Muggie Maggie

CLEARY, Beverly. Muggie Maggie. Illustrated by Kay Life. NY: Morrow Junior Books [1990]. 8vo, [x] 70pp. Red cloth with spine stamped in gold. Purple endpapers; b&w illustrations throughout. Minute rubbing to lower edge, else a fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket. Signed by the author, Newbery Medalist Beverly Cleary, “Enjoy! ABA 1990.”  

First edition. The charming story of an 8-year-old girl who is struggling to learn how to read and write in cursive. But all her classmates are buzzing about Maggie's refusal to learn, especially after her teacher, Mrs. Leeper, says Maggie's cursive is so sloppy that her name looks like "Muggie." With "Muggie Maggie" ringing in her ears, Maggie absolutely, positively won't back down... until she's appointed class mail messenger. All the letters that Mrs. Leeper sends to the office are in cursive, and Maggie thinks they are written about her. But there's only one way to know for sure...so what's Maggie going to do? The book was apparently signed by Cleary for distribution to the publisher’s guests at a function during the American Bookseller’s Association convention in 1990, the book having been released a week or two before.