Reviews: (by author)

Egan, Tim. A Mile From Ellington Station. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
2001. $15.00 ISBN 0-618-00393-2

Tim Egan, the author/illustrator of A Mile From Ellington Station, has created a picture book for young children that at times is both cute and clever. The story concerns a pair of bears that own "Ellington Lodge." Ruth, the wife, is frustrated at her husband, Preston's, apparent lack of motivation concerning the daily duties of running the lodge because he has been overly wrapped up in a winning streak of checker games. Enter the antagonist: Marley, a well traveled Scottish terrier. Marley is a wonderful story teller, handy-man, and cook. He even plays checkers well, and this, ultimately, is his downfall when he interrupts Preston's winning streak. The story is a parable about being a good loser and the hurtfulness of gossip, based on false accusations, which lead the community toward a mob mentality.

The book does make a good point of stressing the importance of community and getting along with one another. The community in this case consists of bears, dogs, moose, and pigs. However, Egan does not clearly delineate the relationships each has to one another, except of course the married bears, Preston and Ruth. This at times can be frustrating because names are simply bandied back and forth, but we don't really understand how they interrelate. The language is straight forward and simple. The illustrations, which are ink and watercolor on paper, are colorful and bold. Because of the simplicity of language and illustrations, I would only recommend this book for very young readers just starting out on their journeys into the realm of books.

John Fox, October 2003

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