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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Wonderful books for teen-age girls: 4

So far my teen-age girl recommendations have been "classics", books that are quite well-known.

This is one is as good as the others but much less popular.


It's the charming story of the six Mitchell children, whose mother has twins (babies 7 and 8) right at the start of the book. A strict British nurse moves in as a result, and all sorts of madcap adventures follow (of course!).

The best part of the book, for me, is its seamless blending of all the children's stories. There is the sweet first romance of Joan, the oldest girl. There's Peter's struggles with his mean schoolfellow, Paul, whom his sister Angela manages to befriend. A maple-sugaring party (this is Canada, after all!), school pranks, pet kittens, family game nights, and such add up to a delightful story.

Another nice touch is the way the Mother is the center of the family, even as she is convalescent with her recent illness and birth of twins. The children are old enough to handle most of their problems alone, but their love and devotion to Mother set this book apart from a lot of children's novels.

I strongly recommend this book, along with The Mitchells: Five for Victory and Canadian Summer, which are also part of the series.

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