Synopsis
The lovable heroine of Saving Sweetness is back, and she's spunkier than ever! Fed up with the kindhearted sheriff's bumbling attempts to make a home for them, Sweetness and the other orphans decide that it's time to find the sheriff a wife. And when a mysterious letter arrives one day, Sweetness thinks it might hold the solution to their problems. Only problem is, none of them can read the letter to find out! So once again, it's up to Sweetness to save the day. With a rollicking rhythm and hilarious illustrations that capture the spirit of story, this is a sequel that's just as satisfying as the first book.
Horn Book Magazine
"Long as I got a biscuit, they got half." When it comes to raising the eight orphans he rescued (with more than a li'l help from Sweetness) from the evil Mrs. Sump, the sheriff clearly has his heart in the right place. Even if his homemaking skills are a little shaky: "Timmy's pants had a great big tear in 'em and I forgot to buy tape three days runnin'." He's also liable to rustle up tuna fish soup or spaghetti with peanut butter for dinner. And he can't read, neither, which poses a particular problem when a letter arrives for him. But a covert raid on literacy skills by Sweetness brings home contentment-not to mention an improvement on the sheriff's cooking. This sequel to Saving Sweetness (rev. 9/96) answers Diane Stanley's pitch-perfect narrative drawl with G. Brian Karas's homespun-on-the-range pictures, a cozy m,lange of media that warms the comedy with affection. The round-headed, dot-eyed characters have the aplomb of children's drawing, but there's plenty of sophistication in the dramatic placement of the figures and the effective page-turns; funny details, such as the tied-back trousers that serve as window treatments, reward close attention.