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The Saturdays (The Melendy Family #1)
Four reasons to cheer!
Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person. They all live with their father, who is a writer,...more
Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person. They all live with their father, who is a writer,...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
September 1st 2002
by Henry Holt and Company
(first published 1941)
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Jul 01, 2011
Melody
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
comfort-read,
favorites
6/11 Re-read. I don't know if I think this book is practically perfect because I know it by heart, because I love each and every one of the characters, or because the writing is stellar. Maybe all of those things. Enright was a genius, and it makes me sad when people have never heard of her.
This time through, the Isaac-the-dog storyline seemed somehow more touching than usual. I love Mona's sadder-but-wiser moment, and Oliver's adventure. But my favorite favorite is the story of Gabrielle and th...more
This time through, the Isaac-the-dog storyline seemed somehow more touching than usual. I love Mona's sadder-but-wiser moment, and Oliver's adventure. But my favorite favorite is the story of Gabrielle and th...more
Aug 21, 2007
Tracie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Elementary Readers
Shelves:
elem,
historical
Elizabeth Enright wrote two series that I adore and recommend to kids all the time: The Melenday Family series and the Gone-Away Lake stories. Both are charming, old-fashioned yet still relevant satisfying tales.
The Melendy's begins with a book called The Saturday's in which four siblings decide to pool their allowance each week so that in turn they can have an adventure. The rule is one must return home and share their experience with the others. Each Saturday outing is as varied and interes...more
The Melendy's begins with a book called The Saturday's in which four siblings decide to pool their allowance each week so that in turn they can have an adventure. The rule is one must return home and share their experience with the others. Each Saturday outing is as varied and interes...more
These are stories revolving around 4 children: Rush, Mona, Randy & Oliver and of course they get into all sorts of adventures. :) I've read the first book, The Saturdays, and loved it. The Saturdays is about the adventures that the children have on Saturdays - they come up with the idea to pool their allowance money so that they can take turns doing something that they REALLY want to do on their Saturday. One goes to a concert, another goes to a museum, and, of course, adventures happen. The...more
Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Quartet of books are ostensibly children's books, but they are much more than that.
I read The Saturdays with my son when he was about 6 years old and we enjoyed it very much. This last year I read it again with my 5 year old daughter and it has only gotten better on the second pass.
The story is of four children from the ages of 6 to 13 in 1930s New York City who have decided to pool their weekly allowance. Each week one then takes the pool to use the money to go on a...more
I read The Saturdays with my son when he was about 6 years old and we enjoyed it very much. This last year I read it again with my 5 year old daughter and it has only gotten better on the second pass.
The story is of four children from the ages of 6 to 13 in 1930s New York City who have decided to pool their weekly allowance. Each week one then takes the pool to use the money to go on a...more
I'm so sad that I missed getting to know the Melendy family when I was actually the right age to read these books! The four Melendy children -- Mona, Randy (short for Miranda), Rush, and Oliver -- decide to pool their allowances so that each of them can have a Saturday adventure. Each child goes off and experiences something that they love. Mona gets a stylish haircut, Rush goes to the opera, and Oliver has an amazing adventure for a six-year-old. The story is sweet, funny, and exciting. I alway...more
The Melendys consist of 4 children: Rush, Mona, Randy and Oliver, one housekeeper, Cuffy, and one largely busy with his own life Dad. The mother is dead. Action takes pace in 1941 in a brownstone on 57th St. in Manhattan.
The chldren, aged 13, 12, 10 and 6, receive an allowance every week. They decide to pool their resources on rainy saturdays so that each child gets a chance to use the whole amount on whatever she likes. With permission from the father, the children may leave the house on their...more
The chldren, aged 13, 12, 10 and 6, receive an allowance every week. They decide to pool their resources on rainy saturdays so that each child gets a chance to use the whole amount on whatever she likes. With permission from the father, the children may leave the house on their...more
I love the nostalgia of this book. It was written and set in the early 1940s. The attitudes, pacing and writing style are all a throwback to a bygone era.
