and Mr. Punch, a hunchbacked man who sits outside the shop holding cigars. Toby warns young Freddie never to touch the jar shaped like a Chinese man's head because it is filled with magic tobacco. Freddie can't resist, and after smoking the tobacco he finds he and his friends on The Sieve, a leaky ship on the Spanish Main. They are first captured by pirates, then escape with the pirate treasure. Later they meet a Persian rug merchant who gives each of them their heart's desire. In the end Freddie falls ill, and goes into a coma. When he awakens he finds himself at home, recovered from the tobacco-induced dream.
Five-year-old Freddie meets the owner of a nearby tobacco shop, Mr. Toby Littleback; his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda; and Mr. Punch, a hunchbacked man who sits outside the shop holding cigars. Toby warns young Freddie never to touch the jar shaped like a Chinese man's head because it is filled with magic tobacco. Freddie can't resist, and after smoking the tobacco he finds he and his friends on The Sieve, a leaky ship on the Spanish Main. They are first captured by pirates, then escape with the pirate treasure. Later they meet a Persian rug merchant who gives each of them their heart's desire. In the end Freddie falls ill, and goes into a coma. When he awakens he finds himself at home, recovered from the tobacco-induced dream.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1921
About the author
William Bowen
24 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
September 13, 2019
Selected - along with
Cedric the Forester
,
The Windy Hill
,
The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles
, and
The Great Quest
- as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, the year the award was first established, William Bowen's The Old Tobacco Shop is the kind of surreal children's fantasy I generally associate with the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Think
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
meets Aladdin, with a pipe-smoking five-year-old, a little hunchback tobacco-shop proprietor, a crippled old maid, a Punch statue come to life, a mute circus performer, two Old Codgers, and a plump Churchwarden, all setting out on a magical adventure together...
If this sounds a trifle... odd... that's because it is. And yet, somehow, despite this cast of most unlikely heroes, and a narrative that zigs and zags like nobody's business, The Old Tobacco Shop somehow hangs together, delivering an entertaining, and sometimes quite surprising, adventure story. Opening in a city on the banks of the Patapsco (Baltimore, I assume), it follows the adventures of young Freddie, dispatched by his father to the Old Tobacco Shop for some tobacco. Here Freddie meets proprietor Toby Littleback, his lame Aunt Amanda, and a host of other characters. And here Freddie encounters the magical Chinese tobacco that will launch them all upon an astonishing quest to find Correction Island.
The narrator is somewhat obtrusive (in that Victorian way), and I can't imagine a children's novel involving a five-year-old smoking a pipe winning many kudos these days, but there is still an undeniable charm to the story, and the reader will want to follow along to the conclusion, which Bowen keeps rather ambiguous. Recommended for those looking to read the entire body of Newbery books, or researching the evolution of children's fantasy literature.
If this sounds a trifle... odd... that's because it is. And yet, somehow, despite this cast of most unlikely heroes, and a narrative that zigs and zags like nobody's business, The Old Tobacco Shop somehow hangs together, delivering an entertaining, and sometimes quite surprising, adventure story. Opening in a city on the banks of the Patapsco (Baltimore, I assume), it follows the adventures of young Freddie, dispatched by his father to the Old Tobacco Shop for some tobacco. Here Freddie meets proprietor Toby Littleback, his lame Aunt Amanda, and a host of other characters. And here Freddie encounters the magical Chinese tobacco that will launch them all upon an astonishing quest to find Correction Island.
The narrator is somewhat obtrusive (in that Victorian way), and I can't imagine a children's novel involving a five-year-old smoking a pipe winning many kudos these days, but there is still an undeniable charm to the story, and the reader will want to follow along to the conclusion, which Bowen keeps rather ambiguous. Recommended for those looking to read the entire body of Newbery books, or researching the evolution of children's fantasy literature.
January 5, 2013
A little boy about five years old befriends a weirdly creepy tall-tale-telling tobacconist and his maiden aunt. Three-quarters of the book consists of a trippy expedition to the Spanish Main, possibly real or possibly (as we learn in the last chapter) a delirious hallucination by the little boy; the expeditioneers are the boy, the tobacconist, the tobacconist's wooden advertising figure come alive, and various figures from the tobacconist's tall tales, plus a mime.
This is possibly the only book I have ever read that needed improvement where SUDDENLY, PIRATES didn't actually improve it. O_O It is intensely creepy, sometimes ableist, often disappointing, occasionally racist, and has absolutely no coherent throughline at all. If you think something is foreshadowed, it isn't, and whatever happens instead is not only completely out of left field but not quite as cool as what you expected.
I can only conclude that the Newbery committee was either so dazzled by the hyper-cloying use of description (seriously, I swear two-thirds of the book is babbling about irrelevant details of settings) or so sentimentally heartwarmed by the "there's no place like home and also be yourself" message of the last chapter but one, that they failed to realize this is actually a terrible book, fit for neither children nor grown-ups - except possibly the really annoying sort of self-satisfied grownups who think the nasty adults in this book are the proper sort of people to be around kids. :P
In my opinion, this author should have been sent to one of those behind-the-scenes places in fantasy novels where they write the world, and set to design acid trips, instead of writing anything remotely near kids. This book doesn't deserve to be dredged out of obscurity.
