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Summary: I'm glad to see it's back in print
Review: I was introduced to this book because the Air Force sent us to Honduras ["own-doo-rahs"] when I was 7. My parents wanted me to have English-language books, so they enrolled me in the Calling All Girls Book Club. *The Saturdays* was the first book to arrive and I loved it. The Melendys were nice kids (Randy was my favorite because she was the most like me). They had adventures! I was especially enthralled by the story of Mrs. Oliphant being kidnapped by gypsies, but all of the Saturdays were fun. A few months ago, when I was feeling a bit depressed because of an injury, I reread the entire series yet again. It cheered me up. I knew it would. Ann E. Nichols
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Summary: SWEET, FUN, UPLIFTING--I love this family!
Review: I've kept this paperback since I was a kid in the 70's. Everytime I moved, it came and I was never tempted to get rid of it. I knew that one day I would share it with my child and maybe it would mean as much to her as it did to me. The time has come--she's 9 and Saturdays is on her bedside table. I can't say how happy it makes me feel. Can't wait to buy the others for her.
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Summary: What did they do before TV?
Review: I've loved The Saturdays since I was about 8, when I read it for the first time. It wasn't until I was older that I realized: these children had to figure out things for fun, because they didn't have TELEVISION! What a concept! Just look what awesome things they find to do. I'm delighted to share this book, and that added idea, with my son.
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Summary: It's great!!!
Review: It is a rainy day and the four Melendy children are very very bored. Then Randy the youngest girl says "I have an idea"....and from that moment on the great adventure begins! They came up with a club called the I.S.A.A. C. club--and every Saturday each one of them goes on a different adventure. They also get a dog named Isaac. I liked this book because I like fun adventures. I like the thirties. I like snow. And most of all I like New York City.
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Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable family fun
Review: My daughter, age 9 and I both read The Saturdays over the past few months along with Four-Story Mistake. We loved this family and found each character fun. I loved their adventures and wish I had read these books as a child. I recommend this book to anyone who values their child's mind and wants to protect them from the abundance of nonsense in some children's literature.
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Summary: Explaining Dumb Crambo
Review: My original review was written 14 July 1998. This is an addition for readers (and potential readers) who are (or would be) as puzzled as I once was when the book said the Melendy children played a noisy game of "Dumb Crambo". Over 20 years after I first read THE SATURDAYS, I was lucky enough to get a copy of VICTORIAN PARLOUR GAMES by Patrick Beaver that includes it. To paraphrase, in Dumb Crambo, the players are split evenly into two teams. One team leaves the room while the remaining team chooses a verb. When the first team comes back in, the second team tells them another verb that rhymes with the first verb. The first team must guess the secret verb by acting it out. For example [not the one given], if the secret verb is "fly", the first team might be told "try". If they guess it's "spy", they act out someone spying on someone else. If they're wrong, the second team hisses them. The first team keeps trying until they act out the right verb. It's called "dumb crambo" because it's a variation of a game called "crambo." In the original, only one person leaves the room and any kind of word may be chosen. The guesser is still told a word that rhymes with the secret word. The trick is that you have to ask questions that might get you the secret word WITHOUT naming the word you're guessing. For instance, if you think the secret word is "bus", you might ask "Is it a big ground vehicle that carries a lot of passengers?" I think it shows something of the personalities and intelligence of the Melendy children that they would enjoy Dumb Crambo.
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Summary: Explaining Dumb Crambo
Review: My original review was written 14 July 1998. This is an addition for readers (and potential readers) who are (or would be) as puzzled as I once was when the book said the Melendy children played a noisy game of "Dumb Crambo". Over 20 years after I first read THE SATURDAYS, I was lucky enough to get a copy of VICTORIAN PARLOUR GAMES by Patrick Beaver that includes it. To paraphrase, in Dumb Crambo, the players are split evenly into two teams. One team leaves the room while the remaining team chooses a verb. When the first team comes back in, the second team tells them another verb that rhymes with the first verb. The first team must guess the secret verb by acting it out. For example [not the one given], if the secret verb is "fly", the first team might be told "try". If they guess it's "spy", they act out someone spying on someone else. If they're wrong, the second team hisses them. The first team keeps trying until they act out the right verb. It's called "dumb crambo" because it's a variation of a game called "crambo." In the original, only one person leaves the room and any kind of word may be chosen. The guesser is still told a word that rhymes with the secret word. The trick is that you have to ask questions that might get you the secret word WITHOUT naming the word you're guessing. For instance, if you think the secret word is "bus", you might ask "Is it a big ground vehicle that carries a lot of passengers?" I think it shows something of the personalities and intelligence of the Melendy children that they would enjoy Dumb Crambo.
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Summary: A creature of a given time and place.
Review: No parent in his or her right mind would allow their kids to do what these kids do; it simply would not be safe to have them running around New York City unsupervised. They'd get kidnapped or shot or something else equally unpleasant; even if by some miracle the children got home safe, some officious neighbor would find out about it and call Child Protective Services. In Enright's day it was taken for granted that a child who knew enough to look both ways when crossing the street and take similar basic precautions would be OK running around in the big city.
Enright's writing gives us a window into a simpler era which (alas!) is now long past. One pities the modern child stuck at home with television and video games, and who cannot run about the city experiencing new things and learning about life the way that Randy and Mona and Rush and even little Oliver do.
I also liked how the children weren't fenced off in a child-centered ghetto, but had friends of all ages, both adults and other children. Mrs. Oliphant must have been based on someone Enright knew and was fond of--a grandmother or great-aunt, perhaps?
This is a book that both children and adults will enjoy.
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Summary: What A Gem!
Review: The Saturdays is one swell book!
It is upbeat, agreeable, and not so deep that one would get bogged down by all sorts of disasters, unfortunate luck and the like, that befall many subjects in books for the 8-12 set and young teens. Older readers will also enjoy if you're looking for something breezy and fun.
This book seems as if it really could have happened. It's light and amusing, but with a few serious close calls. BR>Parents will enjoy reading to their youngsters, perhaps a few chapters at a time, and more developed readers on their own, or even as a family this book will be enjoyed on a rainy Saturday afternoon or evening, while taking turns reading aloud.
If you love this book, then you will most likely love the others by this wonderfully talented author.
In sum, it is positive, decent and filled with adventure.
The ending is absolutely great! :)
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Summary: The hit of the third grade!
Review: When I was in third grade, a classroom aide gave us the option of listening to her read out loud, or playing on the playground. Her book of choice? The Saturdays. Within the week, every child was choosing to stay in during recess and breathlessly awaiting the further exploits of Mona, Rush, Randy and Oliver. At 40 years of age, it continues to be an all-time favorite book of mine, as well as the other books about the Melendys. I consider it a treasure to pass on to my eight-year-old daughter; something we will share and laugh together about for years.
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