The four children (the main characters) are adventurous and clever. They come up with the idea of collecting their allowance (a whole 50 cent a week for the older three and a dime for the 6-year old) to have a day of experiencing life.
They have dinner at noon and then go off on their own in New York City to explore museums, plays, art galleries...more
The four children (the main characters) are adventurous and clever. They come up with the idea of collecting their allowance (a whole 50 cent a week for the older three and a dime for the 6-year old) to have a day of experiencing life.
They have dinner at noon and then go off on their own in New York City to explore museums, plays, art galleries...more
4.75
See, I wouldn't really describe this book as "amazing," not because it's NOT amazing, but because "amazing" seems too modern a word for a book which was published in the nineteen thirties or forties; the word seems wrong somehow. These were really, really swell (see, that's more fitting for the time period) books. They're like an extinct species. Authors just don't write like this anymore. Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling....all of my favorite authors, practically, the ones from this age anyway, t...more
See, I wouldn't really describe this book as "amazing," not because it's NOT amazing, but because "amazing" seems too modern a word for a book which was published in the nineteen thirties or forties; the word seems wrong somehow. These were really, really swell (see, that's more fitting for the time period) books. They're like an extinct species. Authors just don't write like this anymore. Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling....all of my favorite authors, practically, the ones from this age anyway, t...more
What was your life like when you were young,(before technology)? How could you have fun without TV, etc? This delightful series answers that question. Four siblings pool their weekly allowance and each one has one Saturday a month to spend the whole amount to fill their wishes. Amazingly, children were allowed to go out on their own in New York City during WWII.
This series is a look at a normal loving family. They disagree, argue, play tricks on each other, and love and respect each other. Thes...more
This series is a look at a normal loving family. They disagree, argue, play tricks on each other, and love and respect each other. Thes...more
Jul 02, 2011
Heather
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kids-ya,
library-books
"It would have to rain today," said Rush, lying flat on his back in front of the fire. "On a Saturday. Certainly. Naturally. Of course. What else would you expect? Good weather is for Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday; and rain's for Saturday and Sunday, and Christmas vacation and Easter."
"Oh, Rush, do stop grousing," said Mona, turning a page peacefully. She wasn't even listening to what he said; all she heard was the grumble in his voice. (3)
Thus starts The Saturdays, Enright's first bo...more
Sep 07, 2010
Maria M. Elmvang
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Maria M. by:
Paula
I had this recommended to me because I loved the Gone-Away Lake books so much. I'm glad, because The Saturdays is an adorable tale, that I'd be glad to read to my kids some day. I didn't find it quite as charming as Gone Away Lake, as I felt it lacked some of the magic of that series, although I wouldn't doubt that nostalgia has something to do with it as well.
The book is somewhat aged, which especially is apparent in the childrens' outings. I'm not sure I'd let a 10-year-old walk through NYC by...more
The book is somewhat aged, which especially is apparent in the childrens' outings. I'm not sure I'd let a 10-year-old walk through NYC by...more
There are a few dated notions in this book, as in any text with a domestic story from the 1930s or 40s. What's more impressive is how much of the novel still feel fresh.
Unlike many of the "children" in books from this time period (yes, I'm looking at you, Boxcar Children) the Melendy siblings are not sensible little adults dressed in smaller clothes. On the contrary: they are intelligent, vivacious, curious characters who make startling and authentic observations about their house and their wor...more
Unlike many of the "children" in books from this time period (yes, I'm looking at you, Boxcar Children) the Melendy siblings are not sensible little adults dressed in smaller clothes. On the contrary: they are intelligent, vivacious, curious characters who make startling and authentic observations about their house and their wor...more
This book is the first of a series about the Melendys, a family of 4 children who live with their dad in a Manhattan brownstone during the 1940s. The children start a club in which they pool their allowances to give each a turn (on a Saturday) to spend the money in any way they please.
