The Four-Story Mistake [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Enright (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Four reasons to cheer!

Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person. They all live with their father, who is a writer, and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, who takes on the many roles of nurse, cook, substitute mother, grandmother, and aunt.

Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy Quartet, which captures the lively adventures of a family as they move from the city to the country, are being published in new editions. Each of the books features a foreward and signature black-and-white interior illustrations by the author. Popular artist Tricia Tusa provides irresistible new cover art that will appeal to today’s readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Welcome Back! Old favorites are being reissued in force this fall. Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Quartet follows siblings Mona, Rush, Miranda (Randy, for short) and Oliver. First published in 1941, The Saturdays kicks off the series and centers on the foursome's Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.), an allowance-endowed venture formed so one lucky Melendy can enjoy a solo sojourn each week. In The Four-Story Mistake (1942) the family moves from their city brownstone to the country; Then There Were Five (1944) describes what happens when the siblings befriend an orphan; and in Spiderweb forTwo: A Melendy Maze (1951), when everyone else leaves for school, Randy and Oliver are left to solve a mystery. The author's charming pen-and-inks punctuate all four volumes. (Sept.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The Melendys are the quintessential storybook family...[their] ardent approach to living is eternally relevant." -- Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 3rd edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805070613
• ISBN-13: 978-0805070613
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,164,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The rare special kind of book that stays with you always, January 12, 2000

By 

Suzanne Amara (MA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Four-Story Mistake (Melendy Family) (Paperback)

There is something about this book that is very, very special. There are some many moments in the Melendy series (of which I think this book is the best) that really stay with you always. A few---Christmas eve, and Randy talking about how Christmas eve sometimes feels more special than Christmas---as you are waiting for everything---I think about that every Christmas eve. Oliver seeing the Luna moth. Mona coming home from her first dance. The way Cuffy is described---I can picture her as if I knew her. It's hard to use my own words to do any justice to Enright's words. Just will say---I hope you will try this book and let it become as special a part of your life as it is of mine.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a piece of gold I found as a child!, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Four-Story Mistake (Melendy Family) (Paperback)

As a child I checked this book out because it was part of an collection of 3 Elizabeth Enright books(in one very large book now out of print) that was thick enough to put me first on our class reading chart (you moved up a level for every 100pgs). After 3 years and more than two dozen readings I returned it to the library. This book takes a child and thier imagination out to play with the Melendy kids and help them explore thier new house with all its secrets and adventures. Along the way it gives understanding of what it was like for American children in the WWII Era. For me this book inspired a lifelong interest in the real lives of people behind the statistics of our history. I have been looking for this book off and on for 20 years. Now I have found it and even better, my kids are old enough to go on Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver Melendy's adventures too. The Melendy's lives continue in the book Then There Were Five. Don't let the reasonable price fool you both books are treasures for a childs mind.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, exciting and enjoyable book perfect for fifth-graders, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Four-Story Mistake (Melendy Family) (Paperback)

This is a book about the Melendy children-Mona, Rush, Randy and Oliver-who have lived in the city all their lives. Now they must move to an old mansion in the countryside, "The Four-Story Mistake." The house got its name because when built it was meant to be four stories, but was only built three stories high. The owners of the house built a cupola on top to make up for the missing fourth story. The house is full of places to hide and more adventures than anyone could imagine. I found the Melendy children very entertaining and their adventures quite humorous. I enjoyed this book a lot, and think it would be a very good book for other fifth-grade girls.