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361st out of 2,636 books
—
4,860 voters
The Moffats (The Moffats #1)
Meet the Moffats. There is Sylvie, the oldest, the cleverest, and-most days at least-the responsible one; Joey, who though only twelve is the man of the house...sometimes; Janey, who has a terrific upside-down way of looking at the world; and Rufus, who may be the littlest but always gets in the biggest trouble.
Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary...more
Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
April 1st 2001
by Sandpiper
(first published 1941)
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Get ready to smile and sigh and shake your head in wonder as you meet 10 year old Janey and 5 1/2 year old Rufus Moffat, and the rest of the Moffat family -- Mrs. Moffat, Joey, 12, and Sylvie, 15 -- who live in the town of Cranbury, CT in a yellow house with kerosene lamps and a very unwanted For Sale sign.
Life for the Moffat children revolves largely around a warm family unit in a neighborly world in early 20th century times where children had freedom for commonplace adventures -- and financ...more
The Moffats, who live in the same town as the owners of Ginger Pye, are a close-knit family of four children and a hard-working seamstress mother, whose bust "Madame" occupies a central position in the family's little brown house. Although the children are essentially good-hearted, they get into an astounding amount of mischief, making for a sometimes uproarious family story full of warmth and love. Mother is the source of the family's security: her understated courage in the face of sickness, p...more
I picked up this book (copyright 1941) at a thrift shop. I love reading children's books, especially the old-fashioned, heartwarming kind. I didn't give this book 5 stars because it is perfectly profound, but because it is perfectly simple. It is just what it appears to be--an everyday story about everday people. The Moffat family, a widowed mother and her four children, live in the fictional town of Cranbury, Connecticut. The mother is a seamstress, who barely makes ends meet. The story is told...more
This started a bit slow for me, but once I let myself enter their world completely (or as completely as I could sitting here in the early 21st century), I fell in love with this family. What a view into a world so totally different from my own, but one my mom or grandmother might have recognized. Grandma especially I think. I could really figure out when it was set, in what year, but I assumed somewhere in the early 30s - Great Depression time. I remember my mom telling me that her mom would sen...more
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In this book, as in others of its ilk (The Saturdays, The Penderwicks, The Boxcar Children, etc.), lots of little, everyday things happen. The kids celebrate Halloween by frightening a bully. They ride on a trolley and witness a standoff between operators moving in opposite directions on the same track. They help a man from the Salvation Army bring his wagon to a revival. These are all good ideas, and they sound interesting, but their execution left me feeling disappointed. I usually love it whe...more
This book reminded me of many books we've been enjoying lately, written between the 1920s and 60s, where a group of siblings faces tribulations or adventures together. This book doesnt'have magic like the Eager and Nesbit books, but is a bit like Nesbit's The Railway Children. The children live in a small town with their widowed mother, who is the town's seamstress. Their adventures include the youngest (age 6) accidentally riding a box car to the next town, going to gather coal and find when th...more
My third-grade teacher read this out loud to us, and we liked it a lot. I remember reading it myself later. What I like best about this and other good kidlit prior to the past 10 years or so is that it doesn't have these tasty, bite-sized, nutrionally-balanced, neatly packaged, market-ready Life Lessons wrapped up for the kids to swallow. Seems like you can't get published today without that. Estes doesn't bother and wow, still in print. Not quite E. Nesbitt but she's not exactly a moralist eith...more
This is a book about the Moffat family. They get into all sorts of funny scrapes, with a different story about the family each chapter. With four children, just about anything could go wrong!
What I liked best about this book is that it's set in the 1940s or 1950s,possibly even earlier, and where the Moffats live they don't have electricity yet and very few cars are on the road. It's interesting to read about how they live, too.
I recommend this book for grade 4 and up.
What I liked best about this book is that it's set in the 1940s or 1950s,possibly even earlier, and where the Moffats live they don't have electricity yet and very few cars are on the road. It's interesting to read about how they live, too.
I recommend this book for grade 4 and up.
