Trig

Trig #1

by James R. Silke

A young girl living on a Vermont farm relates the events of the day her uncle brought her a genuine "Junior G-man machine gun."

58 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Trigman's Uncle Fred gives her a genuine "Junior G-man machine gun" one summer day and life won't be the same after she forms a gang of Junior G-men with neighbor boys Bud and Skip. Every time I read this story I laugh out loud.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars -- I heehawed through this story of a young girl named Elizabeth Trigman 'Trig', who lives with her mom and dad on a farm in Vermont. She is an only child, and her two friends are ornery boys named Bud Griffin and Skip Warner. She is definitely not a girly-girl. She wants to be a Yankees catcher like her idol Bill Dickey at the beginning of the story. By the end, however, she wants to be a G-man like Melvin Purvis, "the most fearless / head G-man in the 48 states of the US of A". That is because her mother's brother, her beloved Uncle Fred, brings her a present: a genuine Melvin Purvis official Junior G-man machine gun. And HILARITY ensues. The whole story has shades of A Christmas Story and Ralphie's Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle (BB gun). :P

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a kid and really enjoyed it. It has been so long that I've forgotten most of it but the details that stick out in my mind are how goofy-in-love Trig was for Melvin Purvis, how she mused on whether to nickname him Mel or Pur, and how she wrote a little love poem to him: "Hey darlin sugar lump/You make my heart go thump". Good stuff!

Update: just reread this book, and couldn't find the reference to the little love poem mentioned above- I guess that was in another book, and I was mistakenly attributing it to this one.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favorite, still hilarious. This book is where I learned the word "puny." My copy came from a first grade book fair.