Helen Louise Thorndyke

The woods that Honey Bunch goes to see in her First Trip to the Big Woods are certainly big. She sees the Redwood Forest and Yosemite.

However, the book opens with Honey Bunch losing the big old maple tree in the front yard because it's dead. Two men come to cut it down. One of them, Al Harper, tells her about the giant trees in California, where he's from. The dead tree winds up being cut into logs. I liked what was done with those logs, despite what almost happened because of one boy who wouldn't have been able make mischief if Norman hadn't wanted him invited.

We get some background information on Edith Morton this book -- she owns a cabin in the Redwood Forest that the government wants to buy. She lived in California for awhile. A cousin of hers and her twins have moved to San Francisco. Honey Bunch is hoping to see the redwoods and meet some more cousins. Norman is hoping to be able to go with the Mortons. Judy and Jerry, the twins, are hoping both kids can visit.

Meanwhile, Honey Bunch meets Carol, the daughter of owner of the new pet store in Barham. Carol is a great-great-great granddaughter of the Sequoyah, the Cherokee who created a written language for his people, and for whom the sequoia redwoods were named. (Like myself, Carol is only part Cherokee.) It's at Carol's father's store that Honey Bunch gets a puppy. Lady Clare, her cat, is not pleased.

There's a party before the family leaves. As usual, I like the party games that appear in this series.

The scenes in California and Yosemite are nice. I feel sorry for Mrs. Morton because she doesn't want to sell her cabin. She decides to sell most of its furnishings. The kids have fun being auctioneers.

They meet a tame bear and a wild squirrel. I thought that Snippy might really be a chipmunk, but it turns out there are striped squirrels. Bruin may be more impressive, but Snippy turns out to be more helpful.

They also meet an elderly man who carves animals out of redwood. They sound nice.

I remember reading about the redwood with a tunnel in it that Honey Bunch wants to see. What a shame that it fell over in 1969.

Edith Morton's cousin Martha gives the children jumping jack lollipops. I wonder if they were really available back then.

This may not be the most memorable of the Honey Bunch books I have, but it's not bad.

Sorry I can't give a description of the spine of my copy. It may be the same as other 1950s printings of Honey Bunch books that I have but it's an ex-library copy with white mending tape completely covering the spine.… (meer)

Honey Bunch's father is a lawyer. Mr. Morton is looking for a missing heiress, Mary Huntington. The most recent photograph in his possession was taken years ago -- possibly as long as 20 years ago. What does the lovely young woman look like now? Mr. Morton must search along the Old Trees River for her, so he's going to rent a houseboat. Mrs. Morton and Honey Bunch will be going with him.

Honey Bunch is a good little girl, which means the book is going to need another child for contrast. Will it be Norman Clark, the little boy whose backyard adjoins the Mortons', or Honey Bunch's cousin Stub? If you guessed Norman, pat yourself on the back. Norman's grandmother is sick, so his mother is going to her, and his father will be away. If anyone is going to be glad that Norman's going along -- besides Norman himself -- it should be Lady Clare. Norman starts his misdeeds by shutting that poor cat into the big toy Noah's Ark that her Aunt Carol sent Honey Bunch. (He thought the ark should have a live animal in it and no one was in the room to stop him.)

Mrs. Miller, the Mortons' laundress. has an retired sea captain uncle living with her. Thanks to him, she's able to teach Honey Bunch some nautical terms. Her uncle kindly sends the children each a present they'll use on the trip.

There will be adventures aboard the Firefly and in houses and villages they visit. There will be a storm (of course), a pageant, a plantation or two, and a showboat. Norman will cause problems, but so will Honey Bunch. This being her series, though, you may count on the little blonde to find a clue and solve the mystery.

After so many earlier books in which Mrs. Morton needed to rest, I was quite pleased with her behavior when the children didn't hear her and swam too far from the houseboat. She called for her husband, but when he didn't come quickly enough, Mrs. Morton dove in and swam for the kids herself.

The depiction of the African-American characters will not suit a modern audience. Here's a sample bit of dialogue from the houseboat's pilot and cook: 'Yo' is all fine folks, and welcome to De Firefly.' Old Mose bowed, then picked up some of the bags. 'Right dis way, ef yo' please.' Another character, Great Bear, a Native American with an interesting method of catching fish, dresses and speaks English the same as the white characters.

