The Four-Story Mistake

Rating:
Summary: this is a most memorable book.
Review: I read this book as a young girl and have never forgotten the story. I am buying it now for my niece for a gift

Rating:
Summary: a beautiful book
Review: My discovery of this book was completely serendipitous. I found it in a library dumpster (strange but true)and very soon after starting reading it to my kids (5 and 8). Almost finished with it now, I can honestly say reading the first chapter out loud gave me a sort of mental high that I seldom find with kids' books, even books for adults. We are eagerly looking forward to "Then there Five."

Rating:
Summary: Rechauffe The Saturdays
Review: The Saturdays is one of my childhood favorites, upon which I look back and sigh. Gone-Away Lake did not have the same snap. The old people living alone beside a lake, each in a house by him or herself; the lonesome scenery; the uninteresting kids; all in all it's a weird and unnourishing read. The story itself is no gem, but what bothered me more was the hollow echo of the rest of Enright's works throughout the story: half the phraseology is taken from her other stories. This is bothersome in large part because her other stories are so deliciously good. Why this one won an award is way beyond me.

Rating:
Summary: Rechauffe The Saturdays
Review: The Saturdays is one of my childhood favorites, upon which I look back and sigh. Gone-Away Lake did not have the same snap. The old people living alone beside a lake, each in a house by him or herself; the lonesome scenery; the uninteresting kids; all in all it's a weird and unnourishing read. The story itself is no gem, but what bothered me more was the hollow echo of the rest of Enright's works throughout the story: half the phraseology is taken from her other stories. This is bothersome in large part because her other stories are so deliciously good. Why this one won an award is way beyond me.

Rating:
Summary: The rare special kind of book that stays with you always
Review: There is something about this book that is very, very special. There are some many moments in the Melendy series (of which I think this book is the best) that really stay with you always. A few---Christmas eve, and Randy talking about how Christmas eve sometimes feels more special than Christmas---as you are waiting for everything---I think about that every Christmas eve. Oliver seeing the Luna moth. Mona coming home from her first dance. The way Cuffy is described---I can picture her as if I knew her. It's hard to use my own words to do any justice to Enright's words. Just will say---I hope you will try this book and let it become as special a part of your life as it is of mine.

Rating:
Summary: The rare special kind of book that stays with you always
Review: There is something about this book that is very, very special. There are some many moments in the Melendy series (of which I think this book is the best) that really stay with you always. A few---Christmas eve, and Randy talking about how Christmas eve sometimes feels more special than Christmas---as you are waiting for everything---I think about that every Christmas eve. Oliver seeing the Luna moth. Mona coming home from her first dance. The way Cuffy is described---I can picture her as if I knew her. It's hard to use my own words to do any justice to Enright's words. Just will say---I hope you will try this book and let it become as special a part of your life as it is of mine.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, exciting and enjoyable book perfect for fifth-graders
Review: This is a book about the Melendy children-Mona, Rush, Randy and Oliver-who have lived in the city all their lives. Now they must move to an old mansion in the countryside, "The Four-Story Mistake." The house got its name because when built it was meant to be four stories, but was only built three stories high. The owners of the house built a cupola on top to make up for the missing fourth story. The house is full of places to hide and more adventures than anyone could imagine. I found the Melendy children very entertaining and their adventures quite humorous. I enjoyed this book a lot, and think it would be a very good book for other fifth-grade girls.

Rating:
Summary: Momentum Retained
Review: This second in the Melendy series is at least as good as the first, and perhaps even better. Not only do all the "family"--the four children, their father, housekeeper Cuffy, and handyman Willy Sloper, plus dear friend Mrs. Oliphant--return, but there's a wonderful new (actually Victorian) house in upstate New York, new friends (many of them adult), and the beginning of Mona's longed-for career as a serious professional actress. Slightly accident-prone Randy continues her pattern (running her bike into the back of the Carthage bus, spraining her ankle while ice-skating), and Rush finds a way to contribute to the family finances. Like all the best juvenile writers of her era, Enright "talks" to her audience as if they were intelligent human beings, which makes the book thoroughly as enjoyable by adults as by kids, and in fact an excellent family read-aloud. Not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Momentum Retained
Review: This second in the Melendy series is at least as good as the first, and perhaps even better. Not only do all the "family"--the four children, their father, housekeeper Cuffy, and handyman Willy Sloper, plus dear friend Mrs. Oliphant--return, but there's a wonderful new (actually Victorian) house in upstate New York, new friends (many of them adult), and the beginning of Mona's longed-for career as a serious professional actress. Slightly accident-prone Randy continues her pattern (running her bike into the back of the Carthage bus, spraining her ankle while ice-skating), and Rush finds a way to contribute to the family finances. Like all the best juvenile writers of her era, Enright "talks" to her audience as if they were intelligent human beings, which makes the book thoroughly as enjoyable by adults as by kids, and in fact an excellent family read-aloud. Not to be missed.