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cogsofencouragement's review against another edition
5.0
What a happy book full of hilarious stories about a one of a kind family.
zusy's review against another edition
4.0
I am not sure what I was expecting from this book but I do feel like I had an expectation. Which wasn't really what this book was. However, still highly enjoyable. A fairly quick and easy read. I look forward to Belles on Their Toes and reading more on Mother.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books of all time.
eb00kie's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book.
A series of humorous and heartwarming anecdotes of two real-life efficiency experts and their twelve children.
The Education
You have to take your hat off for someone who managed to rear their kids and educate them at home to the point it’s described in the book. Maths, languages, Morse Code, others. Children have a mind for learning and inasmuch as anyone can do it, it is a wondrous gift to give — and receive.
My mother taught me to read at 3. Imagine 4 extra years of reading *o*
A different age
This was set at the beginning of the 20th century and published in 1948, so the characters, the values and the language all have a full foreign flavour of the past. I look at this and think how far we’ve come — but also how good it was for someone to raise twelve kids on two salaries.
The stories
Stories of growing up are their own genre. I’m not talking ‘coming-of-age’ or ‘Bildungsroman’, but the parent-child relationships are precious, strong, diverse and the stories are usually shared more within the family circle than outside of it and lost to time.
It all built up to a powerful emotional ending.
A series of humorous and heartwarming anecdotes of two real-life efficiency experts and their twelve children.
The Education
You have to take your hat off for someone who managed to rear their kids and educate them at home to the point it’s described in the book. Maths, languages, Morse Code, others. Children have a mind for learning and inasmuch as anyone can do it, it is a wondrous gift to give — and receive.
My mother taught me to read at 3. Imagine 4 extra years of reading *o*
A different age
This was set at the beginning of the 20th century and published in 1948, so the characters, the values and the language all have a full foreign flavour of the past. I look at this and think how far we’ve come — but also how good it was for someone to raise twelve kids on two salaries.
The stories
Stories of growing up are their own genre. I’m not talking ‘coming-of-age’ or ‘Bildungsroman’, but the parent-child relationships are precious, strong, diverse and the stories are usually shared more within the family circle than outside of it and lost to time.
It all built up to a powerful emotional ending.
crafty_nivette's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it. I didn't hate it and I didn't think it was spectacular. There were several laugh-out-loud situations, but there WAS a general lack of story progression, just anecdotes strung together in a basic kind of timeline. It's hilarious that a family resorted to so many tactics to get those times down...lol. And it did seem kind of odd that for all their success, the Dad hadn't prepared his family financially for what was his inevitable death. He knew it was coming...the money was seriously gone? Although after all those random gifts, I guess it makes a little more sense.
fdterritory's review against another edition
5.0
After many starts and stops, I finished reading this book to my daughter tonight, where she was about the same age that I read it. It is still wonderful.
bethgiven's review against another edition
3.0
So, have you seen that movie with Steve Martin that came out a few years ago about the family with twelve kids, “Cheaper by the Dozen?” Don’t feel like the movie spoiled this book. There are a few “themes” that are the same (i.e., driven, successful parents raising a dozen children), but the details of the story have been completely altered in the movie. I guess they didn’t really want to remake the other “Cheaper by the Dozen” movie you can catch on TCM every once in awhile.
(And, if you were unfortunate enough to have seen the sequel, “Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” rest assured that the book is even farther away from THAT storyline. The book had me busting up in laughter whereas the movie never did.)
I think part of the fun of this book is knowing that the stories are true. They’re written by two children of the Gilbreth clan (and while that’s not obvious, you might notice that their stories seem to play more into the vignettes in the book than the other children of similar ages and situations). Their descriptions are never overbearing or showy (Frank Gilbreth, Sr. would be proud to see they were efficient in their writing) but have just enough details woven together to draw you into the situations. I read a few of the stories aloud to Nathan, and we laughed and laughed over one story in which Bill, the family prankster, pulled a joke over on his dad — who was undoubtedly the source of Bill’s sense of humor.