If you want a kids' book with better writing, equally unexpected silliness, and far lower creepiness levels, I recommend anything by Edward Lear.
This is possibly the only book I have ever read that needed improvement where SUDDENLY, PIRATES didn't actually improve it. O_O It is intensely creepy, sometimes ableist, often disappointing, occasionally racist, and has absolutely no coherent throughline at all. If you think something is foreshadowed, it isn't, and whatever happens instead is not only completely out of left field but not quite as cool as what you expected.
I can only conclude that the Newbery committee was either so dazzled by the hyper-cloying use of description (seriously, I swear two-thirds of the book is babbling about irrelevant details of settings) or so sentimentally heartwarmed by the "there's no place like home and also be yourself" message of the last chapter but one, that they failed to realize this is actually a terrible book, fit for neither children nor grown-ups - except possibly the really annoying sort of self-satisfied grownups who think the nasty adults in this book are the proper sort of people to be around kids. :P
In my opinion, this author should have been sent to one of those behind-the-scenes places in fantasy novels where they write the world, and set to design acid trips, instead of writing anything remotely near kids. This book doesn't deserve to be dredged out of obscurity.
If you want a kids' book with better writing, equally unexpected silliness, and far lower creepiness levels, I recommend anything by Edward Lear.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2016
This was an odd book for me. It's a 1922 Newberry honor book otherwise I never would have tried it or known about it. It has a kind of Alice in Wonderland quality to it. Tim Burton would have a Great time with this book. I got impatient with this nonsensical type of adventure they were on (and even skimmed parts), but I really liked some of the characters (Aunt Amanda in particular. She was a little sad and very endearing). It's not my favorite book, but I'm glad I became acquainted with it.
December 4, 2011
I can see why it was a Newbery Honor book for 1922. Sadly, I suspect that the strange 'tobacco' in the Chinaman's head and Freddie's use of it would no longer be considered politically correct (or safe for young readers). I can't recall another book quite like it and if I'd read it as a child I'm certain that the images it conjures up would have stayed with me forever. As it is, it pushed an awful lot of buttons. Loved it.
March 15, 2009
The Old Tobacco Shop by William Bowen
The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell A Little Boy in Search of Adventure, written by William Bowen, was selected as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922.
Freddie, newly settled in a fine-two story brick row house in a city on the banks of the Patapsco River (perhaps this could be Baltimore, Maryland), is sent on an errand to The Old Tobacco Shop to purchase half a pound of “Cage-Roach Mitchner” tobacco for his father. Upon his arrival at the shop of the tobacconist, Mr. Toby Littleback, he is fascinated by the wooden statue standing outside the shop, not the typical wooden Indian, but rather a hunchbacked man, Mr. Punch, holding a handful of cigars. Mr. Littleback, a teller of fantastic tales, and his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda, take a shine to young “Fweddie” and he becomes a regular visitor to their shop.
Sitting high on a shelf behind the counter is a tobacco canister shaped like a Chinaman’s head. Toby tells the young boy that the Chinamen is filled with magic tobacco and cautions him, “Don’t you never touch it! I wouldn’t want to be in your boots if you ever smoked that tobacco in that there Chinaman’s head! You can steal anything else in this shop, and it wouldn’t do much harm to anybody; but you keep your hands off that Chinaman’s tobacco, mind what I’m telling you!”
A day comes when Mr. Toby asks Freddie to mind the shop for him, and, despite his best intentions to “yield not to temptation, for yielding is a sin,”, Freddie takes the Chinaman’s Head tobacco canister from its place on the shelf , filled the bowl of a churchwarden’s pipe, struck a match and drew in a long breath. A cloud of tobacco filled the room. “It was growing thicker and thicker, and it was beginning
to churn about as if in a whirlwind; it turned all sorts of colours, mostly yellow and green, and parts
of it looked like barber's poles revolving at a terrific speed. He became dizzy as he gazed at it; his head
began to swim; the cloud was coming down closer and closer upon him, and whirling about more and more wildly; he crouched down lower, and became dizzier and dizzier. The counter and the shelves began to go round and round, so that he had to put his hand on the floor to steady himself; in another moment the shop disappeared altogether, and there was nothing under him but a little square of floor, and nothing over him but the wild, churning cloud, now sparkling with jets of fire. He felt himself falling, falling, and as he came to the bottom with a crash, he heard the shop door open and close, and found himself sitting on the floor with his back to the counter as before, with no smoke anywhere to be seen; and he was aware that a hoarse voice was speaking on the other side of the counter.”
Who was the mysterious person on the other side of the counter? What happened to Freddy after he smoked the Chinaman’s magic tobacco? Read The Old Tobacco Shop available for free download at at many sites.
The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell A Little Boy in Search of Adventure, written by William Bowen, was selected as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922.
