With Father in Washington and Cuffy, their housekeeper, away visiting a sick cousin, almost anything might happen to the Melendy kids left behind at the Four-Story Mistake. In the Melendy family, adventures are inevitable: Mr. Titus and the catfish; the villainy of the DeLacey brothers; Rush's composition of Opus 3; Mona's first rhubarb pie and all the canning; Randy's arrowhead; the auction and fair for the Red Cross. But best of all is the friendship with Mark Herron, which begins with a scrap-collection mission and comes to a grand climax on Oliver's birthday.

Here is Elizabeth Enright's classic story of a long and glorious summer in the country with the resourceful, endearing Melendy bunch.
Then There Were Five is the third installment of Enright's Melendy Quartet, an engaging and warm series about the close-knit Melendy family and their surprising adventures.

Full of childish wisdom. My favorite of the series, I think. ( )

The Melendy children continue to have delightful adventures in and around their home in the country, and one of those adventures eventually results in a new addition to the family.

I’m still enjoying these books very much. I noticed in this one a few comments indicative of the period in which they were written — somewhat stereotypical remarks about Gypsies and Indians. Nothing as pejorative as what is found in, say, Little House on the Prairie, but enough that modern readers might want to be aware of it. ( )

It's summertime and Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver Melendy are enjoying country living in their strange and wonderful house called the 4-story Mistake.

The Melendy family is another year older. This time Mona (15), Rush (14), Randy (12) and Oliver (almost 8) are collecting scraps to aid in the war effort. It's an interesting concept for a children's story. At each farmhouse (they still live in the country in that weird house) the children meet people they normally wouldn't ever encounter otherwise. At one particular house they meet Mark, a boy living in an abusive home. He becomes a fast friend...and the fifth member of the Melendy household. ( )