The Melendy children, fifteen year old Mona, fourteen year old Rush, twelve year old Miranda (Randy), and seven and three quarters year old Oliver, live with their father, their housekeeper Cuffy, and their gardner/handyman Willy Sloper, in The Four Story Mistake, an old house in the countryside near the villages of Braxton and Carthage, NY. Mr. Melendy, a widowed professor of economics, has been hired by the government for a secret, World War II related job, and must go off to Washington. Mona likes the theater. Rush is a musician. Randy is into ballet. And Oliver is fascinated with nature. As summer begins, the children, having moved from their city brownstone the previous fall, venture into their new neighborhood with the intention of helping their country. They end up making new friends, such as the Addison children, Mr. Jasper Titus, and especially Mark Herron, a boy about Rush's age, while collecting scrap metal. Mark is under the care of his abusive adult cousin Oren Meeker, who has some rather unsavory associates. Then Cuffy is called away to care for a sick cousin. Next there is a fire at the Meeker farm, and Oren is missing. Is there anything that the Melendys can do to help? What will happen to Mark? I first became acquainted with the works of Elizabeth Enright through her Newbery Medal winner Thimble Summer, and then her Newbery Honor book Gone-Away Lake, both of which I really enjoyed, so I speedily picked up Then There Were Five at a used book sale. The book is actually the third of the “Melendy Family Quartet,” four books about the Melendys. Just a good, old-fashioned, fun read about a loving family and children who use their imagination, it is preceded by The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake, and followed by Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. It has been described as the “story of a long and glorious summer in the country with the Melendy family.” Aside from one reference to smoking a pipe, the most annoying thing about the book, something that others noticed in their reviews too, is the seemingly inordinate amount of euphemisms ( such as gosh, gee, blamed, golly, heck, darned, confounded, by gum--someone called them “objectionable slang and replacement-swear words;” Mr. Melendy even uses the term “O Lord” once as an interjection). Otherwise, there is little objectionable. However, this is not just a “nice story” about some “cute kids.” There is real conflict—an abusive guardian, a fire, even a death. However, there is also a lot of good-natured humor, and in the end everything comes out right. In addition, Enright educates her readers as she entertains them. Thanks to Mark's talent for natural history, we learn about the Perseid meteor shower that comes every August and the poisonous amanita mushroom. And the scene with the social worker is priceless, especially to anyone who has ever adopted or tried to adopt children.
This story is a charming, nostalgic trip to a simpler time, when kids explored the outdoors, swam in swimming holes, searched for Indian arrowheads, and fished for jumbo catfish. A livestock auction and homemade fair with a variety show of local talent provided enough excitement for weeks. As a young teen, I learned about the Perseid meteor shower every August from reading this book. Luna moths and monarch butterflies inhabit its pages.This middle grade novel was first published in 1944, and WWII provides the backdrop for the story of the four Melendy children, Mona, Rush, Miranda (Randy) and Oliver, ages 15 to 7. The war is in the background, but there are reminders of it with metal scrap drives, rationing, and mock airplane battles, as well as the absence of the children's widowed father, who spends most of his time away helping with the war effort. So the children (with the help of a housekeeper and a handyman), are mostly on their own for the summer. Among other things, they befriend a local orphaned teenager, Mark, who has been living with his neglectful and abusive second cousin.There are a few sobering notes to this tale, mostly involving the nasty cousin Oren and his low-class friends, but for the most part this is an enjoyable, old-fashioned tale of a halcyon summer. There are also some delightful humorous moments:As [Randy] swam she encountered an occasional floating leaf; an occasional struggling fly or beetle. Each fly or beetle she rescued and set upon a leaf boat to dry his soaked wings and legs. It gave her a feeling of virtue. She could imagine all heaven looking down upon her and approving. Notice Miranda Melendy; she is a kind, generous girl. She ought to be rewarded. She swam back again with a smile of sweet unselfishness; a misty radiance about her bathing-capped head."Why do you swim with your head way out like that?" inquired Rush. "And why are you grinning that goonish way?"Randy grabbed her brother's ankle and yanked him in again. Naturally Rush dunked her. Naturally she dunked Rush. Heaven ceased to contemplate Miranda Melendy and went about its business, and Randy's halo fell off and was lost in thirty feet of water.I fell in love with this book as a teenager, and it holds up well with adult rereading. It reminds me of Anne of Green Gables or maybe The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. This is actually the third book in a series, but it's by far my favorite. Read the others, beginning with The Saturdays, if you really like old-fashioned YA stories. But I think this one works fine as a stand-alone story, and it really is delightful. Find a copy with the author's charming original illustrations.
What do You think about Then There Were Five (2002)?
Then There Were Five is probably the darkest of Enright’s Melendy series due to Mark’s situation, but it still has tons of happy feelings, lightheartedness, and fun amid the seriousness. The dark material is dealt with quite well and carefully for a children’s book, and things that may be treated with more detail in YA and adult novels are glossed over or implied rather than directly stated. It’s a good way to show different family situations without either ruining or romanticizing the Melendy family dynamic.My favorite part of the book is Mona and Randy’s canning adventure and the fair the children (the children! Not the adults) put on. I love reading about children actively doing creative things like fairs and plays and so on. I also love, once again, the adventures and the exploring that goes on. These children could roam the woods and go to strangers’ houses by themselves. Nowadays, you can’t even send your nine-year-old to the playground without getting arrested.But the book seems to go on forever when you hit the last three chapters or so. I found myself wondering when it was going to end. The last chapter could have probably been completely cut without much detriment, especially since the previous two chapters already explored the theme of the last (Mark’s obtaining a family).Overall, Then There Were Five is probably my least favorite Melendy book, which is to say that I like it the least of the four. It's still a great book on its own, though. It drags a little bit at the end, but the rest of it is the same old Melendy shenanigans. The additional, slightly dark material that Enright introduces also makes it a much more mature novel than the others.
—Elizabeth
Although written 70 years ago, this story of the four Melendy siblings' summer adventures in the countryside captivated my girls. Several elements were so old fashioned that I could only describe them by hearsay (telephone operators that connected and listened in on calls, horse and carriage rides, war rations), but the story of the siblings embarking on summer projects, befriending a boy with an abusive cousin, and figuring out the meaning of courage and friendship was timeless. I liked the old-fashioned touches that reminded me of a more innocent era (for example, the extent of the swear words are "Jeepers!" and "Golly!"). The girls loved this so much we are now going back to the beginning of the series and listening to the rest of the books. (This reviews the audio book)
—Sylvia
"The Saturdays" is the first in the series, followed by "The Four Story Mistake." I hope you like them if you try them! (And no worries if you're behind--we are starting harvest today, so things are rather busy here too!)
—Qt
