General Butterfingers

Title: General Butterfingers
Author: John Reynolds Gardiner
Major Themes: Veterans, Soldiers
Synopsis: How can Walter keep the three old veterans from losing their house after the General dies and his mercenary nephew decides to evict them?

When I see books used by Sonlight Curriculum that we don’t have yet, at a decent price, I almost automatically buy them. It’s better yet when the book is one that my younger readers enjoy! My 11-year-old is a competent reader at this point, but he still loves to read simpler books at times, and after he read Stone Fox recently, I mentioned, offhandedly, that we have another by the same author. He picked up General Butterfingers, raced through it, and then asked me to read it aloud because he loved it so much! I found myself enjoying it so much that I read extra one evening so we could find out what happened. 

Walter lived in a little old house where his mother was the housekeeper for three old men who had served in Korea along with General Britt. Because the three men had saved the General’s life, he gave them a home for the rest of their lives. However, he died a few weeks ago, and suddenly his nephew Ralph evicted the three men, their housekeeper, and Walter. What can they do to prevent losing their home? Walter sets out to find a way, but he isn’t nicknamed Butterfingers for nothing! He bumbles through one failed scheme after another, until the day Ralph and a wrecking ball appear at the front door.

This was an exciting book for young readers! General Butterfingers is a chapter book, but very easy to read. Not only did my son race through it, but after I had read several chapters aloud, my 8-year-old daughter admitted that she read ahead and that it “had a good ending.” 

WARNING: Chapter 1: darn, dad-gum-it, darn. Chapter 8: Heck. Chapter 10: darn, by golly. Epilogue: darn.

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