Comments on: Elizabeth Enright’s “The Melendy Family Quartet”

By: Momo

Momo — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 18:39:14 +0000

As young girls in an Asian city in the early 90s, my sister and I had a yellowed old copy of The Four-Story Mistake at home. We read it countless times, cover to cover, imagining all the delicious details of the Melendy kids’ lives in the countryside. I seem to remember they had picnics by the little brook near the house in the summer and would sit under the shade of a big tree, dipping their feet in the cool running water; something I could never otherwise experience as a child growing up in a large concrete jungle. Till today, it is my life’s biggest fantasy to be able to live such a beautiful idyllic life in the country, and my vacations from work are often spent trying to achieve that for just a week or two. Oh, how the book has shaped my biggest aspirations even so far into adulthood!

By: Lucie

Lucie — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 17:52:52 +0000

I somehow missed the last book in the series, but was still reading and enjoying the previous four well into my twenties. I’m almost 64 now and haven’t looked at them for a good while, but have fond memories and still remember some of the kids’ adventures. “The Four-Story Mistake” was probably my favorite.

By: Elizabeth Fox

Elizabeth Fox — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:26:46 +0000

I read and loved these books as a child – the New York setting was so glamorous and lent itself to great adventures. Then their life in the country was fun in different ways. I was an only child (and happy with that) but it was fun to read about the siblings and their different personalities.

By: Jan B

Jan B — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 02:35:21 +0000

I think it was 60 or so years ago (now 2023) that I read ‘The Four Story Mistake.’ I have never forgotten that I really enjoyed the book. I hope I can find it someday (and maybe the other 3 in the series). Even tho I, obviously, am no long a child, sometimes books I read ‘way back when’ can still be interesting.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 02:31:54 +0000

I first discovered the Melendy family in my local library when I was around 12. I didn’t realize though until a few years ago that there was a 4th book in the series! Probably the weakest entry I must admit but still one I read whenever I revisit this wonderful family.

By: Susan Snare

Susan Snare — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 07:37:13 +0000

In reply to Theresa Caballero. I would recommend the Betsy-Tacy series for that basket as well!

By: Theresa Caballero

Theresa Caballero — Sat, 27 Nov 2021 17:44:16 +0000

I read the Melendy Family when I was in grade school, probably in the 5th grade, (1975). I checked it out from my Catholic school library, where most of our books were public school rejects. I still remember it on the top shelf beckoning me.

It was wonderful. I am 55 years old and I often think about it. Reading it carried me into another world, -a feeling I can still conjure all these years later.

I have some friends, a young couple, with two little girls. I have bought several books for them for Christmas (the Chronicles of Narnia, two Nancy Drew mysteries, the Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House series, and My Antonia). I will add the Melendy Family to the basket.

By: Bruce Alan Wilson

Bruce Alan Wilson — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 17:53:14 +0000

I have always loved EE. But, I think she stopped the Melendy series at the right point. Randy is almost old enough to go away to school—if she doesn’t get into dance school now she won’t be able to make a career of it–and we’d have seen Oliver all by himself.

To speculate about their adult lives would be interesting. I’m guessing that Oliver would go to either MIT and Mark to Cornell. Rush would go to Julliard or the New England Conservatory, or perhaps Eastman or Curtis. Mona goes to Yale Drama School. And then?

I’m guessing that after a moderately successful career as a dancer, Randy moves back into the Four Story Mistake and opens a dance studio in Carthage. I somehow think that she never marries, but Rush, Mona, and Mark do, and they and their children often visit.