Dobry (1935)--Monica Shannon

Well, I sure picked a clunker to begin with. While I didn't hate this book, I found little in it that would be appealing to actual children; it's more like the kind of book that adults find charming and then foist upon children, who would much rather read a story in which something exciting happens. For while Dobry and his grandfather are filled with Zorba-the-Greek-ish zest for living, very little actually happens. They go to the mill to grind flour once, and there's much excitement about a gypsy bear that massages the village men's backs by walking on them (I have questions). And that's about it for action.

My main complaint about this book is that it's billed as being about Bulgarian peasant life, except we learn very little about it, except that the men wear large sashes and everyone's really into that bear.