THE LITTLE WARRANTY PEOPLE
by Eduard Uspensky & translated by Nina Ignatowicz & illustrated by Vladimir Shpitalnik
Ever wonder why the vacuum breaks down just when the warranty runs out? The author of Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat (1993) offers an offbeat explanation: a little person lives in each appliance to maintain it but moves out on the expiration date. Unfortunately, with the exception of a recalcitrant cuckoo who gets lost early on, these promising personalities suffer from mechanical development. Some tension is generated by the trapping efforts of Tanya, a child in the home where the warranty people are marking time; but any clever twists are unraveled without much emotion. A conflict between the warranty people and the resident mice, which might have driven the book, breaks down more often than an unreliable car. With roughly shifting viewpoints and a stalling plot, this tongue-in-cheek poke at Russian politics is one offering on which the warranty has lapsed. (Fiction. 8-10)