Meet the Melendys! The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There's thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-and-a-half-year-old Randy, who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six.

Tired of wasting Saturdays doing nothing but wishing for larger allowances, the four Melendys jump at Randy's idea to start the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.). If they pool their resources and take turns spending the whole amount, they can each have at least one memorable Saturday afternoon of their own. Before long, I.S.A.A.C. is in operation and every Saturday is definitely one to remember.

Written more than half a century ago, The Saturdays unfolds with all the ripe details of a specific place and period but remains, just the same, a winning, timeless tale. The Saturdays is the first installment of Enright's Melendy Quartet, an engaging and warm series about the close-knit Melendy family and their surprising adventures.

Too adulty right now, but I'd like to read it later.

Meet the Melendys! The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There's thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-and-a-half-year-old Randy, who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six.
Tired of wasting Saturdays doing nothing but wishing for larger allowances, the four Melendys jump at Randy's idea to start the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.). If they pool their resources and take turns spending the whole amount, they can each have at least one memorable Saturday afternoon of their own. Before long, I.S.A.A.C. is in operation and every Saturday is definitely one to remember.
Written more than half a century ago, The Saturdays unfolds with all the ripe details of a specific place and period but remains, just the same, a winning, timeless tale. The Saturdays is the first installment of Enright's Melendy Quartet, an engaging and warm series about the close-knit Melendy family and their surprising adventures. ( )

What a delightful, old-fashioned story. I ate it up! Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver are the well-developed and individual Melendy children with their dog, Isaac, Father, Cuffy their surrogate mother, and Willy Sloper, the jack of all trades. Their Saturday adventures are of the simple sort, but momentous to children of their day. I especially enjoyed Randy meeting Mrs. Oliphant and Rush saving Isaac. Elizabeth Enright is an excellent writer with sometimes surprising, but lovely parts of speech: "...popcorn was bouncing frivolously" AND "...smooth elephant-colored bands of rock." I look forward to reading the remainder of the Melendy Quartet. ( )

Absolutely charming walk down memory lane! Will probably finish the series eventually. ( )

How did I miss reading this lovely book series as a kid?? I was a voracious reader....and I loved books like this! But....some things are best saved for a later day? Maybe? I'm 51...and just now discovering these delightful books! I did not discover the joy that Enright's writing can bring until I came across Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away, totally by accident. I read those two books first (loved them!)...and then moved on to this series.

OMG...I had such fun reading this story! It is a bit dated (first published in 1941), but it didn't put a damper on my enjoyment of the story one bit. There are four children in the Melendy family -- Mona, Rush, Miranda, and 6-year old Oliver. They live with their father and a housekeeper, Cuffy. Cuffy is a beloved member of the family, stepping in as a substitute mom of sorts for the throng after the death of their mother. Father writes for a living, and offers up common sense wisdom when needed. He also complains about coal furnaces, the price of everything, and the woes of home repair, as all dads do. Mona wants to be an actress. Rush likes to joke around and loves the theater, especially opera. Miranda is a free spirit and just wants to be herself. And Oliver.....he's just a bit tired of being too little to do things like his siblings do. The kids are bored. Saturdays should be a day where they get to go out and do things...but money is a bit of a crunch. So, they decide to form a club and pool their money. Every Saturday one of them will get to go out and do something fun...whatever they choose. It's the 1940s....a kid can do a lot with $1.60! Each section of this book is a different Saturday....and a new adventure for each kid in the Melendy family and some shared excitement. Even some danger!

I listened to the audio book version of this story. Narrated by Pamela Dillman, the audio is just over 4 hours long. Dillman gives a great performance. And the story is just enchantingly fun! Every Saturday is an adventure! Fun is had -- lessons are learned -- life is lived. :)

When the book finished, I found myself wondering what I would have chosen to do on MY Saturday, if I had been a Melendy. At 12, I probably would have chosen a day at the zoo where I could wander at will and look at my favorite animals as long as I wanted to. Then a trip to a nearby bookstore, where I could browse the shelves and buy one book I really wanted....then sit outside in the sunshine for awhile and read. Then back home. :) That would have been the perfect day for me at 12. And, you know.....I think it would be a perfect day for me at 51, too!! :)

Moving on to the next book -- The Four-Story Mistake. There are four books in the series. And luckily my library has them all on audio! ( )

Such a cute little story about the Saturday adventures of the Melendy children. Made extra charming because of the huge differences to raising children in the 1940's as opposed to today. ( )

I return again and again to this book for its sweetness and sense of quiet adventure. ( )

How did I get to be an adult and not know about this series of books? The Melendys have made my lunch hour this week. I miss them already! ( )

The Melendy Family series has always been one of the most beloved, influential, and significant books of my childhood and my life. I first read it at a very young age, and read it over and over and over again in the following years. It's remained a top favorite ever since. Reading these books again feels like coming home, and I feel like I know the characters as well as I know my own family. I remember almost every single chapter and scene so vividly. Somehow, it's been years and years since I last read this series - possibly even most of a decade. Way too long, regardless. And I'm so glad I decided to read them again! I'm enjoying every moment.

