I did like this, but I feel like I should have been more excited about it than I was. I love that Mary steps up, but I wish it didn't have to be because her brothers are dumb (which is the implication, since they're "brawny" and she is described as brainy in contrast to them). And there's the tall, thin one and the short, fat one—but of course Mary is medium-height and slender. Just an awful lot of cliches for a story about defying expectations.

This feminist fable, as the jacket copy describes it, has the comforting narrative flow of an oft-told fairy tale. A tricky riddle must be solved. events happen in threes, and the heroine comes up with a satisfying solution. A nice one for reading aloud. Add to collections where stories with strong female characters are sought. ( )

A cute little fable with a feminist message: it takes brains to run a farm, not brawn. Of course, Mary, the girl in the house who could never run a farm because she's a girl, wins some cute little challenge because she's smarter than her brothers and thus inherits the farm. It's like all of the Emperor Ping stories, but simpler & shorter.

As you can see, I'm hanging out in the library to cool off! ( )

I've always thought it paid to be smart and that's exactly what Mary thought too even though she was from a long time ago in the golden, olden days! ( )