Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze

With their older siblings away at boarding school, Randy and Oliver Melendy anticipate a dull and dreary school year. But then, a mysterious letter arrives, leading them on a quest from clue to clue. Who created this mystery hunt, and what prize awaits them at the end?

This is nearly as delightful as the other Melendy books, though I chuckled at another review that said it was like when a TV show starts a new season, but half the cast haven’t renewed their contracts! I also marveled at the freedom these kids have, though that’s been true for the entire series. And I think that this book stands pretty well on its own — for readers who enjoy old-fashioned stories, I’d say start at the beginning of the series, but young readers who show more love a good puzzle mystery could start here. show less

This is the last book in the Melendy Quartet, and it might be my favorite. As it follows Randy and Oliver Melendy on a mysterious scavenger hunt, this book shows well how the dynamics between younger siblings change as the older siblings go off and do their own things. I love watching the relationship between Randy and Oliver blossom as they work together to solve each clue. They each do things on their own, but still hold a strong loyalty to one another. I hope that my children do the same as they get older.

Speaking of my children, they love the scavenger hunt at the center of this book. All the while we were listening to this, they took turns making one another scavenger hunts and working together to make scavenger hunts for their show more dad.

They've not made any scavenger hunts for me. I'm not sure, but I suspect it's because I am, in general, less fun than their dad. Not that I'm not fun, I just am less obviously and sillily fun than Dad. For example, I like the scavenger hunt in the story, but my favorite parts are the rambles Randy and Oliver take to try and figure out the clues. Graveyards, pokeberry groves, abandoned houses: the youngest Melendys find magic everywhere, and Elizabeth Enright does a brilliant job of sharing this magic with the reader (or at least with me).

I also love that Oliver and Randy make friends with cool adults. Mrs. Bishop pretty much rocks, with her crocheted doilies and her knowledge of wildcraft.

One star off because the ending was a little anticlimactic and because I'm going to have to be on the lookout for the next few months to make sure my kids don't try to climb up the chimney. show less

I've been listening to this gem while working in the garden, and I must say that Enright and gardens are a simply brilliant pairing. Nothing like being eyeball deep in daffodils and hearing Randy explain that flowers in the woods are white, while flowers in the fields are generally yellow.

This is perhaps my fourth visit to this book, and I'm still bemused that I dismissed it so thoroughly as a kid, when all the other Enrights were read to tatters. I think it's because of the clue/mystery format (see also my failure to like [b:The Westing Game|902|The Westing Game|Ellen Raskin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356850909s/902.jpg|869832]). Once I was through all the Nancy Drew books, I figured I knew all there was to know about mysteries show more which was that they were mostly annoying, sometimes boring and every now and then way too suspenseful to read in order. So I cheated myself of this book, probably flouncing a little in a superior manner as I left it on the library shelf. It's a mercy and a gift that I got over that attitude, and now I can't read the Melendy books without including this one. show less

07/11 I am growing to love this one as much as I love the rest of the Melendy series. Why, I wonder, did I snub it so firmly in my youth? Here's a quote that I adore from this one:

"The truth was that the young Melendys were acquiring a taste for old cemeteries. There was something very peaceful, they thought, about the quiet places; the tilted stones patched with lichens, standing in a bee-humming tangle of myrtle and wild asters. It was pleasant to walk between the stones, tracing the half-eroded names, the epitaphs, some beautiful, some sadly funny, some grotesque."

I love that we get to spend more time with Father in this book. His goofy humor really shines. And I love the story from Cuffy's youth! Enright's characters are so very show more real.


01/10 I remember only bits and pieces of this, I must have read it only once or twice. It's certainly not part of what I think of as the canon.

First off, boarding school? Boarding school? The sheer dissonance is overwhelming from the first. But once one gets past that, it's a delight. Any Melendy book is better than no Melendy book, even if Rush and Mark and Mona are reduced to walk-on characters. show less

Here were are, back with the Melendy family. Only in Spiderweb for Two they are less than half the family they are used to being. Father is still traveling the university circuit as a guest lecturer and Mark, Mona and Rush are away at various schools. Left behind are Randy and her brother, Oliver, with the help, Cuffy and Willy. The rest of the family hasn't been gone a day before Randy is beside herself with boredom. She doesn't want to play with Oliver. He's always been the baby of the family and therefore not worth her time...until she discovers a mystery. It starts with a message in the mailbox that takes them on a winter adventure. Each message is a clue to finding another message until they have received fourteen messages and all show more and it is summer once again.
It's a cute story. Oliver getting stuck in the chimney was one of my favorite parts. show less

Oooooops. I guess I should have looked before I leaped...

Just in case you are like me, don't assume that this is the second book in the series. Because it isn't. I still enjoyed it, but the ending was predictable. I did enjoy the growth of the characters---visible from the reader's perspective if not theirs.

I would recommend it to a middle-grade reader. But I wasn't as charmed as I was during the first book.

I ran into a comment about this book and remembered reading the Melendy Family Quartet many, many years ago. I was addicted to Nancy Drew mysteries and my Mother took me to the bookstore and told me I could pick out any book as long as it wasn't Nancy Drew. I remembered loving this book and, over the years, have remembered many scenes from the books. So I bought them again to see if they were as good as I remembered. They were -- admittedly they're very much of their time (1940's) but the warmth and fun is there and ageless. I'd recommend these books to any child (and, frankly, any adult looking for a little innocent fun. All of the first three books are about the same in quality -- the only one that can be skipped is Spiderweb for Two show more -- which suffered a little from the lack of two of the four children. show less