Given the above, it's impossible to sum up in a review what this book means to me, or even what it's about. All I can do is ramble a little about both, but this is only a fraction of what I could say. It's too much a part of my heart to properly express it all in words.

But I will say that it's a book about the fierce and enduring love of a family for each other. About the experience of growing up and changing and passing through stages of life. About a boisterous family of unique and lively people, who enjoy each moment of life to the full, who revel in the glories and beauties of nature and the world, who delight in interesting experiences, who are smart and creative, who are always learning and growing and seeking knowledge and skills - and who can never seem to escape adventure, even in the daily happenings of a normal life.

"Things like that never happen to us. We lead a humdrum life when I think about it. It's funny how it doesn't seem humdrum."

"That's because you have 'eyes the better to see with, my dear' and 'ears the better to hear with.' Nobody who has them and uses them is likely to find life humdrum very often. Even when they have to use bifocal lenses, like me."

In the Melendys' first book, The Saturdays, the four Melendy siblings come up with a plan to take turns going on adventures every Saturday, and the book follows their weekly adventures growing up in New York City in the 1940s. Between unexpected joys and unexpected disasters, they encounter more adventure than even they could have planned! In the sequel, The Four-Story Mistake, the Melendys reluctantly move to a large, interesting house in the countryside, and end up adoring their new home and all it brings - and of course, they encounter even more adventures in their new life. The joyful and bittersweet times of growing up and going on to new things are continued in the sequels, Then There Were Five and Spiderweb for Two.

I enjoy each chapter and episode of the Melendy family's everyday adventures. They're humorous, entertaining, and exciting, and always full of heart as well as humor. The Melendys' deep love for and loyalty to each other, and their joyful pleasure in life and each other, is so wonderful to read about, and is evident on every page. I love family and sibling stories so much, and this is one of the best and most special I have read. The Melendy family holds an exalted place in my heart. It's a book that glows with bittersweet nostalgia of childhood past and current - all the more so for someone like me, who read it so many times as a child. But I think it would feel nostalgic and golden for anyone, child or adult - anyone will read it and feel the wonderful qualities of a childhood full of laughter, adventure, nature, and love.

The Melendy family always reminded me of my own family. Like ours, there were four siblings - a slightly bossy oldest sister, then a boy and a girl very close in age - though in my family, was the second sister, and my slightly-younger brother was the third child, instead of the other way around. Our personalities are even similar to the characters, in some ways. And in both families, following the three oldest siblings, very close in age, is a youngest brother a few years behind - so much alike. The difference is that a little while after I read this book so many times as a child, my family had a fifth child, a much-younger sister. I still think four children is a perfect number, as I always have, but now I think that five is equally perfect!

Each character in the series is vivid, lifelike, amusing, and real, and I connect with and love each one. I love each of the four Melendy siblings, and each of their family and friends. I've always identified so strongly with Randy, the third-oldest sister - her personallity, especially, but also her role in the family. She's an idealistic, joyful, sweet-hearted, artistic, accident-prone, imaginative dreamer, who loves everyone, and who doesn't seem as smart as the older siblings she admires. All of that is true for me as well - and like me, she's a young girl who doesn't like change, and wishes she could hold onto the past and keep everyone from growing up, as time marches on and things slip through her fingers.. As a child, and still as an adult, I see so much of myself in her. More than most other characters in existence. The book treats her with love and understanding, and it was comforting for me to read about her as a child.

And I enjoy each of the relationships between the characters. But I think I most enjoy the relationship and friendship between the middle brother and sister, Rush and Randy. I love how they're devoted and loyal to each other, and have so much fun together, going on excursions and joking around. And they support each other, and he protects her and comforts her when she's in need of it. They have such an easy, close friendship. I always envied that, as a child. My brother was barely more than a year younger than me, even closer in age than Rush and Randy - though in my case, the sister, not the brother, is older. But I was not friends with my brother - we couldn't stand each other and didn't get along. Whenever I read about a brother and sister who were close in age and were best friends, I always wished I had that. But as a child reading this book, I didn't have it. But now I do! My brother and I grew up and matured, and once we became teenagers, we became best friends. And I'm so glad. That's one of the best things that's every happened to me, and I'm thankful - going from constant fighting and bickering and dislike and unfriendly competition, to love and support and laughter and friendship. I treasure my friendship with my brother. I haven't read the Melendy books since before I gained that friendship, but reading it again now, it makes me so happy to see so much similarity between myself, my brother, and our relationship in Rush and Randy. The idealistic, imaginative girl, and the brilliant, cynical, brother - both full of laughter and fun.

