The Family from One End Street

by Eve Garnett

Hardcover, 1957

Status

Available

Series

One End Street (1)

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Frederick Muller Ltd (1957), 207 pages

Description

Adventures of the Ruggles, a working class family from a small English town in the 1930s.

User reviews

LibraryThing member RefPenny

This book tells the story of the Ruggle family. Jo is a dustman, Rosie a washerwoman and they have seven children – 3 girls, 3 boys and “a baby that was really a boy but didn’t count either way yet.” The children have a variety of adventures but the real appeal of this book is the excellent

writing and the depiction of how English working class people lived in the 1930s.
This book won a Carnegie medal in 1937 (up against The Hobbit) and in 2007 the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children's literature as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years. It would appeal to children, 8 and up, who have an interest in historical stories.

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LibraryThing member PollyMoore3

Delightful stories about a poor but happy family, told matter of factly and humorously without sentimentality. I remember enjoying this as a child when I borrowed it from the library. It makes a nice change from the middle class children in most mid 20thC stories. The author's cheeky, cheerful

drawings are perfect.

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LibraryThing member antiquary

I read this as a child nut all I remembered was that it was about children in a poor family and that I liked it. Looking at it now, I see the father was a dustman, the mother a washerwoman, the daughter won a scholarship, the son joined the Black Hand (not the real one), and the baby won a prize in

the children's show. illustrated with charming line drawings by the author.It won the Crnegie medal in 1937.

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LibraryThing member missizicks

I read this book many times as a child, borrowing it repeatedly from the local library. I was happy to re-read it and discover my golden memories were true. The Ruggles family live a happy hectic life, and the stories are a window onto working class lives in the early 20th century based on the

things Eve Garnett saw when developing illustrations for a book on children in London. From my childhood reading of the book, I remember loving the adventures the Ruggles children got up to, particularly Jim and John and the Gang of the Black Hand. As an adult, re-reading the book, I appreciate the stability their parents try to bring them and the struggles they have financially. I also appreciate how well written the book is, and found it as absorbing as many of the novels I have read as an adult.

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