Lucy McLockett

by Phyllis McGinley

Lucy McLockett is a special little girl and beloved by all who know her. When she loses her first tooth, though, everything begins to go wrong!

30 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

McGinley was educated at the University of Southern California and at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. After receiving her diploma in 1927, she taught for a year in Ogden and then at a junior high school in New Rochelle, New York. Once she had begun to establish a reputation for herself as a writer, McGinley gave up teaching and moved to New York City, where she held various jobs. She married Charles Hayden in 1937, and the couple moved to Larchmont, New York. The suburban landscape and culture of her new home was to provide the subject matter of much of McGinley's work.

McGinley was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 1955. She was the first writer to win the Pulitzer for her light verse collection, Times Three: Selected Verse from Three Decades with Seventy New Poems (1960).

In addition to poetry, McGinley wrote essays and children's books, as well as the lyrics for the 1948 musical revue Small Wonder.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at a yard sale because I remembered my mother reading it to me. After reading it, though, I'm not sure she did. It's a strange little story, almost written in free verse. There are Randomly Capitalized Phrases throughout. The illustrations are quite odd, and the story has sort of a mean streak in it, though it does end well.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one, other than I don't ever want to read it again.

[Dayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phyllis McGinley, author, and Helen Stone, illustrator, are together again in this sweet story of Lucy McLockett, who at five NEVER loses anything but when she turns six she seems to lose EVERYTHING. When she loses her mother in the department store, she is distraught until she meets Mr. Repairs who helps her get her head on straight. A lovely tale from the author of The Most Wonderful Doll in the World.

[Mariah Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A childhood favorite.