One thing I am intensely aware of now, that I took for granted and didn't pay attention to as a child, is how fabulous and skilled the writing of these books are. I had forgotten that, because I didn't notice it consciously. I had to stop often while reading to take pleasure in so many well-crafted descriptions and metaphors. The way the author describes people, and nature, and thoughts and feelings, and even a city bus, is so masterful. And her characters are so vivid and unique and full of life, with just as natural and distinctive mannerisms and ways of speaking, and ways of being, as real people. And so, so many other things - the writing is just wonderful. I was not a writer as a child, but I am now, and I'm keenly aware of how glorious the writing of this series is.

Another thing I notice even more now that I'm older is how well the author handled so many things about what it's like to grow up - and one thing that stuck out was how well the Melendy parents love and take care of their family. But in such a realistic way. I appreciate that more now that I'm an adult, and now that I'm more aware of how wonderful my own parents are, even though I also see the flaws more clearly. One thing in particular that I notice about the Melendy family and the author's handling is how the children make mistakes and learn lessons - natural or intentional - and the parents handle it so well. They let them be independent and have adventures, and are there to catch them when they fall and lovingly let them know when they're wrong. And sometimes the children disobey and do something they know their parents would disapprove of, or that they know is wrong - and they make a mistake and learn a lesson. But the author handles it so well - we understand exactly why the children did it, and exactly why it wasn't a good idea, and just like in real life, there are natural consequences. The parenting and morality were handled so well.

My little sister is now old enough to read this series, and I cannot wait to share it with her. It will be so special, and I know she'll love it as much as the rest of my siblings and I always have - it's so wonderful to share favorite books with siblings who love them too. And this is such a sibling-centered book that it's all the more special.

I'm so glad I finally reread these books. It's been too long. I almost forgot how wonderful it is, and how much it means to me. But it's all fresh again now, and I'll surely be reading it again before that many more years pass again.

But Randy couldn't help feeling that there were many miracles in her life. Wasn't it a miracle to live in the country in spring? And to have a wonderful family that she was crazy about, and a house with a secret room and a cupola, and to be eleven and a half years old, and very good at riding a bicycle?

Anyway, that's how I feel today, thought Randy. Tomorrow maybe I'll feel some other way; cranky, or dull, or just natural. But that's how I feel today.

( )

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright was one of the titles mentioned in the Excellent Books for Early and Eager Readers that I reviewed not too long ago and one of the first from my holds list that I picked up to read. Firstly, even though this book was written in the 1940s it's still very readable for a contemporary middle grade (or adult in my case) audience. The book follows the 4 Melendy children (Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver) who are described (and drawn) with loving detail by the author along with their father, Cuffy the housekeeper, and Willy Sloper the handyman. The basic premise of the book (which is the first in a 4 part series by the way) is that the four children form a club to stave off their boredom wherein they pool their weekly allowances so that every Saturday they can each afford to go on solo adventures and do something that they really want to do (but which will likely not appeal to anyone else). Their interests much like their personalities were realistic for the time period in which the book was written although they feel somewhat far-fetched in comparison to today's children (one of the kids is obsessed with opera). Each of their Saturday adventures comes complete with peril (of the lightest variety) and life lessons learned so that there are built-in morals (sometimes heavy-handed) built into the narrative. I liked it but it's probably not going to be the first book I think of to recommend...unless the kid really digs the opera in which case I am ready. 6/10 ( )

Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver Melendy live in New York City with their father and a housekeeper. The city is full of sights to see and great experiences, especially for children who dream of becoming dancers, actors, and musicians, but it’s also a bit expensive when you only get an allowance of fifty cents a week. One rainy Saturday, Randy gets the idea of pooling their resources: each Saturday, one of the four will get all of the allowances, resulting in a sum that, in the 1940s, is enough for a ticket to the opera or ballet, and various other adventures besides. Along the way, they also discover that the most enjoyable experiences are sometimes serendipitous (and free), and they make many new friends on their adventures.