On the other hand, I've read or reread juvenile and adult books from the 1930s and 40s that are much worse. Mose is competent, hard-working, and not at all superstitious. He doesn't panic during an emergency, he just takes care of it. Yes, when Honey Bunch and Norman come across Mose's cousin, the man is napping and they think his clothes are funny. However, he does try to help the children and gives them a ride back to the houseboat, driving carefully, then he goes to work. At the plantation called Chumley Hall, the elderly nurse (nanny) is known as 'Mammy,' but she doesn't speak dialect. She does refer to her employer as 'Master Robert,' but she brought him up and his father before him. It may not be used that much anymore, but 'Master' is the proper title for a male too young to be called 'Mister'. Given her position in the family, Mammy is entitled to call Mr. Chumley that. Sadly, no African-American character named is given a last name.

Other than 'Mammy,' and twelve siblings twice being referred to as 'pickaninnies,' African-Americans are described using the then-politically correct term 'Negro'. That term is used twice for the twelve siblings. Their father, Eben, plays the harmonica while his children dance intricate dances, one of them while each holds a basket of berries in the palm of one hand. That's the subject of the frontispiece. Honey Bunch is seen from behind as she watches. Only six of the dancing children are seen. The two girls have their hair in four rather short braids with bows at the end. The boys have short hair. Unlike their father, they're barefoot, but the family's clothing is neat, clean, and in good condition. Well, Eben's straw hat is a little frayed. They are not drawn as caricatures. They all look healthy, none skinny or fat.

By today's standards, Honey Bunch: Her First Trip on a Houseboat is racist. For its time, though, this book is enlightened. I'll give the unknown ghostwriter and Ms. Schubert points for trying to depict African-Americans in a more positive light than was normal then.… (meer)

Honey Bunch: Her First Costume Party was given to me in 1965. A few years later, I gave it and my other childhood Honey Bunch books to my little sister. I'm glad she decided to give them back to me for my 30th birthday, 19 years later. Although I get a bit tired of the formula when I reread them one after the other, some of the books still stand out.

The costume party that is to be Honey Bunch's first is a Halloween Party. The first chapter opens with Mrs. Miller explaining some of the holiday's customs to the little girl. Then her neighbor, Norman Clark, comes to show off the wooden bicycle he and his father built. Honey Bunch is pretty good at guessing what they used to make the bicycle (uh, when did the Mortons acquire a canary?). Mrs. Miller recognizes the handlebar as her missing rolling pin. Wonder what Norman said to his father that it got used.

The children bike -- tricycle for Honey Bunch -- to the hardware store to buy a new rolling pin. Norman lets his friend ride his bike despite the fact that she's shorter than he is and it has no brakes. Honey Bunch isn't paying attention and runs into a woman who is carrying a cage of chickens to the butcher. She scolds the child in broken English. The kids and others recapture all but one of the escaped chickens, although they don't know the woman has lost one until she talks to the butcher. The missing chicken will be the main subplot.

Norman and Honey Bunch follow the woman, Mrs. Latta, to her home to ask her if she lost that chicken in the accident. Her children, Mike and Maria, demand the return of the chicken and refuse to believe any protests of innocence.

Unpleasant as the encounter is, it leads to two nice discoveries. One is a man called Britto who has a performing dog, Tony. The little boy and girl also meet a lovely Native American girl, Princess White Fawn.
She and her father, Chief Leni, have left their reservation out West because her father is working for the government. Chief Leni cares for carrier pigeons.

Perhaps because this 1943 book was written for younger children, World War II is mentioned only indirectly. One of the characters is an aviator whom Honey Bunch calls 'Flyer Frank'. Frank Franklin used to be a lawyer in Honey Bunch's father's firm. Soon he'll be flying to Europe. One of Chief Leni's carrier pigeons and Flyer Frank will be another subplot.

White Fawn is lonely because the children at school make fun of her and her native dress. Honey Bunch is happy to make friends with her. She even invites White Fawn to come with her and her parents to her uncle's farm (where they'll be getting pumpkins for the party). Luckily, Chief Leni and Daddy Morton have a mutual friend who vouches for both, so White Fawn gets to go.

With Norman temporarily out of the picture, it's up to Honey Bunch's klutzy cousin Stub to provide problems through thoughtlessness. Stub delivers, both at the farm and at the Morton home.

White Fawn sings a nice song about the thunder-bird in chapter five. She also bakes a corncake for the other girls.

Party preparations take up a good bit of the book. I liked the description of games the children were going to play at the party, although Lady Clare was not happy when Norman and Stub used her for Pin-the-tail-on-the-cat because Mrs. Morton wouldn't let them use the store-bought game ahead of time.
I See an Animal, a game that was played on the way back from the farm might entertain the kids during a car trip if there are enough animals around. Only the first child to see an animal gets the one point it's worth on his/her score. A cat sitting in a window is worth nine points.

I would have loved Honey Bunch's party decorations, especially what she did with her favorite doll, Eleanor, for a centerpiece. (Good thing Lady Clare wasn't in the dining room.) The children may buy masks at the store, but I suspect that their mothers made their costumes, as Mrs. Morton did for Stub and Honey Bunch. They're mostly taken from fairy tales and nursery rhymes. If your copy includes the frontispiece, you'll be able to see some of the costumes, as well as Chief Leni, White Fawn, and Cloudbird.

There are a couple of party crashers, but they're dealt with, as is a deadly peril for one of the characters.

Chief Leni and White Fawn are dignified, intelligent characters. The fact that White Fawn suffers from racial prejudice at school is treated as a bad thing, not business as usual.

My copy may be an early printing because a previous owner wrote that she had gotten it for her birthday, February 27, 1944. If so, I note that Grosset & Dunlap didn't include the lists of some of their other books at the back as they did in many of my other books. The frontispiece is not on glossy paper. There's no printed notice about wartime regulations concerning papers, but perhaps that's the reason for the differences.

I enjoyed the costume party. I hope you will, too.… (meer)

Recently I learned that Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was the ghost writer for five of the Honey Bunch books, including Her Trip to the Big Fair. I was given most of that lady's Penny Parker series back in 1969, so I reread this book with interest.

I suspect that the big fair Honey Bunch visits is the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, but that's not actually stated. I like the descriptions of the fair, especially Mrs. Toti's doll making, as well as the scene about making a talking letter.

I don't mind Honey Bunch being asked to buy dolls from other countries for a collection to be donated to the Barham Library. The greedy and dishonest Mr. Means is the kind of businessman I like to see lose out. I'm used to Norman Clark and Honey Bunch's cousin Stub getting into trouble. (The stunt Stub pulls when she tries to wash Lady Clare was a bit much. If it had been a 21st century washing machine, I doubt the poor cat would have survived.) I'm used to the Mortons' misplaced faith in leaving their daughter and friend/Stub in the care of some attendant in a public place. I suppose I shouldn't be outraged that a waiter allowed a child to order and eat five or six dishes of ice cream. Certainly the waiter doesn't seem to worry about getting sued even though that child was taken away in an ambulance.

I can grit my teeth over the way the Inuit family Honey Bunch befriends is depicted, especially the father's broken English. I don't believe in the power of the lost Inuit good-luck charm, either, but I think the Mortons were insensitive about the Inuits' belief. I also found it a tad hard to believe that only Honey Bunch could think of a way to keep the escaped polar bear from getting too close to a baby left in its carriage before the Inuit man shows up.

The incident that lowers my rating for this book is the Parade of Nations and Honey Bunch's role in it. I know these books are supposed to be wish fulfilment for their intended audience, but I still thought it went too far.

Remember Hilda, Honey Bunch's biggest doll? Hilda is her favorite doll in this book. Eleanor fans needn't worry, though. She's restored to her position as favorite doll in one of the later books.

Still, the book is worth reading.

By the way, of the 12 Louisa May Alcott books advertised at the end, I don't recall ever hearing of 'A Garland for Girls,' 'Kitty's Class Day,' 'Silver Pitchers,' and "Spinning Wheel Stories'.… (meer)