Freddie, newly settled in a fine-two story brick row house in a city on the banks of the Patapsco River (perhaps this could be Baltimore, Maryland), is sent on an errand to The Old Tobacco Shop to purchase half a pound of “Cage-Roach Mitchner” tobacco for his father. Upon his arrival at the shop of the tobacconist, Mr. Toby Littleback, he is fascinated by the wooden statue standing outside the shop, not the typical wooden Indian, but rather a hunchbacked man, Mr. Punch, holding a handful of cigars. Mr. Littleback, a teller of fantastic tales, and his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda, take a shine to young “Fweddie” and he becomes a regular visitor to their shop.
Sitting high on a shelf behind the counter is a tobacco canister shaped like a Chinaman’s head. Toby tells the young boy that the Chinamen is filled with magic tobacco and cautions him, “Don’t you never touch it! I wouldn’t want to be in your boots if you ever smoked that tobacco in that there Chinaman’s head! You can steal anything else in this shop, and it wouldn’t do much harm to anybody; but you keep your hands off that Chinaman’s tobacco, mind what I’m telling you!”
A day comes when Mr. Toby asks Freddie to mind the shop for him, and, despite his best intentions to “yield not to temptation, for yielding is a sin,”, Freddie takes the Chinaman’s Head tobacco canister from its place on the shelf , filled the bowl of a churchwarden’s pipe, struck a match and drew in a long breath. A cloud of tobacco filled the room. “It was growing thicker and thicker, and it was beginning
to churn about as if in a whirlwind; it turned all sorts of colours, mostly yellow and green, and parts
of it looked like barber's poles revolving at a terrific speed. He became dizzy as he gazed at it; his head
began to swim; the cloud was coming down closer and closer upon him, and whirling about more and more wildly; he crouched down lower, and became dizzier and dizzier. The counter and the shelves began to go round and round, so that he had to put his hand on the floor to steady himself; in another moment the shop disappeared altogether, and there was nothing under him but a little square of floor, and nothing over him but the wild, churning cloud, now sparkling with jets of fire. He felt himself falling, falling, and as he came to the bottom with a crash, he heard the shop door open and close, and found himself sitting on the floor with his back to the counter as before, with no smoke anywhere to be seen; and he was aware that a hoarse voice was speaking on the other side of the counter.”
Who was the mysterious person on the other side of the counter? What happened to Freddy after he smoked the Chinaman’s magic tobacco? Read The Old Tobacco Shop available for free download at at many sites.
March 7, 2017
This is a Newbery Honor book (1922) and it's probably not for everyone. Initially I was all over the place with it and then decided to abandon my 21st c sensibilities and read it for what it is: a book written in 1922 for children. I suspect that it was intended as a read-aloud given the young age of the child protagonist (5 or 6 yrs old); even skewing for the dumbing down of children's literature in the past 50 years and given that kids like to read up (about older kids), I can't think the reader was intended to be more than 6-8 and I don't think a child of that age could handle the text. I honestly think it would work very well as an audio book, but convincing a publisher might be impossible - at least as a child's audio (child and tobacco and smoking - see the problem?). So what is this? Basically it's a form of portal fantasy, more similar in some respects to The Wizard of Oz than to Alice or Peter Pan. Some people describe it as Dickensian, but I see that only in its verbosity - it's extremely descriptive. A young boy, Fweddie (he lisps), is sent on an errand to buy tobacco for his father. On his first trip he meets the proprietor, a hunchback named, Toby, as well as a woman, Aunt Amanda, who is both a seamstress and an Old Maid. Toby regales him fantastic stories about the wooden hunchback (Mr. Punch) on the shop's porch and Punch's father who lives behind the clock face in the church tower across the street. There is also a tale about the special magic tobacco in the Chinaman's head on a high shelf in the shop. There are other visits (on the way he meets the Churchwarden) and more tales (of the two Old Codgers). Fweddie finally learns to say his name properly and Toby takes Freddie to see Hanlon's magic act. One day Toby leaves him to watch the shop while he runs an errand. The cast of characters is now in place. Freddie can't resist temptation, takes down the Chinaman's head, takes out the tobacco and smokes it. And the magical journey finally begins. There's a magical map, ship's journey, a shipwreck, a magic fish, pirates with treasure, a magical kingdom with a missing queen, a rug merchant/genie, and finally the journey home. I read this for my Newbery Challenge and for my 2017 Reading Challenge.
April 20, 2018
While reading this book, I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. It's a Newberry Honor book from 1923, so I was expecting it to be a bit dated. That shouldn't make a difference, though, but I'm now curious as to the required quality of work in the 20s that would award such a book as this with an honor.
The body of the book was composed of one irrelevant, convoluted adventure after another. It didn't flow well, and nothing made sense. There was just too much randomness. It would be one thing if all the scattered silliness was nearly tied up at the end, but no. The ending was just as irrelevant to the rest of the book as the adventures were.
