I thought going into this that I'd have a good idea on what I was getting into. Even if it was his first book, E.B. White had outdone himself as an author multiple times over! How bad could his debut novel be??

Well.. I wouldn't call it 'bad' so much as I'd call it 'unfinished'.

It's especially interesting since the writing itself already reflects White's style, especially with the first half of the book. The beginning vignettes with Stuart living with the Littles in New York seem like the most finished parts of the book, and it's when Stuart leaves his family that things start getting especially weird.

It's almost as if White wanted to tell a kind of experimental slice of life style that never got halfway through. By the end of the book we not only get left hanging on whether or not Stuart will ever find Margelo again, but we also have that bitter draft of never really hearing from his family again either.

There's also this really bizarre scene where Stuart attempts to impress an eight-inch human girl named Harriet. He fails, and then never sees her again. I don't know what reaction White wants us to have from this, especially since we never really get know Harriet and it seems like Stuart's letter to her was more on a whim than anything else.

So why would I rate this three stars if the book itself is such an unfinished mess? I guess it's just one of those guilty pleasures for me. The book's story is all over the place, but I still can't help liking it a bit. I think it's a combination of finding a lot of appeal in the ideas it tries to play with along with the pleasant illustrations. It's also got an overall melancholy vibe to it that's often so rare in children's lit. That's all entirely personal on my part though, so I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but those who are interested in White's work as a whole.