Madye Lee Chastain (1908–1989)

Marcy and Patty are 13 now and in the 8th grade. Next year they'll be in high school! Things are changing for them. Marcy's mother is going to have to take her shopping because last year's dresses are too small and childish for her now. However, Marcy has no luck in talking her mother into letting her get a permanent.

Marcy doesn't have much time to imagine what it will be like to grow up before her best friend, Patty, comes over with bad news: stuck-up Gwynn Gilson is back in town. They're sure that everything is going to be ruined. Patty's big sister, Liz, gives them advice on how to handle Gwynn. They're not sure they can manage it. Worse, Folly and Bink, the brothers between Liz and Patty, think Gwynn is pretty. Folly even thinks Marcy and Patty are just jealous.

Of course that's because Folly and Bink don't know what Gwynn is like with her female classmates who aren't her loyal puppy dogs.

From the first day of school it's obvious that under her more sophisticated hair style and clothes better suited to a high school student, Gwynn hasn't changed. She wastes no time in making Patty, Marcy, and their friends feel like ignorant clods. At Mary Banning Hotchkiss School we did this, at Mary Banning Hotchkiss School we did that, blah, blah, blah.

Gwynn doesn't endear herself to any of her classmates by talking the principal into having a weekly social dancing class for grades 6 through 8. The boys complain that it's sissy stuff. The first class certainly doesn't go well. I have to applaud the girl who figured out a way to made sure her partner stopped stepping on her feet.

A subplot starts with Marcy and the Fripseys practicing their recorders in the Fripseys' attic. The author drew a mouse standing on one of the beams over the players. A mouse in a house with four cats??? I think head cat General Custer needs to speak to his troops.

The kids meet Mrs. Fripsey downstairs. She's been on closet inspection -- uh oh! The result is what we would call a yard sale, but they call a white elephant sale. There's plenty of the usual fun and a few disasters -- thanks to the pets. Great-Gram Dundee is reminded of how she met her late husband, Homer. The story made me chuckle.

After that pleasant interlude, Gwynn is at it again -- this time with the help of a handsome college freshman named Ricky Ransom who has a canary-yellow convertible. Marcy and Patty gather the other Bampejens club members for a council of war.

Then it's time for more fun with a warm, late October day. I'm with Great-Gram Dundee on what to do with it.

Gwynn's next move is to give a party -- one where the girls will have to get their own dates for the first time. Don't miss Patty's opinion of knights in shining armor and romance in chapter 8.

Gwynn takes the trouble to be quite nasty to Patty and Marcy about dates in chapter 9. (I enjoyed the session where the Bampejens, except for Sue-Sue, try to practice being more glamorous for the party.)

Clarence, the thoughtful boy, is Marcy's date. She and her family are taken aback by Clarence's new hobby. I see nothing wrong with it.

If you disliked Gwynn in the first book, Bright Days, and loathe her now, you will love what happens to her at the party. Serves her right.

The school Christmas pagent doesn't get a chapter in this book. Valentine's Day does. Marcy gets a beautiful store-bought valentine delivered to her home. Who's her secret admirer?

The class valentine party is spoiled, but it's not Gwynn's fault this time -- not directly. Can anything be done?

It wouldn't be a Fripsey book without ending on a high note of fun. Leave it to the Fripseys does just that. Marcy even learns who her secret admirer is!

I wish there were more than four Fripsey books. It's always hard for me to come to the end of them. If you like warm young adult stories of friendship and family, try one of the books. You'll probably want to get them all if you do.… (altro)

Sue-Sue Fripsey may be worried that the new school year will be a dull one, but Marcy Prescott and Patty Fripsey get some good news even before school starts: Gwynn Gilson can't spoil their fun this time. Gwynn's being sent to school in California! On the other hand, the girls don't know what they and the other members of their club, the Bampejens, will do for fun. Liz Fripsey's suggestions aren't received with enthusiasm. It seems that several of the parents of the Bampejens aren't that keen on having nine girls in their house at the same time. Liz suggests asking their youngest brother, Davey, if they may use his little leftover house for a club house sometimes. Too bad for the girls that the third Fripsey brother, Bink, helps Davey with the negotiations...