It sounds like I didn't like it, right? So why not 2 stars? Well, a couple of the adventures - and the motley crew accompanying the "little boy" (Freddie) - were actually kind of fun. And my favorite character, Mr. Toby, made me smile more often than not with his snarkiness.
The body of the book was composed of one irrelevant, convoluted adventure after another. It didn't flow well, and nothing made sense. There was just too much randomness. It would be one thing if all the scattered silliness was nearly tied up at the end, but no. The ending was just as irrelevant to the rest of the book as the adventures were.
It sounds like I didn't like it, right? So why not 2 stars? Well, a couple of the adventures - and the motley crew accompanying the "little boy" (Freddie) - were actually kind of fun. And my favorite character, Mr. Toby, made me smile more often than not with his snarkiness.
April 26, 2015
1922 Newbery Honor Book
This book is public domain so I was able to get a copy off Project Gutenburg and read it digitally.
I was not at all impressed with the book. It starts with a young boy named Freddie who visits a tobacco shop and gets to know the people who run the shop. One day Freddie smokes the Chinaman's tobacco which is enchanted and this pirate guy shows up and an adventure starts.
This book is public domain so I was able to get a copy off Project Gutenburg and read it digitally.
I was not at all impressed with the book. It starts with a young boy named Freddie who visits a tobacco shop and gets to know the people who run the shop. One day Freddie smokes the Chinaman's tobacco which is enchanted and this pirate guy shows up and an adventure starts.
January 5, 2015
This is so very good. I'm surprised it was so difficult to find a copy. I'd recommend this to an 8 year old as a read-aloud. It reads a little like a Dickens or Jane Austen novel at times with mention of a place called High Dudgeon and the rag-bone man.
Aunt Amanda, referring to her lost children: “Yes, I miss them a good deal, and I suppose I even cry sometimes because I haven’t got them. But I love to think about them. I’m happy thinking about them, even if I can’t have them.”
Aunt Amanda, referring to her lost children: “Yes, I miss them a good deal, and I suppose I even cry sometimes because I haven’t got them. But I love to think about them. I’m happy thinking about them, even if I can’t have them.”
April 4, 2019
I realize that this one was written almost a hundred years ago, but I do not think that the age of it was the main distraction for me. It just seemed to wander all over the place, adding new characters, jumping from one magical destination to another, veering from story line to story line, and so on. I received very little enjoyment from this, and was more relieved to have completed it, simply to check it off as one more Newbery Honor read.
July 24, 2019
This is a fun read with charming characters who go on an adventure together. Reminded me of Mary Poppins or Wizard of Oz. It would be fun to read this out loud to a 4th or 5th grader. Don’t know how I missed it as a kid!
May 7, 2013
This is just the thing to while away the wee hours when you can't sleep on your dead sister's birthday and your other books require concentration.
February 4, 2013
A story of a young boy on a pipe dream.
June 24, 2019
Magic tobacco. Enough said.
January 16, 2021
It was a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, so at one time it was thought to be good children's literature.
If there ever was a book that illustrates how children's literature has changed over the last 100 years, this is it. Here is a child sent by his father to buy tobacco at the tobacco shop. He manages to smoke some "strange" tobacco in a jar that looks like a "Chinaman's head". So... he smokes "wacky tobacky" and goes on a trip (hallucinatory) during which all kinds of violent acts take place (decapitations included). This is just the tip of the iceberg of things we would never expose a child to in a modern children's book.
I gave it 2 stars because it is a fairly interesting adventure story. But I really don't think modern day children would enjoy it. Or maybe they would... but their parents would not appreciate it.
If there ever was a book that illustrates how children's literature has changed over the last 100 years, this is it. Here is a child sent by his father to buy tobacco at the tobacco shop. He manages to smoke some "strange" tobacco in a jar that looks like a "Chinaman's head". So... he smokes "wacky tobacky" and goes on a trip (hallucinatory) during which all kinds of violent acts take place (decapitations included). This is just the tip of the iceberg of things we would never expose a child to in a modern children's book.
I gave it 2 stars because it is a fairly interesting adventure story. But I really don't think modern day children would enjoy it. Or maybe they would... but their parents would not appreciate it.
October 28, 2024
What the hay bale just happened? This is by far the weirdest Newbery Award/Honor book I've read so far. I'm still not entirely sure what was real and what wasn't. Also, this definitely feels more like a book written for adults than a book for kids. I feel like, especially in the first half, there are so many sly asides that are really only going to be picked up by adults - almost every note about Freddie sounds like one adult talking to another in "adult code" so they know what's going on but I feel like a child wouldn't get.
And it's just a bizarre book with bizarre characters and a bizarre... "plot" - honestly I feel like it's generous to say there's a plot. I'm confused. And more confused why this was chosen for the Newbery Honor.
And it's just a bizarre book with bizarre characters and a bizarre... "plot" - honestly I feel like it's generous to say there's a plot. I'm confused. And more confused why this was chosen for the Newbery Honor.
April 24, 2021
Of course the Newbery chose a book about a five-year old boy and his pipe dream! Of course that's completely appropriate for children!
