Then There Were Five (The Melendy
Quartet) by Elizabeth Enright
I've Got You All Beat
With Father in Washington and Cuffy, their housekeeper, away visiting a
sick cousin, almost anything might happen to the Melendy kids left behind
at the Four-Story Mistake. In the Melendy family, adventures are
inevitable: Mr. Titus and the catfish; the villainy of the DeLacey brothers;
Rushs composition of Opus 3; Monas first rhubarb pie and all the canning;
Randys arrowhead; the auction and fair for the Red Cross. But best of all is
the friendship with Mark Herron, which begins with a scrap-collection
mission and comes to a grand climax on Olivers birthday.
Here is Elizabeth Enrights classic story of a long and glorious summer in
the country with the resourceful, endearing Melendy bunch. Then There
Were Five is the third installment of Enrights Melendy Quartet, an
engaging and warm series about the close-knit Melendy family and their
surprising adventures.

Personal Review: Then There Were Five (The Melendy Quartet)
by Elizabeth Enright
"Then There Were Five" in the third book in the Melendy Quartet, and
picks up immediately where "The Four-Story Mistake" left off. We meet the
Melendy children again on a hot June afternoon, when they are building a
dam across the brook on their property to make it deep enough to swim in.
It's a team effort and everybody is pulling their weight. It's typical of this
family; they play and share alike.
But unlike the first two Melendy books, which were more or less a series of
unrelated adventures, "Then There Were Five has a plot running all
through it. World War II is on everybody's mind. Father is away in
Washington for most of the book, working at a government job "so secret I
have to guard against talking to myself". The four Melendy children are left
in the care of Cuffy, their housekeeper, and Willy Sloper, their handyman.
The war has everyone involved. Cuffy is growing a Victory Garden. Oliver
is adding to the family diet by fishing every day in the brook (Rush has
chub coming out of his ears), and Rush and Randy start on an ambitious
scrap drive. And its on their scrap drive in the countryside that they meet a
person who will become a part of their lives forever.
Chased off one farm by an evil drunk named Oren Meeker, Rush and
Randy meet his young cousin Mark Herron, thirteen years old, orphaned at
an early age and living with Oren because he has no other family. Oren is
cruel and abusive; we learn that on the infrequent occasions Mark has
been allowed to attend school, he has shown up with black eyes and an
empty lunchbox. But he's managed to survive despite his depressing
home; he's bright, friendly, hardworking and resourceful. Randy and Rush
take to him right off the bat. If only there were some way they could help
him.
Parallel to Mark's story there are plenty of amusing sidelights such as
Oliver's obsession with creepy-crawly things, Mona's impulsive decision to
can everything in the vegetable garden while Cuffy is off visiting a sick
cousin, and a family picnic where Oliver manages to fall down a well. But
the story of meeting and rescuing Mark is central to the book, and lends
the book much of its undertone, which is darker and more mature than the
first two Melendy books. Enright shows her young readers that not all
families are happy like the Melendy family; some families are unhappy,
abusive and cruel. The Melendy children realize how fortunate they are not
only to not have a family like Mark's, but also to be able to share what they
have.
Although the book spans only one summer, the Melendy children do a lot
of growing up in three and a half months. They prove themselves to be
resourceful and resilient, remarkably able to look out for themselves and
each other with only occasional adult supervision while Father is away in
Washington and Cuffy is off attending a family emergency. We realize how

lucky Mark is to become part of this vibrant family. We almost wish we
could be part of it as well.
Judy Lind
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