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Peace Greenfield #1
At the Little Brown House
The book "" At the Little Brown House "" has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.
- GenresClassics
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1913
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 20, 2013
Peace Greenfield lives in the little brown house outside the village of Parker near the city of Martindale with her invalid mother, older sisters Gail, Faith, Hope, and Cherry (Charity), baby sister Allee, and their old dog Towzer. Their father, a minister in nearby Pendennis until he became ill and bought the farm, is now in heaven. A neighbor boy, Mike O’Hara, does some work around the farm. Then the dear, gentle mother also dies. Eighteen-year-old Gail fights against poverty and discouragement as she tries to keep the family together. They make a living by growing vegetables, gathering flowers, and baking cakes.
Then Peace unintentionally gets the family in trouble with a neighbor who happens to hold the mortgage to the farm, and he vows to get even. Who will take in six orphans if they lose the little brown house? And who is that strange tramp that keeps dropping by? Ruth Alberta Brown MacArthur, using her maiden name, wrote children's books in the early twentieth century. Her stories include the Tabitha series (Tabitha at Ivy Hall, Tabitha's Glory, Tabitha's Vacation), and a couple of sequels to At the Little Brown House, one entitled The Lilac Lady in which the girls are adopted into a new home and must adjust to a new school and neighborhood, and the other Heart of Gold in which Peace tries to reach a ball wedged in a hollow on the roof, her foot slips, she falls with a crash from the roof, and playmates assume that she is dead.
At the Little Brown House is a happy reminder of the days when children’s books were expected to illustrate good character traits and teach important lessons rather than just showing how hard, cold, and cruel the world is. Those books didn’t ignore the fact that the world can be hard, cold, and cruel, but instead of creating doubt and despair they showed that there is still good in the world and that proper solutions to problems can be found, especially for those who trust God. I must admit that sometimes Peace’s attitude, especially her temper, annoyed me a little and tried my patience. But the predicaments which she caused were usually done innocently, and she had a good heart, repented of her misdeeds, and learned from her mistakes. The Greenfields’ best friends were the new minister, his wife, and their baby boy. Also, a lot of emphasis is placed on praying and looking to God for help and guidance.
Then Peace unintentionally gets the family in trouble with a neighbor who happens to hold the mortgage to the farm, and he vows to get even. Who will take in six orphans if they lose the little brown house? And who is that strange tramp that keeps dropping by? Ruth Alberta Brown MacArthur, using her maiden name, wrote children's books in the early twentieth century. Her stories include the Tabitha series (Tabitha at Ivy Hall, Tabitha's Glory, Tabitha's Vacation), and a couple of sequels to At the Little Brown House, one entitled The Lilac Lady in which the girls are adopted into a new home and must adjust to a new school and neighborhood, and the other Heart of Gold in which Peace tries to reach a ball wedged in a hollow on the roof, her foot slips, she falls with a crash from the roof, and playmates assume that she is dead.
At the Little Brown House is a happy reminder of the days when children’s books were expected to illustrate good character traits and teach important lessons rather than just showing how hard, cold, and cruel the world is. Those books didn’t ignore the fact that the world can be hard, cold, and cruel, but instead of creating doubt and despair they showed that there is still good in the world and that proper solutions to problems can be found, especially for those who trust God. I must admit that sometimes Peace’s attitude, especially her temper, annoyed me a little and tried my patience. But the predicaments which she caused were usually done innocently, and she had a good heart, repented of her misdeeds, and learned from her mistakes. The Greenfields’ best friends were the new minister, his wife, and their baby boy. Also, a lot of emphasis is placed on praying and looking to God for help and guidance.
January 5, 2011
This was a childhood favorite of mine, which I found when I got my Kindle, via the auspices of the Gutenberg Project. I thought it was out-of-print and lost to me forever. Peace Greenfield is in the same vein as Pippi Longstocking and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. She is bright, inquisitive, engaging, active and constantly in trouble as her enthusiasm for helping people often lands her in a mess, altho the good she does is priceless. Irrepressible and talkative, in modern days she'd be medicated out of all her charm, but in the early 1900s, she was simply "our Peace."
October 3, 2023
4.5🌟 Such a charming and sweet story!
I found this book on a high shelf in the collectibles section at Half Price Books in the Seattle area. I almost didn't see it (being only 5' tall), but I saw the word "house" in the title and knew I had to check it out.
Luckily, this lovely embossed vintage hardcover was only $7 and I grabbed it for my own. The cover is just adorable.
I fell in love with the Greenfield family at once. The daughters (Gail, Hope, Faith, Cherry, Peace and Allee) all have the most unique personalities - no one is perfect and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. But, no matter what challenges or misdeeds come their way, they always stick together and try to find the positive in the situation.
Their town of Parker is a typical, old country area where the community looks out for each other. Although there are the local villains and never-do-wells, there are more "good" people than "bad" and everything works out in the end.
Ruth Alberta Brown's book could easily be a hilarious tv series (similar, but not the same as Little House on the Prairie) and I have to find the other two books in the series so that I can find out what happens next to this lovable and quirky family.
Highly recommended if you love vintage middle grade books! (as well as baking, gardening and other domestic details)
I found this book on a high shelf in the collectibles section at Half Price Books in the Seattle area. I almost didn't see it (being only 5' tall), but I saw the word "house" in the title and knew I had to check it out.
Luckily, this lovely embossed vintage hardcover was only $7 and I grabbed it for my own. The cover is just adorable.
I fell in love with the Greenfield family at once. The daughters (Gail, Hope, Faith, Cherry, Peace and Allee) all have the most unique personalities - no one is perfect and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. But, no matter what challenges or misdeeds come their way, they always stick together and try to find the positive in the situation.
