Jean Merrill died August 2nd.

She was 89. I didn't realize that until just now, when I was Googling The Pushcart War which I just started re-reading for the first time in 30 years.

Sigh.

Context is for the weak

"I think the problem here is that despite some fairly well documented problematic aspects of Leni Riefenstahl’s career decisions, people agree she had talent. I have not seen that hypothesis submitted regarding Foyt."

Pushcart War Notes

Still holding up as a nice satire of city politics, but I can see why modern kids might avoid it. Definitely a bit dry in the prose department for the Short Attention Span set.

One thing that caught my attention was the character of Mr. Jerusalem, one of the pushcart vendors. He's described as "...already an old man. No one knew how old." He also doesn't have a home technically, choosing to camp out wherever he parks his cart, sleeping under a tarp and cooking his meals on a portable stove.

Am I reading too much into this to think Judith Jean Merrill snuck The Wandering Jew into a YA novel?