I'm sure I probably give out five-star ratings too frequently, but until goodreads comes up with the ".5" modification, I'll continue to trend upward...

Written in the depth of the worldwide Great Depression, this novel by Eleanor Graham centers on the five Dunnet children who are called upon to hold down the fort while their parents travel to France when a relative dies. When the parents don't return after several days, and those days stretch into weeks, they find themselves scrambling to avoid being split up.

Graham provides great insight into family dynamics, the importance of self-sufficiency, and finding strength in adversity, while also giving us plenty to think about with regard to welfare and human kindness. Another reviewer noted that no one in the village is friendly to the children, but this is not so - to be sure, there are several very unkind busybodies who make life unpleasant for the Dunnets, but many of the villagers are kind and supportive, and help the children have deeper friendships than they enjoyed before their parents disappeared.

The circumstances surrounding the parents' disappearance and resolution to that thread of the story was the only middling part of the book for me - otherwise, Up the Dunnets!