This book introduced me to the idea of the progressive dinner. Apparently it was like a potluck dinner with each couple being responsible for only one dish, except that each course was served at a different house. The Bampejens decide to have one with very mixed results. Perhaps they shouldn't have kept each course a surprise. (The Agnes Special might work for PMS days, but I don't think I could survive it at any other time.)

In chapter three Mrs. Fripsey, Mrs. Prescott, and their daughters -- except for little Tabby Fripsey -- pay a call on the the Misses Wardfield, their new neighbors. (Chapter one ends with a discussion of the sign outside the ladies' home. Davey drives Liz crazy with his questions.)

As it turns out, the Misses Wardfield are retired music teachers who think it would be fun to give lessons on that Elizabethan flute, the recorder. I had to take recorder lessons in grade school, but that was in the mid-sixties. This book came out in 1955. The folks in Mayville don't know what a recorder is. Miss Letitia and Miss Clara promise to teach the Fripseys for free, but they'll have to buy their own instruments.

There are still plenty of things that need replacing at the Fripsey home. Not all Birch and Folly's tinkering and replacing parts can keep their old car from breaking down. There's one fund that's pretty full -- but it's the Christmas fund. Great-Gram Dundee starts to talk about the kind of Christmases they had when she was a girl. If the kids agree to make all of their presents, they can buy their recorders.

Of course the Fripseys and 'adopted' Fripsey Marcy do not make beautiful music at first. I can't blame Marcy's family for reacting the way they did during Marcy's first practice session at home. At that, they were much more polite than the audience at the Fripsey session in the attic.

This year Bink's class will be decorating the school Christmas tree. Bink has an idea and it is beautiful. A few things go wrong, but it is something different.

Presents are made, but no decorating has been done at home. There isn't even any snow in Mayville. When are the Fripseys going to have that homemade Christmas fun Great-Gram told them about? Oh, they'll have it -- thanks to a wonderful surprise gift from their parents. Marcy gets to be part of it!

The Misses Wardfield planned to hold a recital to introduce the recorder to their new town. Their pupils are willing, but are they ready? What?! They're going to have to wear costumes? Yes, and I loved Bink and Folly's reaction to their costumes at the dress rehearsal! They don't get their theeing and thouing quite right, but they didn't have the 'advantage' of growing up reading Thor comics.

The recital doesn't go off without a hitch but it does lead to something I didn't expect. The Fripseys might be able to replace their car after all...

I love all the Fripsey books without exception. I hope you'll love them too.… (altro)

When I was seven years old the Air Force sent us to Honduras. Mom was worried about having enough books in English for her children to read, so I was signed up for the Calling All Girls Book Club. Fripsey Summer was one of the selections and I loved it. I love it still.

The book opens in June with Marcy Prescott thrilled to think of a summer filled with Fripseys, the large family who moved in next door last September. The Fripseys aren't as thrilled, though. It's not Marcy, it's money. Mr. Fripsey's job in Mayville doesn't pay as well as the one he left when he inherited their big Victorian house. The family voted to move, but the house needs repairs. Lots of repairs. That the older boys are great handymen doesn't help if there's not enough money in the repair fund for more shingles.

Mr. Fripsey finds out that he's one of three men being considered for promotion when Mr. Wharton retires. The raise in salary would come in handy -- if only Mr. T. Tibber, the company president, will choose Mr. Fripsey. Mr. Tibber will be coming to Mayville to check out all three men, their homes, and families. They've got to make a good impression. There's so much to be done!

Meanwhile, Marcy and Patty's club, the Bampejens, takes a camping trip in the woods. It's beautiful! It's fun! Well, until the night of that big storm...

I love the visit with the elderly Satterly sisters, especially the story about what their father did the time they were snowbound and their mother had nothing with which to make a pie.

There's a bit of 1950s conformity in the scene where Liz is thinking up color schemes for painting the house. White might be the normal color for Mayville houses, but from what I've read that wasn't a popular color for Victorian homes. I rather like Liz's ideas. These days who would worry about pink or plum against a huge vine bearing orange flowers?

Then there's that little house at the end of the Fripseys' big back yard. No one can figure out what it was used for originally, but Davey and Baby think it makes a great playhouse. That's where they meet kindly Mr. Hank. He tells good stories. His wife sounds very fussy, though. Davey thinks it's a real shame Mr. Hank has a wife like that.