The first half of the book is sweet. The Melendys are enjoyable characters, and their adventures have gentle humor and interest, such as befriending a homeless dog. However, the book grew stressful to my 7-yr-old...more
The first half of the book is sweet. The Melendys are enjoyable characters, and their adventures have gentle humor and interest, such as befriending a homeless dog. However, the book grew stressful to my 7-yr-old...more
I'm sorry I didn't discover this book (first of a series of 4) when my children were at that first read-aloud chapter book stage. It seems to have all the requirements: engaging characters, humor, sophisticated writing, and gentle adventures without violence or scariness. The historical setting (NYC in 1940) might require the occasional explanation in order for young children to understand, but there's nothing too obscure. We're enjoying it even now, when my children are 9, so it isn't too babyi...more
I loved this well-written and charming book about 4 children living in NYC in the 1940s (?). These children are everything I want my children to be: self-sufficient, responsible, adventurous, but still obedient, kind & loyal to each other. They have a lot of amazing adventures. I would recommend this to adults and to children EXCEPT...
There are situations that are not really in keeping with the world today. Throughout the book I was struck by how different the world is now; sometimes better...more
There are situations that are not really in keeping with the world today. Throughout the book I was struck by how different the world is now; sometimes better...more
Despite the 1940's setting, this charming read is timeless. As an adult reader, I think what is most striking was Enright's ability to include important ideals for children without preaching. For example, when the father tells the children they cannot go to their normal summer vacation home because they need to buy a new furnace, the children are silent, but accepting. They even decide to help out and spend less money. I know for most children in the real world this scenario would not have so ea...more
Somehow I missed out on Elizabeth Enright while I was growing up, an oversight I intend to avoid for my children! "The Saturdays" is exactly what children's literature should be: innocent, erudite, interesting, and fun. I enjoyed reading about a New York City in which 10 year olds could be allowed out on their own without anyone calling the cops having the parents arrested for endangerment and neglect. And I loved the fact that what our kids wanted to do on their days off was visit an art museum...more
Chalk another mark in the column "books my BT friends told me to read for years that I'm just now getting around to--and am now kicking self for not reading sooner."
I adore each and every one of these characters. Cuffy cracks me up, Oliver is adorable (loved his adventure at the circus), and the rest of the family is just as fabulous.
Part of my love for this book is from my love of Betsy-Tacy Goes Downtown--Mona, Randy and Rush are at that moment in childhood where they begin to experience the w...more
I adore each and every one of these characters. Cuffy cracks me up, Oliver is adorable (loved his adventure at the circus), and the rest of the family is just as fabulous.
Part of my love for this book is from my love of Betsy-Tacy Goes Downtown--Mona, Randy and Rush are at that moment in childhood where they begin to experience the w...more
This book, along with the others in the series, is comfort food for me. My mother read them as a girl, and passed the love on to my sister and myself. Every few years I re-read them, and once again immerse myself in New York of the 1940s, followed by the Connecticut countryside of the same era. The freedoms, energy, imagination and resourcefulness of the Melendy children is somewhat reminiscent of my own childhood, but I was a child of the 50s and 60s with probably more memories of television sh...more
A story about a motherless family of 4 kids, who have their own adventures through their creativity and sometimes through their mistakes. The reason I loved this series and why I really liked reading it outloud to my kids was because these kids are good, smart, creative kids. They had their sibling squables, but they were always polite and had good manners. Their faults were recognized and admitted too and sometimes improved upon. They aren't your sugar coated, unrealistically perfect kids found...more
“The Togetherness Kids”
How to spend your delicious Saturday afternoons in New York City when you only have a 50-cent allowance? Well, the four Melendy siblings decide to pool their resources and create their own private, Saturday afternoon club. That way each one in turn (well, not actually Oliver cuz he’s only six) can enjoy one special afternoon a month doing something really Special! Sounds great, but there are unexpected complications—and rewards—as each child chooses an outing tailor made...more
How to spend your delicious Saturday afternoons in New York City when you only have a 50-cent allowance? Well, the four Melendy siblings decide to pool their resources and create their own private, Saturday afternoon club. That way each one in turn (well, not actually Oliver cuz he’s only six) can enjoy one special afternoon a month doing something really Special! Sounds great, but there are unexpected complications—and rewards—as each child chooses an outing tailor made...more
Written in the 1940, this is the first book in the Melendy series. The 4 Melendy children form a club - they pool their allowance and one of them takes it to the city (NY City) to do whatever they want. It's a whole $1.60....so what will they do.