I loved Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye and expected this book to equal them. Unfortunately, although it shared the same strength of doing a fabulous job of getting into the minds of very innocent but by no means angelic children, the plot of this book simply couldn't match those two. It lacked the suspense of those two stories. The plot dealt with issues that wouldn't be quite as momentous to a child as those in the other two books. So though it was still enjoyable, it didn't have the same draw that m...more
This book can be seen mostly as a collection of nice stories from a time gone by, but it also includes some discerning passages that both kids and grown-ups will be able to identify with, and from which we can learn. These sweet messages resound in my ears even now, as I suspect that they always will.
In the end, I am very glad that there is more to read about the Moffat family, and I look forward to those three additional books. This story is a good one, in my eyes.
In the end, I am very glad that there is more to read about the Moffat family, and I look forward to those three additional books. This story is a good one, in my eyes.
I loved this book, maybe because of the nostalgic look back at the early part of the 20th Century, or maybe because the characters were so well drawn. It really spoke to me of times past, the innocence of children, the humor of silly situations kids get into. I'll admit the language did seem a bit stilted, old fashioned even, but the classic writing really shone above all that. Worth a read, especially if you like "quiet" books. There are lots of fun, old fashioned things to explain to young chi...more
This is a cute family story about a single mom ( I think the dad died) and her four kids. Each chapter is a vignette about a different child. This one isn't terribly notable above others we've listened to like it (All of a Kind Family, Little Women, The Penderwicks, The Great Brain, Man of the Family, etc.). It was a good, sweet read. There are two others in the series, but my kids haven't asked if it's a series, so I don't know if we'll get to them.
I tried to read The Moffats by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1941) with very raw illustrations by Louis Slobodkin (he's done far better illustrations) but failed miserably! The Moffats are no Pyes, my friends. Estes must have really honed her style and sophistication between this earliest of books and later masterpieces like Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye. Practice does make perfect, I guess. What I find most bothersome - about myself - is that I think I'm supposed to really love th...more
Such a fun book for kids. It definitely has a charming feel to it, telling a story about the adventures of a family in a small-town in my grandmother's era. I love books that have more substance than the Junie B.'s of today, which I think children are reading because no one is giving them books like this. The Moffats might not be as instantly gratifying, but they are the kind of characters I hope will stay with my kids their whole lives.
This is one of my favorite authors writing what I think is excellent children's lit. The family, a widow with 4 children, rent a house that is now up for sale. Times are hard, and it is The Depression. However, except for the fact that this family is indeed poor, and that fact occurs in daily life, it is not a depressing book at all. It is a joy to read how the children take life as they find it, and the internal mind looks at the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.
This was an audio book that we checked out from the library... We actually didn't finish it. It would be a great study in what a child's life was like fifty years ago, but didn't connect very well with the two kids sitting in the back of my car. That--and the audio book was read by separate actors, which was odd. We didn't like many of the voices--it didn't feel natural, so just returned the CD's after two discs were played...
Perhaps I should have read these in order (I picked up The Middle Moffat first because it was on my bookshelf), but no matter. These are wonderful, delightful books. The looming "For Sale" sign annoys all residents, times are tough, and then Rufus gets scarlet fever. But there's also plenty of funny--like the trolley car fight and the dance recital and Jane's terror of the Chief of Police. So glad I finally read these!
The kids and I listened to this in the car. Granted, the time period it was set in was a difficult time of life, but how simple it all seemed to be. The children go from one place to another and everyone watches out for each other. The stories of the Moffats are sweet and true to life. I love listening to my grandmother tell me stories of her childhood. This was like hearing those stories all over again.
My nine year old is enjoying this bedtime reading selection. My seven year old is ok with it too when he's able to stay awake for it. Gives a little glimpse of different life/activities many years ago. My kids learned several new words/concepts and even something as simple as an organ merited a description. I didn't realize they didn't really know what one was! My nine year old requested (on her own) we continue on with the next book in the series so we are now reading it. I like that these are...more
Jan 23, 2009
Library Lady
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Lovers of family stories
Shelves:
children-s-fiction,
historical-fiction
****** for the book
*** for the audiobook
I'm sad to say that I did not read the Moffat series as a kid. But I recently listened to this book on audio and fell in love with it! What a charming, funny family and a delightful story. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series soon. (And yes, that's actually reading them, as opposed to listening to them since most of them are not available on audiobook!)