Freddie is quite pleased to discover some friends in the tobacco shop. He meets them because his totally appropriate father sent him to buy the tobacco and it's totally appropriate to sell it to him. (Disregarding the whole "tobacco" thing, who send a five-year old out shopping alone?!)
Freddie meets Mr. Toby and Aunt Amanda. There is a lovely conversation that Freddie has with Aunt Mary about being married.
"Didn't anybody ever want you?" said he. (Freddie)
"No," said she, "nobody ever wanted me."
Freddie was puzzled. "But you're so nice." said he.
"That ain't enough," said Aunt Amanda.
"What else do you have to be?"
"You have to be pretty."
"Weren't you ever pretty?"
"I thought so, once, but, but, I must have been mistaken. I guess I never was."
Freddie thought it over, and announced his decision seriously.
"I would want you anyway!"
Toby tells young Freddie all about a Chinaman head that holds magical tobacco. Freddie, of course, can't stop thinking about it.
Meanwhile...Freddie also has a birthday, so in another fit of total propriety, his parents let Freddie go off with Toby, a man they've never met, for a treat at the theater.
Later, Toby leaves Freddie in charge of the shop. Makes perfect sense!!! I don't know about you, but I find five-year olds to be highly mature and responsible individuals. (FYI: Spoilers ahead! Beware!)
As you can imagine, Freddie has one thing swimming in his mind - THE CHINAMAN! Freddie does what most kids do, breaks the rules, and sneaks a whiff of ye olde tobacco.
Now, here's where you can take two ganders at the story. You can pretend that Freddie goes on an actual, fantastical trip with magical tobacco, or you can say that Freddie goes on a "trip." (If you know what I'm saying.) I go with option 2.
The Chinaman tobacco creates a fog that brings forth Lemuel Mizzen (sorry if I'm getting these names wrong!) who says that he will take Freddie and friends to the island of corrections, where everything that is wrong will be corrected - Amanda's bad leg, want of money, etc.
Freddie, Toby, and Amanda all go as well as some characters that have sprung to life from Toby's stories, Mr. Punch, whose father steals children or something, an old codger who always needs tobacco and a sly codger who never shares his tobacco. There is also a church warden with a magic Odour that can dispel all kinds of things. Oh oh! And the mime from the theater, Mr. Harlon.
All board!
They make their way through the fog to the ship which is called The Sieve. You have to keep bailing it out in the bottom with ladles. Also, everyone is captain or first mate. Here's where the story got a bit psycho evil. The cabin boy kills everyone by ruining the ship and stealing all the ladles. I really thought that cabin boy was totally evil and creepy. He was a sadistic little monster. I suppose in a children's book from the 1920s about a tobacco trip, it's only to be expected.
Freddie's bonny party escapes on a bunch of mattresses lashed together. They get stuck on the back of a giant whale and ride like the wind to a cave full of treasure. Through all of these adventures Aunt Amanda keeps wishing for some sewing.
Unfortunately the treasure is the hoard of a notorious pirate crew run by Captain Lingo. He would kill them right there but it would be too difficult to clean up, so they head up top and draw straws to see who the lucky devil is that gets murdered first. It's Mr. Harlon which turns out to be fortunate because he has a talent of getting his chopped off head back to his body.
This makes Captain Lingo very very angry. He isn't sure what to do so he has to head to High Dudgeon.
"We are going to High Dudgeon."
"High Dudgeon! What's that?"
"S-sh! When we're disappointed, or disgusted, or vexed, we always go to our home in High Dudgeon."
I found this little conversation highly entertaining. I also just love that phrase "high dudgeon."
A lot of nonsense happens, and thanks to Aunt Amanda's kindness to one of the pirates, they get away. They run into a committee who studies pirates and learn that these pirates are actually ghosts. Good thing the church warden has his Odour!
Come to find out the crew has been on Correction Island the whole time! Surprise, surprise! And now comes the real plot twist, you ready for this?
They belonged there the whole time! They had been cursed and forgotten their true pasts, but now they know who they are and everything is hunky dory....or is it?
I'll leave you there, wondering how it could all possibly end. I know the suspense will be horrible and you'll have to go read this book yourself just to figure out what really happens.
Freddie is quite pleased to discover some friends in the tobacco shop. He meets them because his totally appropriate father sent him to buy the tobacco and it's totally appropriate to sell it to him. (Disregarding the whole "tobacco" thing, who send a five-year old out shopping alone?!)
Freddie meets Mr. Toby and Aunt Amanda. There is a lovely conversation that Freddie has with Aunt Mary about being married.
"Didn't anybody ever want you?" said he. (Freddie)
"No," said she, "nobody ever wanted me."
Freddie was puzzled. "But you're so nice." said he.
"That ain't enough," said Aunt Amanda.
"What else do you have to be?"
"You have to be pretty."
"Weren't you ever pretty?"
"I thought so, once, but, but, I must have been mistaken. I guess I never was."
Freddie thought it over, and announced his decision seriously.