This was lovely! I don’t know how I missed these charming stories until now. I ran across a mention of them in comparison to The Penderwicks, which is certainly apt. I’d also recommend them to fans of E. Nesbit, Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family, and Noel Streatfeild. I wish I could go back and recommend them to my childhood self! ( )

Elizabeth Enright captures the drama, joy, and adventure of childhood in the books that make up her Melendy family series—true classics of children’s literature. The Saturdays, originally published in 1941 and the first novel in the series, introduces us to the New York City based family: Mona (13), Rush (12), Miranda/“Randy” (10½), Oliver (6), Mr. Melendy (a writer), Cuffy (the beloved housekeeper), and Willy Sloper (the handyman, who maintains the old coal furnace).

The story begins on a rainy summer afternoon. The children, lounging distractedly in the “Office”, their attic playroom, are thoroughly bored when Randy has the brilliant idea of pooling the siblings’ weekly allowances so each of the four can have a solo outing. And so “ISAAC”—the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club—is born. Randy goes first, since she came up with the idea. On the Saturdays that follow, each of her siblings will also venture out alone onto the streets of New York and return with a story that ultimately enriches the lives of the entire family. All of the children have particular artistic or scientific interests—Mona, in theatre; Rush, in classical music; Randy, in the visual arts and dance; and Oliver, in engineering, particularly trains. These interests guide what the kids will choose to do when their special Saturday comes..

In the course of the story, the children gain a dog, aptly named Isaac, whose breed Rush jokingly identifies variously as a “Bronx Beagle”, a “Central Park setter”, and an “Interborough Rapid Transit retriever” to anyone who inquires. They meet up with Mrs. Oliphant (an old family friend who knew their parents when young and who, herself, had a very surprising adventure of her own in childhood). They also experience excitement, fear, and alarm when their ramshackle house catches fire one afternoon and when the ancient coal furnace acts up in the middle of another night. There is a fascinating sequence in which Rush and Randy separately have very similar near-death-experience “dreams” (well before the details of such experiences were commonly documented for the public) apparently due to incipient carbon monoxide poisoning—caught in the nick of time.

The kids make some interesting and surprising discoveries about the world on their solo adventures. The girls hear stories from adults they meet, and realize that “Sometimes people are not the way they look.” Rush, who comes out of an opera matinee to find the city’s snow-clearing equipment fully engaged in battling the season’s biggest snowstorm, hears an old man make a strikingly modern observation: “Used to take a team of hosses pullin’ a snowplow to do a job like that . . . And hundreds of fellas out shovelin’ the way. Nowadays they do it all by machinery. Ain’t no work for nobody. That’s what’s the trouble with this world.” The man goes on to muse that he sometimes thinks a day will come “when these fellas build so much machinery that it will revolt; turn on ’em and swalla ’em up!”

So many contemporary works of children’s literature focus on afflictive emotions and the grudges between family members. That’s why reading about the energetic, loving (but never saccharine) Melendy siblings is such a delight. They genuinely like and care about each other.

I have never forgotten Enright’s The Four Story Mistake, which I read and loved as a child, and which I now plan to re-read. I wasn’t certain if I’d also read The Saturdays when young, but I know now that I did not. ( )

This is such a cute book! Four siblings are bored, bored, bored on a Saturday. While they all receive an allowance, it's not enough for them to each do something every weekend. They decide to form the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club. Every Saturday they pool their allowances and one Melendy child gets to spend the entire day doing something adventurous of his or her choosing. Ten and half year old Randy goes to the museum to look at art and meets Mrs. Oliphant on the first Saturday. Twelve year old Rush goes to the opera and finds a dog (who he names Isaac, get it?) on the second Saturday. Mona, the only teenager in the bunch, gets her hair cut. Even young Oliver at six years old sneaks to the circus when it is his turn. ( )

When I add books to my TBR list, I need to start noting where I heard about each book because I really wish I knew where I first learned about this one.

My kids and I loved reading about the Melendy children and their Saturday adventures. We thoroughly enjoyed this non-preachy book about children gallivanting around Manhattan sans parents, getting into and out of scrapes, and learning self-sufficiency (and---bonus!---their adult caregivers don't get arrested or lambasted on the Internet).

One star off because my five-year-old is now worried about coal gas and keeps talking about Hitler. ( )

Summary:
The Melendys are a family that live in a brownstone in New York City. Their family is made up of Mona, Rush, Miranda, Oliver, their father, and their housekeeper Cuffy. Cuffy is seen to the children as taking on many different roles ranging from a cook, nurse, mother, grandmother, and an aunt.

