Charlie on the M.T.A. Did He ever Return?

Reviewed by: Margy Soule - Coffin Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date:

Review

This picture book has the lyrics of "The MTA", the Kingston Trio's #1 song on the popular charts for 118 week in 1959 and 1960. Watercolor and pen illustrations provide mid century scenes of Boston and add humor to the story of Charlie who is 5 cents short and cannot get off the Boston subway. The author is the daughter of Walter O'Brien, the activist who ran for mayor in Boston in 1949, and this song was his campaign song. The first three pages give the historical context to the song, and the back endpapers provide a detailed and illustrated timeline of Walter O'Brien's life including his birth in Portland in 1914 and his death in 1998 in Cundy's Harbor.

Overall Book Score: very good