"I would want you anyway!"
Toby tells young Freddie all about a Chinaman head that holds magical tobacco. Freddie, of course, can't stop thinking about it.
Meanwhile...Freddie also has a birthday, so in another fit of total propriety, his parents let Freddie go off with Toby, a man they've never met, for a treat at the theater.
Later, Toby leaves Freddie in charge of the shop. Makes perfect sense!!! I don't know about you, but I find five-year olds to be highly mature and responsible individuals. (FYI: Spoilers ahead! Beware!)
As you can imagine, Freddie has one thing swimming in his mind - THE CHINAMAN! Freddie does what most kids do, breaks the rules, and sneaks a whiff of ye olde tobacco.
Now, here's where you can take two ganders at the story. You can pretend that Freddie goes on an actual, fantastical trip with magical tobacco, or you can say that Freddie goes on a "trip." (If you know what I'm saying.) I go with option 2.
The Chinaman tobacco creates a fog that brings forth Lemuel Mizzen (sorry if I'm getting these names wrong!) who says that he will take Freddie and friends to the island of corrections, where everything that is wrong will be corrected - Amanda's bad leg, want of money, etc.
Freddie, Toby, and Amanda all go as well as some characters that have sprung to life from Toby's stories, Mr. Punch, whose father steals children or something, an old codger who always needs tobacco and a sly codger who never shares his tobacco. There is also a church warden with a magic Odour that can dispel all kinds of things. Oh oh! And the mime from the theater, Mr. Harlon.
All board!
They make their way through the fog to the ship which is called The Sieve. You have to keep bailing it out in the bottom with ladles. Also, everyone is captain or first mate. Here's where the story got a bit psycho evil. The cabin boy kills everyone by ruining the ship and stealing all the ladles. I really thought that cabin boy was totally evil and creepy. He was a sadistic little monster. I suppose in a children's book from the 1920s about a tobacco trip, it's only to be expected.
Freddie's bonny party escapes on a bunch of mattresses lashed together. They get stuck on the back of a giant whale and ride like the wind to a cave full of treasure. Through all of these adventures Aunt Amanda keeps wishing for some sewing.
Unfortunately the treasure is the hoard of a notorious pirate crew run by Captain Lingo. He would kill them right there but it would be too difficult to clean up, so they head up top and draw straws to see who the lucky devil is that gets murdered first. It's Mr. Harlon which turns out to be fortunate because he has a talent of getting his chopped off head back to his body.
This makes Captain Lingo very very angry. He isn't sure what to do so he has to head to High Dudgeon.
"We are going to High Dudgeon."
"High Dudgeon! What's that?"
"S-sh! When we're disappointed, or disgusted, or vexed, we always go to our home in High Dudgeon."
I found this little conversation highly entertaining. I also just love that phrase "high dudgeon."
A lot of nonsense happens, and thanks to Aunt Amanda's kindness to one of the pirates, they get away. They run into a committee who studies pirates and learn that these pirates are actually ghosts. Good thing the church warden has his Odour!
Come to find out the crew has been on Correction Island the whole time! Surprise, surprise! And now comes the real plot twist, you ready for this?
They belonged there the whole time! They had been cursed and forgotten their true pasts, but now they know who they are and everything is hunky dory....or is it?
I'll leave you there, wondering how it could all possibly end. I know the suspense will be horrible and you'll have to go read this book yourself just to figure out what really happens.
June 12, 2021
This is one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. It was a runner up to the Newbery, so it’s supposed to be a children’s book. While I could see that a child might like the high fantasy and swashbuckling parts of the book, it’s pretty dark in places. It’s obvious to see that what was once acceptable to talk about casually with children is no longer the case, ie: smoking tobacco and others (don’t want to spoil)
I finished the book, but not one I would ever read again. It just seemed all over the place and I just didn’t enjoy it.
I finished the book, but not one I would ever read again. It just seemed all over the place and I just didn’t enjoy it.
May 25, 2019
Dated but still interesting. See http://www.eatreadandbemommy.com/2019... for details!
February 9, 2023
I honestly don’t understand how this is a Newberry honor. I understand it’s a cautionary tale… but this was just so bizarre from beginning to end.
September 26, 2023
Didn't really feel like it should have been a Newbery nominee.
Want to Read
May 22, 20251922 Newbery honor book
February 11, 2025
The Old Tobacco Shop by William Bowen: a six year old boy disobeys, smokes “special tobacco” from a jar shaped like a china-man’s head and trips for several days dreaming of an ironically moral fantastical adventure. Nuff said … 🤦🏼♀️I really don’t understand this time period of children’s literature 😆
February 17, 2017
I had a hard time knowing how to rate this book -- it was another one I wanted to rate 2.5 stars. When it first started out, I (judging from my 21st Century mentality) had a hard time with the fact that towards the beginning of the book, a little boy was smoking. I know in the 1920s they didn't know as much about the effects of smoking, but I still didn't like it. I was also thinking that it was just going to turn out to be some kind of a hallucination because of the smoking, and I really didn't like that. When it seemed part way through that it was turning into more of a fairy-tale, I started to like it a lot more, and I was debating about a 3 star rating. However, at the very end of the book, I got a little confused. There were some things that didn't get explained and I just wasn't sure how I felt about the ending. Since the ending of the book can make or break the story for me, I went with 2 stars. I was surprised that it received a Newbery Honor award. It wasn't nearly as bad as the winner in 1922, but I still didn't think it was worth an award...