Review:
This book is an intermediate level reading book which addresses the family topic of single-parent households. Like many single-parent households, the children of the Melendy family have a guardian role model which is not one of their parents. Their housekeeper Cuffy has been taking care of all of there needs as we commonly see grandparents doing to children. Book is an easier read for students of this reading level. ( )

a favorite of Ginny's. Lots of fun. ( )

The first and perhaps the best of a series about a family of talented, independent-minded children growing up in the 1940s. In this first book they are living in New York and by pooling their allowances they give each child a Saturday adventure. I enjoyed these stories as a child and still do; my wife who did not know them as a child read them for the first time recently and also enjoyed them. ( )

The Melendys consist of 4 children: Rush, Mona, Randy and Oliver, one housekeeper, Cuffy, and one largely busy with his own life Dad. The mother is dead. Action takes pace in 1941 in a brownstone on 57th St. in Manhattan.


The chldren, aged 13, 12, 10 and 6, receive an allowance every week. They decide to pool their resources on rainy saturdays so that each child gets a chance to use the whole amount on whatever she likes. With permission from the father, the children may leave the house on their own so long as they return by 5:30 for supper.

Saturday 1 Randy goes to an art gallery to look at French paintings, runs into Mrs. Oliphant, a family acquaintance, who treats her to tea and stories.

Saturday 2 Rush goes ot the opera, and finds a dog.

Saturday 3 Mona gets her day of beauty.

Saturday 4 Oliver goes to the circus

Saturday 5 there is a picnic, with gas poisoning back home

Saturday 6 tea with Mrs. Oliphant and an invitation for the summer

Saturday The Lighthouse for the summer. Renovations to the house.

Just about the most charming book ever. ( )

Such a fantastic, classic, children's book. Funny that I only read it for the first time at age 31. When I was a kid, I really enjoyed and actually sought out books that took place in New York City. I found it so thrilling to read about city kids and their adventures taking the subway and walking around Central Park. This story is so sweet and funny and really, really well written.
I can't wait to read more Elizabeth Enright. ( )

6/11 Re-read. I don't know if I think this book is practically perfect because I know it by heart, because I love each and every one of the characters, or because the writing is stellar. Maybe all of those things. Enright was a genius, and it makes me sad when people have never heard of her.

This time through, the Isaac-the-dog storyline seemed somehow more touching than usual. I love Mona's sadder-but-wiser moment, and Oliver's adventure. But my favorite favorite is the story of Gabrielle and the Gypsies. But Willy Sloper on opera is classic, and close to my heart.

Seriously, just read this book, okay?

1/10 Re-read of an old favorite. I love it, but not as much as I love the Gone-Away books. It's somewhat dated, but not in a painful way. It's particularly odd to read about a family who lives in New York City who have a house and a yard and who are decidedly not rich.

This book feels less like a whole book to me now and more like an introduction to the family who one comes to adore over the next two books. It's a capsule, a moment, and a series of character sketches. All of the characters are interesting but it's the barest hint of what comes next, how we come to know them in The Four Story Mistake and Then There Were Five. I will confess publicly to having no memory whatsoever of Spiderweb For Two, though I remember carrying it home from the library in my daisy-adorned bicycle basket.

I'm impressed with the sheer staying power Enright's images have- so many things I remembered as crisply as if I'd read them for the first time last week. Who can forget Randy on the trapeze in the Office? Or Oliver at the circus? Cuffy's teeth in a glass? The vignettes are very vivid, and in a lot of ways I think this book is a love poem to a vanished New York. ( )

I ran into a comment about this book and remembered reading the Melendy Family Quartet many, many years ago. I was addicted to Nancy Drew mysteries and my Mother took me to the bookstore and told me I could pick out any book as long as it wasn't Nancy Drew. I remembered loving this book and, over the years, have remembered many scenes from the books. So I bought them again to see if they were as good as I remembered. They were -- admittedly they're very much of their time (1940's) but the warmth and fun is there and ageless. I'd recommend these books to any child (and, frankly, any adult looking for a little innocent fun). All of the first three books are about the same in quality -- the only one that can be skipped is Spiderweb for Two -- which suffered a little from the lack of two of the four children. ( )

A childhood favorite that still brings a sense of joy and peace. ( )

My least favorite Melendy book, but probably because I read The Four-Story Mistake and Then There Were Five at least a year before I read this one, and after you've read the adventures in that fantastic house, their prior lives in the city just don't measure up. ( )

Awwww. I have a new favourite family! The Melendy kids (Mona, 13, Rush, 12, Randy, 10, and Oliver, 6) decide to pool their allowance so that each week one of them can use the money to do something really special. And as each outing is described in splendid detail, excitement doesn't always come from the direction the kids expect. I would have loved to belong to this family. And other than the amount of allowance, I didn't find that they were dated at all, they were very entertaining kids. I'd give this to someone looking for a family story, a funny story, or for a good episodic read aloud. ( )