Another excellent read from Ralph Moody. I think I liked this one more than Fields of Home and very nearly as much as Man of the Family--largely because the Moodys are once again trying to make a living at odd jobs in a new situation. Ralph exercises his ingenuity and incredible work ethic, his mother works to provide for her family while also protecting their education and childhood. I think I particularly like the way his sister Grace is portrayed. As a girl, she doesn't have the same ability to get the jobs Ralph gets, but she seems to be every bit and bright and hard-working as he is, and she gets her own sort of odd jobs and helps tackle family projects with gusto and creativity to match Ralph's. Although she doesn't get to go to school (education being less important for girls) she is presented as Ralph's equal, and they work well together. In Little Britches, Ralph excelled at everything he tried and he was lauded by everyone he met. In this book, as in Man of the Family, he has to overcome obstacles to provide for the family, and his incredible talent, rather than being superfluous and suspect, is necessary--without it, the family might not have made it.Here, too, Ralph encounters a new kind of injustice, in the form of a school teacher who has it out for him from the first. The teacher gets him into trouble with the law on more than one occasion, and for actions that were accidental or justifiable. Yet he bears the injustice with good grace--he addresses the police officer respectfully and answers honestly (in fact, it seems that the police officer ends up liking and respecting him in the end). He doesn't talk back to the teacher or complain about the injustice done him. He just buckles down and tries to stay out of trouble. In our current climate of whining and complaining about fairness and rights, his submission to authority is an excellent example. All in all, this continues to be an excellent series--entertaining to be sure, but also convicting. The Moodys set a compelling example for children. If and when I have my own kids one day, I fully intend to read them this series. Hopefully they like it as much as I do.
Jan 1912 Bedford Massachussetts. Mary Emma, widowed in Colorado, shares six children in rooms of brother Frank, wife Hilda, and two toddlers. When classmate Al ducks in a fight, narrator Ralph 13 instead punches principal, who reports the boy to police. Cop Watson strokes his thick white mustache sympathetically, but another fight, though provoked by others, plus an accidental high step into the backside of girl in line, land Ralph in the official black book three times "no livin' way to get it unwrote" p 167. First day, Ralph lands a job at Mr Haushalter's nearby grocery store, learns to ride bicycle for deliveries. The kindly boss drops words in the right ears for rental and furnishing. A large house in a good neighborhood needs cleaning; tricky ceiling needs wallpaper gluing; ancient sooty furnace needs repairing, and antique walnut furniture comes from a funeral connection. A big basement room suits starting up a fine laundering business. For fun, even Gracie 15 dares sledding fast around clay pit. "I would not, for all the world, have any one of you children grow up to feel that you were less than equal in every way to any other human being who walks the face of the earth" p 97 says Mother. "Of course Philip wanted to know why I was so late, but I just told him that some boy messed things up when we were forming our lines to march out of school. There wasn't any sense in telling him that I was the one" p 194. Sweet, warm, inspiring, innocent. Whether in fun or serious, shaded full and half- page images show people in action. Brave, hard-working Moody family are a treat to be around. We can learn about early 1900s. Girls got May baskets from admirers. Gracie makes one for little Philip to label "To Mary Emma From her best lover" p 233.
What do You think about Mary Emma & Company (1994)?
The fifth book in Moody's autobiographical series is the lightest one yet. The family has moved back east, and needs to make a living- not unlike what they needed to do in Colorado. This time, though, it's a tad more uneventful- and the illustrative stories are just a bit weak. I found the parts about Ralph getting his name written down in the "bad boy book" by the police to be interesting, and I wonder how his memory colored that- was there, in fact, such a book, and if so, could it have been so unfair? There were warm and wonderful passages, of course- but this book could have been twice as long and I would have liked more analysis of their situation and less sledding. On its own, it would probably be a 4 star book, but as part of the series, I'm knocking it down one by comparison.
—Melody
(Read-aloud)We love reading of the adventures of the now beloved-to-us Moody family, narrated by the young Ralph (11yo). These are excellent read-alouds, all of them (and especially for boys, I think). Ralph is a hard-working, inventive boy, respectful of authority. He acts out of a clear knowledge of right and wrong. I can't recommend this series enough.Mary Emma (Ralph's mother) comes to the forefront in this book, but the story is still told through Ralph's eyes and in his words. Some new characters were introduced in this book, too- (our favorite being Uncle Levi ("By hub!")). We all laugh out loud at Ralph's descriptions and the kids are always asking daddy to read just a little more.
—Stacy
My bookmobile librarian recommended this book to me. I was happy to see that it would help me reach my non-fiction goal for the year. I've mentioned it before, but I'll admit once again that I struggle with non-fiction. It makes me think of textbooks, and I don't recall any textbooks that I enjoyed reading.But, Mary Emma and Company did not read like a textbook. It is part of Ralph Moody's autobiographical works. When I first started the book, I kept wondering if it was really fiction, because it read like a novel. This period of Ralph's life was very interesting. Almost two years his father died, his mother and his five siblings moved from their home in Colorado to Medford, Massachusetts. This was in 1912, and life during that time was very interesting to read about. Ralph's mom and his older sister, Grace, decided they'd support the family laundering fine garments. Ralph worked at a grocery store and his income ($1.50/week) went to help support the family.His family was very close and very strong. They all did their part to help and were hard workers.
—Andrea