July 28, 2022
Freddie goes to the tobacco shop for his father and meets Toby and Aunt Amanda. When Freddie can pronounce his name with the "r" sound, Toby takes him to a sort of circus show where Mr. Hanlon is first introduced.
When Toby asks Freddie to keep an eye on his tobacco shop so he can get a hair cut, Freddie smokes the forbidden tobacco from the Chinaman's head, thus starting a strange adventure where he meets Lemuel Mizzen, who gives him a map to Correction Island. The Churchwarden, the Two Old Codgers, Mr. Punch, Mr. Hanlon, Freddie, Toby, and Aunt Amanda all embark on an adventure on a ship with Lemuel and his crew, but soon their ship begins to sink, and they find themselves on a raft of mattresses banded together. The group goes over a waterfall and finds land - and a mysterious band of pirates.
Captain Lingo orders Ketch to behead them all, starting with Mr. Hanlon, but Mr. Hanlon performs his trick from the beginning of the book of reattaching his head. They are all then led to High Dudgeon (an actual place, not a bad mood), and are aided in escaping by Ketch's mother. They meet the DAFT Committee, lead them to Low Dudgeon, and learn the truth about the pirates.
After the pirates are defeated, the two groups set out in search of a rug-maker named Shiraz. DAFT and Freddie's group part ways when Shiraz's great-great grandson agrees to take Freddie's group to meet Shiraz. The Two Old Codgers depart from the group when them deem Shiraz's price for hour glasses too high. Shiraz tells the remainder of the group they are all under an enchantment and how to break it. Aunt Amanda is really a lost princess, now Queen Miranda, and the others are her attendants.
After living on Correction Island for a while, Freddie and Robert, Miranda's son, explore a mountain and meet a mysterious old man who freezes Freddie. The friends band together to undo the enchantment again, and Freddie wakes up in his bed at home.
The characters in this book are well-developed and at many times humorous. They really make the book.
When Toby asks Freddie to keep an eye on his tobacco shop so he can get a hair cut, Freddie smokes the forbidden tobacco from the Chinaman's head, thus starting a strange adventure where he meets Lemuel Mizzen, who gives him a map to Correction Island. The Churchwarden, the Two Old Codgers, Mr. Punch, Mr. Hanlon, Freddie, Toby, and Aunt Amanda all embark on an adventure on a ship with Lemuel and his crew, but soon their ship begins to sink, and they find themselves on a raft of mattresses banded together. The group goes over a waterfall and finds land - and a mysterious band of pirates.
Captain Lingo orders Ketch to behead them all, starting with Mr. Hanlon, but Mr. Hanlon performs his trick from the beginning of the book of reattaching his head. They are all then led to High Dudgeon (an actual place, not a bad mood), and are aided in escaping by Ketch's mother. They meet the DAFT Committee, lead them to Low Dudgeon, and learn the truth about the pirates.
After the pirates are defeated, the two groups set out in search of a rug-maker named Shiraz. DAFT and Freddie's group part ways when Shiraz's great-great grandson agrees to take Freddie's group to meet Shiraz. The Two Old Codgers depart from the group when them deem Shiraz's price for hour glasses too high. Shiraz tells the remainder of the group they are all under an enchantment and how to break it. Aunt Amanda is really a lost princess, now Queen Miranda, and the others are her attendants.
After living on Correction Island for a while, Freddie and Robert, Miranda's son, explore a mountain and meet a mysterious old man who freezes Freddie. The friends band together to undo the enchantment again, and Freddie wakes up in his bed at home.
The characters in this book are well-developed and at many times humorous. They really make the book.
September 7, 2017
What a trip. It starts off a little dull, but amusing, because there’s expert-level trolling of a young child. (It’s funny, and I imagine it would go over the heads of little kids. Was that the author’s intent?) Then the little boy does some heavy drugs, and everybody starts hardcore tripping. (I did expect it to be a “it was all a dream” ploy, and that is irritating. But I believe it can interpreted both ways. At the end of the book the dad basically says, “boy, if you’re going to be gone for six months at a time, maybe you shouldn’t be going back to that shop.” Good stuff. Vague enough so can believe everything happened exactly as described if you want to.)
So, yes, it had its unexpected, fantastic quirks. I think my favorite was how our heroes were doing battle with bloodthirsty pirates and groups of scholars for the Institute of Piratical Research (?) were pitching a fit because they wouldn’t have any specimens left for their exhibits. However, the crux of the book seems to be relying on people’s desires to change their flaws, and kind of showcases that as a positive. The ugly single aunt gets to be beautiful with children, the hunchback gets a straight back, the dumb-witted fool gets intelligence, etc. And they only agree to give up their gifts (with reluctance) because one member gets sick, and that’s the only way to save him.
