Popcorn at the Palace

Children's Literature - Carolyn Mott Ford

The folks in the pioneer town of Galesburg, Illinois frowned upon the antics of the Ferris family. Olmsted Ferris was always planting unusual crops or dreaming up newfangled inventions and he got all sorts of outlandish ideas from the books and magazines he read. The neighbors read only the bible. Maisie was like her father and from her reading she developed a fascination with the English royal family. This story of Olmsted and Maisie traveling across the ocean to sell popcorn to the English is illustrated in watercolors by the author and is loosely based on the adventures of the Ferris family. Olmsted did try to sell popcorn in England and, although the venture was not a business success, he did return home with a treasure for Maisie - a doll from the Queen of England herself.

Kirkus Reviews

McCully (Starring Mirette and Bellini, p. 559) bases this tale on a piece of history from her own hometown, Galesburg, Illinois, and one of its innovative founders, Olmsted Ferris, who experimented with unusual crops. When Olmsted learned that popcorn was unknown in Europe, he took a shipment of it to London and obtained an audience with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to demonstrate this wonder. Victoria gave Olmsted a doll for his young daughter, which was passed down through the family for generations. McCully fleshes out this historical account and tells it from the perspective of Olmsted's daughter (here called Maisie), imagining that the idea of exporting popcorn originated with her and having her accompany her father to London and to Victoria's court. The Ferrises are portrayed as energetic non-conformists, looked at askance by their staid neighbors before their trip to England, and lionized upon their return. What readers will remember is the pioneer spirit behind this appealing tale and a spunky girlreal or notat its center.