The storyline centers around the love in the family, stemming from the parents. The patriarch of the family, Frank Gilbreth, is quirky and makes for a base to almost all the comic material in the book. His studies in factory efficiency tend to translate over to his family, where he raised a little army of Renaissance men and women who utilized every free second to listen to language records and learn multiplication tricks. Frank’s wife Lillian is the pillar of the family, always in control, making me wonder if she was exaggerated to fit the fifties “June Cleaver” mold or if her kids loved her so much that was honestly how they saw her. I love the dedication in the book: “To Dad, who only reared twelve children, and to Mother, who reared twelve only children.”
A fun, quick read.
(And, if you were unfortunate enough to have seen the sequel, “Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” rest assured that the book is even farther away from THAT storyline. The book had me busting up in laughter whereas the movie never did.)
I think part of the fun of this book is knowing that the stories are true. They’re written by two children of the Gilbreth clan (and while that’s not obvious, you might notice that their stories seem to play more into the vignettes in the book than the other children of similar ages and situations). Their descriptions are never overbearing or showy (Frank Gilbreth, Sr. would be proud to see they were efficient in their writing) but have just enough details woven together to draw you into the situations. I read a few of the stories aloud to Nathan, and we laughed and laughed over one story in which Bill, the family prankster, pulled a joke over on his dad — who was undoubtedly the source of Bill’s sense of humor.
The storyline centers around the love in the family, stemming from the parents. The patriarch of the family, Frank Gilbreth, is quirky and makes for a base to almost all the comic material in the book. His studies in factory efficiency tend to translate over to his family, where he raised a little army of Renaissance men and women who utilized every free second to listen to language records and learn multiplication tricks. Frank’s wife Lillian is the pillar of the family, always in control, making me wonder if she was exaggerated to fit the fifties “June Cleaver” mold or if her kids loved her so much that was honestly how they saw her. I love the dedication in the book: “To Dad, who only reared twelve children, and to Mother, who reared twelve only children.”
A fun, quick read.
resslesa's review against another edition
5.0
I have loved this book since since I was a kid. The stories are hilarious and heartwarming and fascinating. As a mom now, I read the book with new eyes regarding the partnership between the parents and the struggles of raising their family in the 1920’s. The sequel, Belles on Their Toes, is a must read as well.
The audiobook I listened to with the kids. Also awesome.
The audiobook I listened to with the kids. Also awesome.
servemethesky's review against another edition
3.0
After much persuasion from my eager coworker, I finally picked up Cheaper by the Dozen. It was an enjoyable enough read, but throughout it, I found myself thinking it was far too rosy. I like books that are dark and twisty. It's also hard for me to NOT read novels. I kept wishing for some kind of plot, rising action and a climax with resolution at the end. That was not the case with this book.
Cheaper by the Dozen is a collection of mostly nonfictional stories about the life of a family with 12 kids. The stories are cute and touching, and feel like relics of a bygone era, so that's kind of cool.
Then abruptly, the dad dies in the final story and the book is over. Yikes! That wasn't the kind of dark and twisty I was looking for.
I've heard there's a second book, [b:Belles on Their Toes|248540|Belles on Their Toes|Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412741236s/248540.jpg|1306704], involving the mom becoming a badass superfeminist. I might pick it up sometime.
Cheaper by the Dozen is a collection of mostly nonfictional stories about the life of a family with 12 kids. The stories are cute and touching, and feel like relics of a bygone era, so that's kind of cool.
Then abruptly, the dad dies in the final story and the book is over. Yikes! That wasn't the kind of dark and twisty I was looking for.
I've heard there's a second book, [b:Belles on Their Toes|248540|Belles on Their Toes|Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412741236s/248540.jpg|1306704], involving the mom becoming a badass superfeminist. I might pick it up sometime.