Marjorie's New Friend

Marjorie Maynard #3

by Carolyn Wells

The four Japanese panels of the screen were adjusted so that they enclosed the corner as a tiny room, and in it sat Marjorie, looking very much troubled, and staring blankly at a rather hopeless-looking mass of brocaded silk and light-green satin, on which she had been sewing.

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Carolyn Wells was a prolific writer for over 40 years and was especially noted for her humor, and she was a frequent contributor of nonsense verse and whimsical pieces to such little magazines as Gelett Burgess' The Lark, the Chap Book, the Yellow Book, and the Philistine.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

The irrepressible Miss Marjorie Midget Mops Maynard is back for another adventure. This one picks up where the last left off with Christmas and continues to early March. While I love the Maynard family and their closeness, this book wasn't as charming as Marjorie's Busy Days. Her hijinks were less memorable and entertaining. There's also a strong sexist slant to the story at times, which in 1909 was becoming less OK. That was the year woman suffrage became a big issue again but it doesn't show in this novel. Marjorie's new friend is a spoiled, manipulative brat who learned from her spoiled, weak, manipulative mother how to get her own way. I didn't like her very much.

[Joy Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago and I decided to reread this book because I remembered that the main character is quarantined just like us!
I really enjoyed the different things the girls did to keep them from getting bored in quarantine! Using their imagination, playing dress up and the like...

[Katherine Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandmother's name was Marjorie and she had a few of the 1907 series Marjorie books by Carolyn Wells on a shelf at our family's cottage in Maine. She had kept them from when she was a little girl, but I don't remember her having this one. I remember 'Marjorie's Busy Days' and 'Marjorie's Vacation' and 'Marjorie at Seacote' and I would read them when I stayed with her there every Summer, I remember the characters hazy like the taste of ginger snaps, toast dipped in milk tea, dreams of Summer when days were slow.
My grandma Marjorie was so charmed that I liked her beloved stories, she let me take the books home. My parents divorced, I've moved many times and lost these books somewhere along the way. Fast forward many years later, I'm grown up, there's a global pandemic, and I'm missing traveling to Maine and missing my late grandma Marjorie, and the taste of ginger cookies. I found a copy of this book online, as I started to read, much to my surprise Marjorie's adventures take her into an abrupt, strict quarantine (!!!) and mandatory isolation at her neighbor's house, away from her family in the times of Diptheria.
Right now so many of us are sheltering in place for months now during the covid19 pandemic, and the smoke from hundreds of fires in California makes it impossible for many to go outside. One of the bright spots in the book is that Marjorie is under confinement with a bright and beaming Mary Poppins-ish, noble, inventive albeit non-magical governess, Miss Hart. We have so many Miss Hart's out there on Zoom right now helping kids get through this time using our imaginations. The book contrasts her mom's trust and validation with the stunted emotional intelligence of her dad and neighbor's mom, it's also full of courage, examples of inclusion, and tangible acts of generosity. How strange that my love for my grandma Marjorie leads me back to this series, into a mystery of how this particular book #3 came into my life during this once in a lifetime event as if my grandma Marjorie knew precisely when I'd need it the most.