Hattie Pearl Click Click

Margaret Bunel Edwards writes novels for young adults. She is the author
of Little Stitch and The Ocean Between.

Janey makes up stories, which she loves doing, and tells them to Hattie
Pearl, who rents the spare room in her family’s home. Hattie Pearl is
learning to use the typewriter and as she gets better at it, she types
one of Janey’s stories. That’s when a secret is discovered. Janey
spends all her time on make-believe and no time on learning to read. She
can’t read her own carefully typed story. Hattie Pearl says she’ll
teach her. Each new story is typed and when Janey can read it, she puts
the copy in her folder.

Denny, her small neighbor, believes Janey’s story that his dog turns
into a unicorn at night. Trying to see, he falls and breaks his arm.
Janey gives him her book of stories and reads to him. Denny draws
pictures for the book and when Hattie Pearl moves into her own
apartment, Janey is a writer. Years later, she uses a computer and needs
a password to answer children who send their stories to her. Remembering
the click-click of Hattie Pearl’s typewriter, Janey chooses the
password “Hattie Pearl-click click.”

This imaginative, lighthearted story will appeal to young children and
early readers. The computer references are easily understood, as are the
short how-to instructions on making a loose-leaf book. Large
black-and-white illustrations follow the story, and readers will enjoy
finding in them their favorite characters and creatures. This book is
sure to stimulate a child’s imagination. Recommended.