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A review by libreroaming
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
3.0
Written in 1941, the first novel of the Melendy family is over 75 years old and still mostly manages to capture a timelessness found in children's classics like those by Beverly Cleary, Eleanor Estes, Judy Blume, Sydney Taylor, and newcomer Jeanne Birdsall. I say mosly because it does, however, have some unfortunate stereotyping when their elderly neighbor recounts a time she was kidnapped from the circus by Gypsies and only managed to escape their clutches through a fortuitous run-in with a sympathetic adult. Another topic that parents might think warrants a discussion is the time where Mona uses her Saturday to get her hair and nails done, and there is a debate that revolves around parental permission and independence, but the narration seems to give a faint condemnation to a 13 year old wanting to change her appearance that modern day children might find opprobrious.
Yet despite the vast technology, linguistic, and socio-economic differences, the idea of kids pooling their allowances to give one of their siblings a perfect Saturday is a captivating concept no matter the decade, and the chapters being divided into separate Saturday adventures make this novel easy to digest for bedtime reading. There is a tone of "gosh gee whillikers" and comfort to these adventures, where even the dangerous incidents like the family almost suffocating from the coal furnace door being left open is a few steps removed from being truly threatening.
Yet despite the vast technology, linguistic, and socio-economic differences, the idea of kids pooling their allowances to give one of their siblings a perfect Saturday is a captivating concept no matter the decade, and the chapters being divided into separate Saturday adventures make this novel easy to digest for bedtime reading. There is a tone of "gosh gee whillikers" and comfort to these adventures, where even the dangerous incidents like the family almost suffocating from the coal furnace door being left open is a few steps removed from being truly threatening.