I love that we get a peek at life in the 40s for families in NY City - before crime and traffic completely take things over, and before electronics consume the life of young people, and they are interested in things like the opera and art museums. It's a...more
I love that we get a peek at life in the 40s for families in NY City - before crime and traffic completely take things over, and before electronics consume the life of young people, and they are interested in things like the opera and art museums. It's a...more
I loved this book when I was little. I just found it at a book sale and reread it. You obviously have to read it with an eye on the era in which it was written (1940s) and the assumptions, etc... that seem completely nothing to the author but startling to a contemporary reader. (Like the boy who fixes the coal furnace and contemporary child labor laws, for example.) But it really is a great book about family togetherness and fun and exploring a fabulous city (NYC) through the eyes of four differ...more
Jan 28, 2009
Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Kids who like old-fashioned or "safe" stories, realistic adventure fans
Recommended to Kate by:
Tama
Shelves:
kids
It's such a great day when you start reading something you know is going to be fantastic. I'm already transported to New York City on my first solo Saturday adventure.
Sigh. I love kids stories that are a little old-fashioned. But this book is surprisingly not dated. The only thing that is passe is that the ten, twelve, and thirteen year old children in this book are allowed out on their own--in New York City!! They ride the bus by themselves! They attend concerts and art exhibits without any ad...more
Sigh. I love kids stories that are a little old-fashioned. But this book is surprisingly not dated. The only thing that is passe is that the ten, twelve, and thirteen year old children in this book are allowed out on their own--in New York City!! They ride the bus by themselves! They attend concerts and art exhibits without any ad...more
The Melendy family is one of those impossibly arty, well-read and precocious gangs of wise-cracking siblings that commonly populate children's literature. That said, these four are still charming and engaging, even without magic to enliven their exploits. (Sibling posses like this usually get to enjoy magical adventures, à la E. Nesbit.) There is a fair amount of teasing but the siblings are generally kind and generous to each other.
This is a book about independence, and the heady thrill of goin...more
This is a book about independence, and the heady thrill of goin...more
This book is a lot like Five Children and It, Swallows and Amazons and other books of the same era: a (much bigger than is common today) collection of siblings have Amazing Adventures due to a (shocking, today) lack of adult supervision. While E. Nesbit focuses on the healthy use of imagination, this book focuses on actual get-outside adventures, some of which teach the kids Important Lessons and others of which help them Make Friends. Despite my use of capital letters, I was actually charmed by...more
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I'm sure I read this as a child - I MUST have read this as a child, since I devoured these kinds of old-fashioned books - but no specific elements of the book made me say, "yes, I remember that moment!" Still, the whole atmosphere of the book felt intensely familiar - the children, their plans to have more thrilling Saturdays, the comfortable housekeeper, the accidents and mishaps and charm of the thing.
This is one of those stories that you have to experience to appreciate - the plot summary do...more
This is one of those stories that you have to experience to appreciate - the plot summary do...more
Six-year-old Oliver's Saturday adventure is the best. He leaves their house in New York City, navigates himself to Madison Square Garden by asking policemen how to get there, goes to the circus, and then when he gets lost on the way home, finds a mounted policeman who gives him a ride home on his horse. Six years old. It's like Baby's Day Out, but without the bumbling kidnappers.
The premise of the Saturdays is this: one boring, rainy Saturday, the four Melendy children realize if they pool their...more
The premise of the Saturdays is this: one boring, rainy Saturday, the four Melendy children realize if they pool their...more
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Elizabeth Enright (1907-1968) was born in Oak Park, Illinois, but spent most of her life in or near New York City. Her mother was a magazine illustrator, while her father was a political cartoonist. Illustration was Enright's original career choice and she studied art in Greenwich, Connecticut; Paris, France; and New York City. After creating her first book in 1935, she developed a taste, and quic...more
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