Author | Elizabeth Enright |
---|---|
Illustrator | Enright |
Country | United States |
Series | Melendy family |
Genre | Children's mystery fiction |
Publisher | Rinehart & Company |
Publication date | 1951 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 209 pp. [1] |
OCLC | 8989834 |
LC Class | PZ7.E724 Sp [1] |
Preceded by | Then There Were Five |
Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze is a children's novel written and illustrated by Elizabeth Enright and published by Rinehart in 1951. It is the last of four books in the Melendy family series which she inaugurated in 1941. It tells the story of the two youngest among five children after they alone remain at the family's "four-story mistake" house in the country.
The first three novels, published from 1941 to 1944, had been reissued by Rinehart in a 1947 omnibus edition entitled The Melendy Family. [2]
"Randy was certain this was going to be the worst winter of her life." [3] Miranda "Randy" Melendy and her younger brother Oliver find themselves the only children in their family for the first time in their lives. Rush and Mark have gone away to a boarding school, and Mona now lives in New York City with the family's elderly friend, Mrs. Oliphant. Randy hates change of any sort, and even placid Oliver has a hard time dealing with being left behind. Then a mysterious note arrives in the mail, inviting the children to solve a rhyming clue. Each note leads to another one, with the promise of a treasure at the end.
Randy and Oliver find themselves exploring the countryside, their community, and even discovering family history as they race through a maze of guesses and misdirection. The final chapter reveals the authors of the clues to be their family and Mrs. Oliphant, and Randy and Oliver are treated to the "rare reward" they were promised at the start of the game, with everyone together again for the summer. [4]
After three books about all the Melendy children, some reviewers found they missed the lively personalities of the now absent older siblings as much as Randy and Oliver do in the book. Anita Silvey wrote, "The last book in the series ... disappoints only because the older Melendy children have left home, though the writing has the usual Enright charm and percipience." [5]
As the Dictionary of Literary Biography points out, all of the Melendy books "capture the world of the 1940s, where holidays were major family events and children invented their own games". [6] This can be seen in Spiderweb for Two where young Randy and Oliver wander freely around the countryside without any supervision. "All Enright children do things that children dream of doing", according to Irene Haas. [7]
Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works cover "domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural".
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Elizabeth Wright Enright Gillham was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the Newbery Medal-winning author of Thimble Summer (1938) and the Newbery runner-up Gone-Away Lake (1957), she also wrote the popular Melendy quartet. A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks.
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Gone-Away Lake is a children's novel written by Elizabeth Enright, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, and published by Harcourt in 1957. It was a runner-up for the annual Newbery Medal and was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1970. It tells the story of cousins who spend a summer exploring and discover a lost lake and the two people who still live there.
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The Saturdays is a children's novel written and illustrated by Elizabeth Enright, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1941. It is the first of four books in the Melendy family series, introducing the four Melendy children who determine to stop wasting their Saturdays, pool their allowances, and take turns having adventures in pre-World War II New York City.
Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan is a novel by Benedict and Nancy Freedman set in the Canadian wilderness during the early 1900s. Considered by some a young-adult classic, Mrs. Mike was initially serialized in the Atlantic Monthly and was the March 1947 selection of the Literary Guild. It was a critical and popular success, with 27 non-US editions, and it was published as an Armed Services Edition for U.S. servicemen abroad. The work combines the landscape and hardships of the Canadian North with the love story of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Mike Flannigan and the young Katherine Mary O'Fallon, newly arrived from Boston, Massachusetts.
The Four-Story Mistake is a children's novel written and illustrated by Elizabeth Enright, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1942. It is the second book in the Melendy family series which Enright inaugurated in 1941. The family leaves World War II-era New York City for a house in the country, a house that is an adventure in itself.
Then There Were Five is a children's novel written and illustrated by Elizabeth Enright, published by Farrar & Rineheart in 1944. It is the third of four books in the Melendy family series which Enright inaugurated in 1941. Continuing life at the "four-story mistake" country house during World War II, the four children have adventures that include a neighbor boy who finally joins the family.
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