As the time for the Terrible Tibber inspection draws near, tension rises. Mrs. Fripsey sends the kids and Marcy off to swim at the lake for a break that doesn't turn out to be as relaxing as expected.

At last the Terrible day arrives. Great-Gram is off at a reuinion for the Miss Harmer's Boarding School for Young Ladies Class of [18]88. Mrs. Fripsey had assured her that they had everything under control, but that was before the accident.

Can things possibly get any worse?

There's plenty of fun for everyone with just enough danger to spice things up. Remember Bob Dittle, Liz's date in the last book? They're still dating. I'm afraid that Davey's mixed-up version of his name, 'Bobbydiddle,' has stuck. Loved the scene where Bob drops in during the making of the big dinner for Terrible Tibber!

Fans of the Fripseys' head cat, General Custer, will be glad to see him again. I laughed at his reaction when Fritter got herself stuck in a tree again. The mice, fish, and canaries don't put in an appearance, but all three Fripsey dogs and four cats do.

I would have loved to have lived next door to the Fripseys when I was a girl. I'm glad I can still revisit them.

My book club edition's (BCE) dust jacket has a plan white back with a drawing of a fake medal or ribbon on the back. It has the words 'An Approved Selection of Parents' Magazine's Book Club for Children' on it. I got this copy in 1963 and the pages are much browner and more brittle than my non-book club edition Fripsey books. It's still a great read. I just have to be more careful when I read it.… (altro)

This was the only Fripsey book I didn't get to read when I was a girl. I was 34 when I spotted it in a library used books sale and I was just thrilled. I thought it was great the first time I read it and still feel the same way.

Marcy Prescott is an only child who lives with her parents and her great-aunt (who isn't really as sour as she pretends) on the edge of town. One rainy summer day the vacant house next door stops being vacant. It's filled with Fripseys! Besides the parents, there are four boys, four girls, three dogs, four cats, two canaries, tropical fish, and a very nice great-grandmother. One of the girls, Patty, is Marcy's age.

Marcy and her mother go over to the 15-room shabby Victorian house to offer the Fripseys some hot tea. Instead, they wind up sitting on boxes and being served tea that was brewed in a clean china flowerpot and poured into anything clean and handy because the box with dishes hasn't been found yet. At least they had those packing crates to break up to start a fire. Great-aunt Partridge uses comic book noises to predict what living next door to the lively Fripseys will be like.

The family is used to doing things for themselves, which is just as well. They can't afford to hire people. The oldest boys keep their big rattletrap of a car going. All of the kids, except Baby, of course, get to paint and decorate their bedrooms. The family makes a contest of it. Marcy, who knows how to mix colors because her mother is a painter, helps out.

Then there's school. Sixth graders Marcy and Patty have one of the most beloved teachers, dear old Miss Dinwoody. Marcy is certain that this will be the best school year ever -- until new girl Gwynn Gilson joins their class.

Gwynn has been a city girl. Her father owns the local department store. Gwynn is very pretty, has very nice clothes, and gets very good grades. She's so patronizing about Mayville and Mayville ways. That superior smile of hers is hard to take. Gwynne shows that she hasn't the foggiest idea what class spirit means within the first week. Marcy and Patty can't stand her, especially after what she did regarding the school Christmas tree!

Still, Gwynne doesn't manage to spoil all their fun. There's sledding and ice skating that winter. Marcy and Patty start a larger girls' club after Gwynn and her three friends form the GEMS. Which girl's act will win the prize at the school gets to hold a winter carnival?

Another example of the Fripseys' homemade fun what they do to and in the attic. That's one of the scenes where their head cat, General Custer, gets to strut his stuff. (What he did to the oldest girl's dance date made me laugh.)

All year Marcy has been wanting to get the better of Gwynn at something. What Gwynn did to her and Patty at the school picnic was the last straw! Now Marcy has her chance. She's found out something that could ruin that brat. Will Marcy tell?

The Fripsey books are stuffed with good fun and good people. They're the literary equivalent of coming in from the cold to find a cup of cocoa and your favorite soup waiting for you.… (altro)