Ultimately, the point of their whole endeavor is to “be normal”, and the book kind of teaches that’s the best way to be. (I got irked with how often it was mention that it’s such a shame the aunt is so nice, but so ugly -therefore she could never be married.) In my opinion, the author needed to keep up with his whimsy and retool the final theme a bit.
So if that were changed, I’d recommend this book quite highly just for its sneaky wit.
So, yes, it had its unexpected, fantastic quirks. I think my favorite was how our heroes were doing battle with bloodthirsty pirates and groups of scholars for the Institute of Piratical Research (?) were pitching a fit because they wouldn’t have any specimens left for their exhibits. However, the crux of the book seems to be relying on people’s desires to change their flaws, and kind of showcases that as a positive. The ugly single aunt gets to be beautiful with children, the hunchback gets a straight back, the dumb-witted fool gets intelligence, etc. And they only agree to give up their gifts (with reluctance) because one member gets sick, and that’s the only way to save him.
Ultimately, the point of their whole endeavor is to “be normal”, and the book kind of teaches that’s the best way to be. (I got irked with how often it was mention that it’s such a shame the aunt is so nice, but so ugly -therefore she could never be married.) In my opinion, the author needed to keep up with his whimsy and retool the final theme a bit.
So if that were changed, I’d recommend this book quite highly just for its sneaky wit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2016
This is a 1922 Newbery Honor Book.
The story is billed as being styled after Dickens. Only two words, lifted from Oliver Twist, made me think of Charles Dickens: "Please, sir," said Freddie....
The narration of the story reminded me of Lewis Carroll and the literary-nonsense genre, which isn't one of my favorite genres so I may be biased in my dislike of the story.
Verbose descriptions ramble on and on and on...
The rambling prose shows Freddy's youth to readers and was used to incorporate multiple puns but I found it irritating and I probably missed several of those puns because I skimmed through the needless detail. I just wanted to be done with this book - that feeling hit during the first three chapters and grew as I continued to read.
This book also exposes kids to new vocabulary - and the exposure is intended, not happenstance because of language evolution between then and now. I imagine that this book was probably once billed as a fun and easy learning tool for parents/teachers to use with children, but I don't know if I could sit through another re-reading (or, as a teacher, through multiple readings) of this book. I wouldn't be able to give the lesson the full-attention that a child deserves.
The story is billed as being styled after Dickens. Only two words, lifted from Oliver Twist, made me think of Charles Dickens: "Please, sir," said Freddie....
The narration of the story reminded me of Lewis Carroll and the literary-nonsense genre, which isn't one of my favorite genres so I may be biased in my dislike of the story.
Verbose descriptions ramble on and on and on...
The rambling prose shows Freddy's youth to readers and was used to incorporate multiple puns but I found it irritating and I probably missed several of those puns because I skimmed through the needless detail. I just wanted to be done with this book - that feeling hit during the first three chapters and grew as I continued to read.
This book also exposes kids to new vocabulary - and the exposure is intended, not happenstance because of language evolution between then and now. I imagine that this book was probably once billed as a fun and easy learning tool for parents/teachers to use with children, but I don't know if I could sit through another re-reading (or, as a teacher, through multiple readings) of this book. I wouldn't be able to give the lesson the full-attention that a child deserves.
May 31, 2009
This is an interesting adventure story that I never would have read if it hadn't won a Newbery honor in 1922, the first year Newbery awards were given. Because of the way the adventure started, with magic smoking tobacco, I thought it was going to end in the classic (and usually disappointing) "it was all a dream" ending. Worrying about the ending ruined some of my enjoyment in the adventure while I was reading. I kept wondering if I was going to regret taking the time to read this if it all turned out to be only a dream anyhow. I liked the story more and more as it went on, though. I particularly enjoyed the tale of Princess Miranda in the City of Towers and the subsequent involvement of our adventurers in that tale. And I wasn't at all disappointed with the ending.
February 26, 2014
To me this book seemed like a bunch of people around a campfire telling a story. Every chapter the next person wanted to change the story, so it became something different. Yeah, things that were clearly important at the beginning of the book had absolutely no relevance sometimes only pages later. And yes, it seemed like there were competing directions the book should take. I also foresaw the ending quite clearly. The kid was sick and had a dream. Shocker.
However, the book did hold my attention, so 3 stars it is.
However, the book did hold my attention, so 3 stars it is.
November 6, 2010
I now have TWO, yes, TWO best books I've ever read! This one and the Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. Both of these books were published long befor the 90's. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the "old timey" language they use, or maybe it just the sheer joy of adventure; I don't mean the type that's in the Hunger Games, or Harry Potter, or The Lightning Thief. Whatever it is, it's irresistible and I LOVE it! I rate this book 7 out of 5 stars! It's at the top of my recommendations!
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