Their town of Parker is a typical, old country area where the community looks out for each other. Although there are the local villains and never-do-wells, there are more "good" people than "bad" and everything works out in the end.
Ruth Alberta Brown's book could easily be a hilarious tv series (similar, but not the same as Little House on the Prairie) and I have to find the other two books in the series so that I can find out what happens next to this lovable and quirky family.
Highly recommended if you love vintage middle grade books! (as well as baking, gardening and other domestic details)
dnf
May 30, 2020Dnf. I couldn’t take anymore of Peace’s ridiculous antics.
March 26, 2022
At my age I shouldn't have wasted valuable reading time on this book; there are too many other books out there to discover that are much better. The first chapter was OK but then its many imperfections became too obvious. I trudged through to the end by practicing what my friend Gundula calls "judicious skimming" hoping it would improve. It did not.
This is a story about children more than for them. Until the very end we are not told how old the eldest sister is--18--and we never find out the ages of the others, not even the main character.
The narration is choppy in the extreme; Brown will build up to a situation, such as the MC being asked to spend the night somewhere, and then CHOP--turn the page, new chapter, different day/week/month, new situation, no development continuity whatsoever until the very end. As for "Peace"--ugh. The author chose as her main character a meddlesome little brat. She reminded me of the old "Dennis the Menace" TV show of the 60s, which even as a small child I found cringe-making, because it was so obviously made for adults to laugh at. As a child myself, it wasn't funny at all and my siblings seemed to agree with me. It was just dumb.
After the mother's death, Faith (whose age is also never revealed) is deeply depressed, but her grief is seen by the adults around her as "selfishness." Even the doctor says "All she needs is a dose of common sense." And in the world of Brown's book, it works--make her work hard, get her mind off it. I'm surprised he didn't recommend a good spanking; the boys are repeatedly given "lickings" (whippings with a strap) and even Peace is whipped with a wooden switch (flexible branch of a tree). I know that was standard for many rural parents even in my own 60s childhood, but her whipping is administered by a neighbour, an adult man who ridicules and decieves her throughout the story and then excuses his lies by saying he was "only teasing". Ick.
This is a story about children more than for them. Until the very end we are not told how old the eldest sister is--18--and we never find out the ages of the others, not even the main character.
The narration is choppy in the extreme; Brown will build up to a situation, such as the MC being asked to spend the night somewhere, and then CHOP--turn the page, new chapter, different day/week/month, new situation, no development continuity whatsoever until the very end. As for "Peace"--ugh. The author chose as her main character a meddlesome little brat. She reminded me of the old "Dennis the Menace" TV show of the 60s, which even as a small child I found cringe-making, because it was so obviously made for adults to laugh at. As a child myself, it wasn't funny at all and my siblings seemed to agree with me. It was just dumb.
After the mother's death, Faith (whose age is also never revealed) is deeply depressed, but her grief is seen by the adults around her as "selfishness." Even the doctor says "All she needs is a dose of common sense." And in the world of Brown's book, it works--make her work hard, get her mind off it. I'm surprised he didn't recommend a good spanking; the boys are repeatedly given "lickings" (whippings with a strap) and even Peace is whipped with a wooden switch (flexible branch of a tree). I know that was standard for many rural parents even in my own 60s childhood, but her whipping is administered by a neighbour, an adult man who ridicules and decieves her throughout the story and then excuses his lies by saying he was "only teasing". Ick.
August 31, 2020
Read this to the kiddos a few weeks back. We all loved it. Just a fun, clean, make-you-believe-in-fairy-tales read.
June 16, 2016
I have read this book numerous times. It always makes me laugh and comforts me with happy memories and a time trip to the era when I wished I would have lived. If I had to pick a favorite book on my shelves this would be it. No arguments. I love my other books but this has nostalgia and unexpected discovery and an absolutely delightfully bumbling main character.
This is the story of six sisters caring for themselves in a little brown house after their father, a minister, died and then in the book the sweet mother dies too. These six girls take care of one another and live together making the best of their meager resources.
Peace Greenfield is the main character and the fifth daughter. Her older sister, Faith, said she should have been named Trial and Tribulation.
Peace means well, but she has a fiery temper and a quick mind, given to following an idea right away. She gets herself into and out of scrapes in every chapter. Her sisters love her because her heart is pure - even if her methods and manners are abrupt and sometimes contrary.
She is an absolute delight, my favorite literary character in literature and hope for all moms with active, curious and headstrong children everywhere. I knew as soon as I read this book one of my daughters would be named after her. Twelve years later I did exactly that. Today I finished reading this book to that daughter who said, "I'm glad you named me after Peace. She's fun."
Among many other things. :)
This is the story of six sisters caring for themselves in a little brown house after their father, a minister, died and then in the book the sweet mother dies too. These six girls take care of one another and live together making the best of their meager resources.
Peace Greenfield is the main character and the fifth daughter. Her older sister, Faith, said she should have been named Trial and Tribulation.
Peace means well, but she has a fiery temper and a quick mind, given to following an idea right away. She gets herself into and out of scrapes in every chapter. Her sisters love her because her heart is pure - even if her methods and manners are abrupt and sometimes contrary.
She is an absolute delight, my favorite literary character in literature and hope for all moms with active, curious and headstrong children everywhere. I knew as soon as I read this book one of my daughters would be named after her. Twelve years later I did exactly that. Today I finished reading this book to that daughter who said, "I'm glad you named me after Peace. She's fun."
Among many other things. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2015
I couldn't finish the book, as there really wasn't any in-depth portrayal of the characters. I lost interest very quickly, which is sad because I really wanted to like this book, and it was free on my kindle.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews