Meet the Malones

The loving and democratic Malones, known as "those awful Malones" to their next-door neighbor, "Mrs. Socially-Prominent Adams," must contend with a series of challenges, both individually and as a family, in this heartwarming children's novel from 1943. Told from the perspective of sixteen-year-old Mary Fred Malone, and set shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the story chronicles the doings of the Malones in the first year of America's involvement in World War II, as father Martie Malone, a respected newspaperman, leaves his children for a few months to report on events in Hawaii. Recently married eldest sister Elizabeth, with her newborn son in arms, returns to the family home as her serviceman husband Don is deployed. show more Fifteen-year-old Johnny Malone must work to repay the Wyoming woman whose egg delivery he destroyed in a car accident, while also attempting to earn the money needed for a new typewriter—necessary, if he and elderly family friend Emerson Worth are to write a history of the early days in their hometown of Denver. Thirteen-year-old Beany, convinced her tiny bedroom is fit only for a baby, has her eyes set on a redecoration project, one that will do away with juvenile rabbits and usher in the sunshine. And Mary Fred herself...? She must contend with Mr. Chips, the horse she bought from the riding stable with her prom dress money, and the competing claims of her new friendship with Ander, a Wyoming ranch boy in Denver to go to medical school, and her infatuation with high school sports hero Dike Williams, the uncontested king of Harkness High. Between all of this, their domineering step-grandmother Nonna descending upon the household in their father's absence, and the demands of helping servicemen and war orphans, the Malones have a lot on their plate...

The first of Lenora Mattingly Weber's fourteen-volume Beany Malone series, begun in 1943 and continuing through Come Back, Wherever You Are, published in 1969, Meet the Malones introduces readers to the eponymous Malone family and their chaotic but loving home in Denver. It is with the second book, Beany Malone (1948) that the heroine of the entire series was apparently revealed. However that may be, I found this first book in the series immensely charming, and raced through it in happy enjoyment. I found the period setting fascinating—this isn't historical fiction, even though set in a historical period, as it was written contemporaneously—and thought that some of the ideas presented, such as Martie Malone's insistence that it was his family's duty to keep their home open to the needy created by the war, were very poignant. They made me feel rather wistful, seeming like a relic of a bygone era in which civic duty was not so foreign of a concept to our culture. On a lighter note, there was quite a bit of slang here, some of it apparently unique to the high school attended by Mary Fred and Johnny, which also made this feel very much a product of another time. I appreciated the fact that the Malones were a middle-class Irish-American family, and that their Catholicism was a natural part of the story—not foregrounded, but a consistent undercurrent in their lives. Given the dearth of Catholics in mainstream American children's literature, both then and now, this is very welcome. Finally, the characters themselves really came alive, and I felt invested in their stories. Despite never feeling any doubt about the eventual resolution of both the Nonna and Dike Williams storylines, they elicited feelings of strong anger in me, and satisfaction when they eventually came to their inevitable conclusion. I finished this one with a desire to read the sequels, which I plan to do in short order, as well as other books by the author. Recommended to readers who enjoy lighthearted vintage fiction for children, who are looking for children's books featuring loving Catholic families, or who want stories set during World War II. show less

There's a lot here to like. I especially liked the Catholicism of the family- that's a religion that gets a lot of ink via memoirs but in my experience, not so much in kidlit or YA. As a kid I knew way more about Jews and Episcopalians than I did about Catholics.

I also loved the way the war was woven through the narrative. When the father tells his kids that their house must always be open for the soldiers to visit, I admit to tearing up a bit. When did we lose that commitment, and why?

The wicked stepgrandmother was a bit too wicked, the saintly father a hair too saintly- all the characters were a little too much themselves, I think. There was a certain emphasis on defining traits that was wearing. Weber paints with a mighty broad show more brush.

I liked Mary Fred, the protagonist, very well. Her growth and confusion were believable and interesting. Johnny and Elizabeth, while both too good to be true, were fun to have around. And it was neat to see Beany from the outside after reading her book first.

Dated, sure. Questionable assumptions to be inferred from Nonna's career woman/evil bitch persona? Maybe yes. Wholesome? And how. show less

Found this in an outgoing bucket at the library. I loved the old fashioned cover. I remembered it at once when I started reading. I read the first three quarters of it in a flash and then slowed down to enjoy the rest. I'll be looking for the others in the series. I'm glad to have found them again.

First of the series. I wanted to be Beanie's BFF.