Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War is a satirical look at war through the eyes of the major participants. The war in this novel is between pushcart vendors and truck drivers who are battling over the right to use the streets of New York City. Ms. Merrill presents her fictional war as if it were non-fiction in order to show her readers how even a small war has the potential of affecting thousands of lives and how important it is for people to see how wars start so that they may be avoided in the future. This novel is entertaining as well as a learning experience for all who read it, whether they be the young or the young at heart.

The war begins when one mean-spirited truck driver wants to park his truck right where Morris the Florist is selling his flowers. The truck driver, Mack...