the four story mistake elizabeth enright

'Oh, stop being whimsical,' snapped Rush.' ''That suitcase looks as if it were laughing out loud,' Randy said. I can especially identify with Randy's joy in finding out that her new bedroom has a window seat, where she can 'curl up and read, just like a girl in a bookplate.' Here's an example of the dialog from Chapter One: Randy, the younger Melendy daughter, is my favorite (and one of my cool girls) but the rest of the family is lovable, too. She shares characters who feel like real people. She offers paragraph after paragraph filled with dead-on little truths and humorous moments. The other thing that strikes me on re-reading The Four-Story Mistake is Elizabeth Enright's wonderful writing. One of the things I like best about Elizabeth Enright's books is that she knows what kids will find fun and cool, and she sprinkles her books liberally with the right stuff: caves and hollow trees, a window-lined cupola on the roof, brooks, ice skates, secret rooms, picnics, and tree-houses, to name a few highlights. I believe that I mentioned this in my Saturdays review. But the house, and the 30 acre grounds, and the local village, prove to be paradise for kids.

Times are a bit tough, because World War II is going on, and they don't have a lot of money. In this installment, the Melendy family (Mona, Rush, Randy, Oliver, Father, Cuffy, Willy Sloper, and dog Isaac) move from New York to a big house in the country called the Four-Story Mistake. This is Enright's second book in the Melendy family quartet, after The Saturdays (which I reviewed here). By way of self-indulgence, I decided to continue the 48 Hour Book Challenge by re-reading an old favorite: The Four-Story Mistake, by Elizabeth Enright.

The four story mistake elizabeth enright