The Moffats

I read the Moffat series as a preteen and teen in the 1990s, even though the book was written long before then. Estes wrote a beautiful book about a loving family in a simple time. Perfect for kids of any generation.

I enjoyed the whole series, but I don't have any idea if these would appeal to children today. Maybe now just a book for adults nostalgic for simpler times - not necessarily the times in which the book was set, but the time when children's books didn't have to deal with current events, and have to

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be "politically correct"

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This is a sweet episodic family story, set around the time of WWI. The past setting isn't alienating, the characters and their concerns are easy to relate to. It would make an excellent read aloud - I'd recommend it to someone looking for a family story to read to children of different ages. With

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Janey (8) and Rufus (5) the main focus, this can appeal to boys and girls of different ages.
I listened to the Full Cast Audio production. While it was wonderfully done as I've come to relish from Full Cast, this story didn't give them much scope to work with, as there was little conversation, and much description.

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This was a cute little story read in just a few hours. It focuses on the four children of a single mother living in a small Connecticut suburb. Written in 1941 before the U.S. involvement in World War II, but taking place just after World War I, it is tinged with easy innocence. The children, Jane,

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Sylvie, Joey and Rufus, are just old enough to begin helping mom with household chores and running small errands in town, but they are still young enough to get themselves into mischief. Running away from school and riding a freight train as a first grader wasn't as dangerous then as it would be today.

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Simple, old fashioned tale.

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes is the first in the Moffat series. Recently widowed Mrs. Moffat and her children have moved across the street to a smaller house to save money. Unfortunately for them the owner has put the house up for sale because times are tough for everyone.

The book chronicles the

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year that Moffats live in the house before it is ultimately sold. Although time passes, the individual chapters are episodic.

the Moffats even in 1941 was historical fiction. The time described in the book is the turn of the last century. Horses out number automobiles. Electricity is relatively new. Scarlet fever requires isolation at home. Thus while the plot entertains, it also gives children a glimpse of what life was like a hundred or so years ago.

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Of course I loved this, several times, when I was a child. But when I saw a copy in the thrift store, I decided I had to read it again. It holds up and is still wonderfully charming.

I still don't like Slobodkin's pictures, though. They're necessary, now even more so, because today's kids can't

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guess what it means for, for example, a nine-year old child to hide in a bread box. But I'd love to see them redone.

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The Moffats are a family of five (plus a cat) Mother, Sylvie, a young teen, Joe, 12, Jane 9, and Rufus, 6. They happily live in "the yellow house" on New Dollar Street, which they rent. But as the book opens, the house is put up for sale, and they are all scared they will have to move. Although

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this is a running theme throughout the book, it is really a collection of light, cheerful short stories about events in the children's lives.

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