Little Colonel's Maid of Honor, The

The Little Colonel #9

by Annie Fellows Johnston

The Little Colonel is back, and this time she's a maid of honor. Her friend Eugenia is getting married, and the whole wedding party has come to stay at Lloyd's house. The old fashioned term for this kind of extended sleep-over/get-together is a "house party."

Reading Ms. Johnston's version of the delightful events leading up to the wedding is like traveling back to the time of slow summer days and long, white cotton dresses. In this story readers will be introduced to Mary Ware, the wild girl from Arizona who has traveled all the way to Kentucky for the festivities. Her untamed western ways make her an endearing character. Handsome young men, moonlit boat rides, and evening walks through the woods delight Lloyd and her dear friends as much as they do the reader. Perhaps Lloyd will even find the beginnings of love.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Classics

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Annie Fellows Johnston (1863-1931) was an American author of children's fiction who wrote the popular "Little Colonel" series, which was the basis for the 1935 Shirley Temple film The Little Colonel. She was born and grew up in McCutchanville, Indiana, a small unincorporated town near Evansville, Indiana.

Reviews

[Kati Polodna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this have not aged well. I couldn’t help but feeling nostalgic for how Eugenia’s wedding was.

[Magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

In some contrast to the "Boarding-School" book, I like seeing Lloyd grow up in this way, striving to be good and kind to everyone, even a particularly catty friend, more because she has standards to uphold than because the friend would do the same for her.

Little Mary Ware, Joyce's sister, is a guest at this encore of the house party. Much of the book reveals her perspective on things, which may show part of the gradual shift to Mary Ware for the last three books in the series.

Come to think of it, this volume of the series is rather unexceptional, except that Mary makes everyone laugh, Eugenia gets married, and Lloyd has flocks of boys carefully following her and keeping her mindful of her promise to Papa Jack.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite part of this book might be the discussion of the fourth leaf of the four-leafed clover, where joyce suggests that the name of the prince who brings the diamond leaf of true happiness might not be Man. (to be a little anachronistic, i ship her and her future studio-mate SO hard.)