The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill

Historians have now documented that it was, indeed, the Daffodil Massacre that launched the Pushcart Wars in New York City years ago. When Max drove his Mighty Mammoth truck into the pushcart of Morris the Florist, scattering poor Daffodils everywhere, smashing the cart, and landing Morris head-first into a pickle-barrel, it turned out to be the first salvo of a months-long battle between the pushcart peddlers and the three mighty trucking businesses of New York’s streets.

This rollicking romp of a parody is a classic gem of a book. Readers follow the various battles, plans, and intrigues that finally culminate in a satisfying truce that favors the pushcart peddlers. Only a hard-hearted reader could fail to be cheering for the pushcart peddlers by the end of the war. At the final pages, you can just-about, almost-believe there really is a statue in New York dedicated to the famous pushcart general: General Anna, who personally took out over a hundred huge trucks by hand. (Yes, you’ll have to read the book to understand that.) And you’ll definitely wish that the history museums of New York had actually captured the battle plans and made them available for public reading as the author claims. At least they are available in the book which is also a fun place to read up on this funny, fictional war.

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