When the Boys Ran the House

by Joan Carris

When their mother is taken ill while their father is out of town, four brothers ranging in age from two to twelve decide to take over the responsibilities of running the household.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Joan Carris published more than a dozen books for children as well as four textbooks. She also taught graduate-level writing at Duke University. She lived in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Ms. Carris passed away in December of 2023.
https://www.virginiacremate.com/obitu...

Reviews

[Jessica]

Fun kid's read. The episodic adventures (& misadventures) of 4 young boys facing down the demons of grocery shopping, making dinner, and vacuuming.

It's charmingly dated - a rope runs out of the sick mother's bedroom window to a bell rope by the front porch so she can call her boys home. It's a plot that probably wouldn't work now, with Skype and social media. But it works here. The only thing that made my suspension of disbelief waver is why the boys had to cook every meal instead of getting takeout sometimes. They had takeout in the 80s, right?

Beautiful illustrations, good characterization (Jut, despite his terrible nickname, even has a little character arc, and I loved Nurse Amazon Brown), some moments of genuine humour. It's been years since I'd read it for the first time as a child, but I never forgot that pie incident

That said, the author is terribly allergic to "he said" - the characters groan, counter, insert, suggest, veto, intone in pretty distracting ways.

[Jeff]

This book introduced me to the word "damn." I struggled forever trying to pronounce the "m" and the "n" together but couldn't figure it out. When I asked my mom what the word was, she was a little concerned.

[Jean Mc]

This was one of my favorite book growing up.

[Sarah]

I enjoyed re-reading this with my son. It seemed to hold up with the times, though I think will enjoy it even more in 5 years or so when he can relate more to the main character (my son is only 5).

[Don Heiman]

In 1983 Joan Carris’ book “When the Boys Ran the House” was released by Dell Publishing under arrangement with J. B. Lippincott Junior Books a division of Harper Row. The book is about the Howard family and their four young boys who are between the ages of 2 to 13 years. The boys live with their parents in a semi/restored 1840s house in Red Oak County, Ohio. The boys’ mother has returned from the hospital where she was treated for encephalitis. When the mother returned home, the boys’ father was called away on a very important business trip for three weeks. During father Howard’s absence, the bedridden mother was under the care of nurse Brown and primary care physician Doctor Collins. The Doctor visited the home every other day during the three week period. In order to manage the household affairs, the boys’ Mom and Dad put 10 year old Marty and 13 year old Justin in charge under the oversight of the visiting nurse Mrs. Brown. Marty was chief cook and Justin (with the assistance of Nick) ran the day to day affairs of the household. All the boys also looked after their 2 year old brother named Gus. Each day was an adventure for the household boys. For example, the house was plagued with a large swarm of bees, then a foul order permeated the main area’ of the house caused by the birth of cats who all lived in a secret wine cellar adjacent to the fireplace. The next set of adventures involved food shopping challenges, the killing of wild animals with shot guns, and the older boys school activities. Justin is trained by their mother’s care nurse in basketball shooting techniques; and then Justin tries out and becomes a member of his grade school basketball team. In addition to these adventures, all four boys are taken to the first game of the Major League World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees in 1976. During the game, little Gus disappeared and was later found at a food stand enjoying an ice cream cone. After 3 weeks of the boys running the household, the father returns and their mom fully recovers from her encephalitis ailment. The novel’s storylines are captivating, full of humor, and replete with surprises. I very much enjoyed reading it. (P)

[Ms. Yingling]

Library copy

Dated, but I had forgotten it took place in Cincinnati.

[Ruby Hollyberry]

One of my all-time favorite children's books, comparable to the Matthew Martin series by Paula Danziger. Dad has had a chance to travel the Continent doing sales presentations which will make his career a success and as soon as he is gone, mom comes down with an illness that will keep her in bed for many weeks. Not to worry! With a little help from neighbors and friends, and more than a little from the basketball-playing home care nurse assigned to their mother, the four boys aged 12, 10, 7 and 2 will survive and thrive. The point of view is of the eldest boy, who takes a near-parental role and does his very best to keep control of his brothers, while not letting himself down - he is trying to make the junior high basketball team! Everything can and will happen when dad is away and mom must not be disturbed: the cat has babies, the house fills with honeybees, the toddler eats a goldfish, and even grocery shopping and Parents' Night at the elementary school become dangerous! Lots of easygoing fun.

[Denise]

I read this book out loud to my four boys. While the story line is a good one and the boys had fun with it, it was a difficult book to read aloud because it was hard to say who was saying what. Also, there were some words I left out....like, I did not say what was written all over the cat in permanent marker. That said, this was a book the boys asked me to read and we read it aloud for a full hour to just figure out what the awful stench in the living room was. We are looking forward to a new book to read aloud together, it was a great bonding time and I am thankful we DID read this book.

[Duane]

I never found the meaning of this book. I wanted to like it but it just seemed too far fetched to be anywhere realistic. A twelve year old is expected to run a household when his mother is incapable of taking care of things. Justin takes care of his three brothers, the house, school, and everything else that a normal adult would have trouble with. I just couldn't get into this book. I've read it once, but don't plan on recomending it.

[Tommyb]

Fiction,Children's fiction

[Jenette]

Just finished reading it to my kids. One of my favorites from childhood.

[Vicky]

Starts funny - the boys are hooked!
Ended up cute and fun. Boys loved it.