I really don't like Full Cast recordings. So many of the voices sound untra...more
*** for the audiobook
I'm sad to say that I did not read the Moffat series as a kid. But I recently listened to this book on audio and fell in love with it! What a charming, funny family and a delightful story. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series soon. (And yes, that's actually reading them, as opposed to listening to them since most of them are not available on audiobook!)
I really don't like Full Cast recordings. So many of the voices sound untra...more
I've wanted to read this book for years because of the name, because I am a Moffat and I was curious.
It's a very endearing vintage children's book in the time period of WWI. It could be stories and hardships very much like my grandparents. I will read the next few in the series.
It's a very endearing vintage children's book in the time period of WWI. It could be stories and hardships very much like my grandparents. I will read the next few in the series.
This book is set in the early 20th century and focuses on the adventures of a family of four children and a widowed mother. Each chapter is like a mini-story centered on one of the children. The overall plot is the worry that the house they've been living in for years will be sold (apparently they're renters?). Anyway, this book is charming and likeable and funny. The little details about life in the 1900s are interesting, and the author doesn't mask the problems of poverty with moralizing or wh...more
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes is the first in the Moffat series. Recently widowed Mrs. Moffat and her children have moved across the street to a smaller house to save money. Unfortunately for them the owner has put the house up for sale because times are tough for everyone.
The book chronicles the year that Moffats live in the house before it is ultimately sold. Although time passes, the individual chapters are episodic.
the Moffats even in 1941 was historical fiction. The time described in the boo...more
The book chronicles the year that Moffats live in the house before it is ultimately sold. Although time passes, the individual chapters are episodic.
the Moffats even in 1941 was historical fiction. The time described in the boo...more
The Moffats tells the realistic, yet enchanting, story of an endearing family (a mother & 4 children) that finds the best in life, despite their hardships and their knowledge that they will soon have to leave the yellow home that holds a treasure of their memories.
Tells a tale of a lovely dadless family in a lovely yellow house. But when a certain sign goes on the house, the Moffats are forever depressed. I know your dieing to read what that sign says, but sadly, I can't say, you will either 1)read the book 2)inference
This was a cute book for elementary age children. It is the story of a family living in New Haven Connecticut in the early 1900's. The children have many mishaps just by being children. :) It is a clean and cute story.
I've been reading the "classics" that I always recommend to families wanting to read together with young children - this was very sweet, a strong Mom, and kids that get into 50's style scrapes and figure a way out of them.
I listened to this on cd while driving to Abq-it was very cute and fun and made the trip go fast. I'd like to read it to my boys-they would love all the hijinks! It sort of reminded me of Cheaper by the Dozen.
My six year old son and I read this for school. I liked the family, and each chapter was like a little story on its own. The book as a whole didn't have much of a plot. It was just a sweet story about a family who has to move out of the house they rent. There is no father in the story, and I wish that had been explained. I think I would have felt like I know the family better if I'd known what happened to the dad.
I read this again to Lila and Paul both June of 2012. We all four loved it! After...more
I read this again to Lila and Paul both June of 2012. We all four loved it! After...more
Charming vintage children's book about a family in the early 1900's. This book reminds me of the Betsy-Tacy series and also the more recent Penderwicks books. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will read the rest of the series.
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Eleanor Ruth Rosenfeld (Estes)was an American children's author. She was born in West Haven, Connecticut as Eleanor Ruth Rosenfield. Originally a librarian, Estes' writing career began following a case of tuberculosis. Bedridden while recovering, Estes began writing down some of her childhood memories, which would later turn into full-length children's books.
Estes's book Ginger Pye (1951) won the...more
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Estes's book Ginger Pye (1951) won the...more
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