<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>A classic of American children's literature and a masterpiece of deadpan drollery, "The Peterkin Papers" record the antics of the most memorably and hopelessly bumbling of respectable American families.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>Meet the Peterkins, a lovable crew with a notable lack of common sense. These comic tales chronicle their roundabout attempts to solve simple, everyday problems. Cheerful and energetic, the close-knit family of eight resides in a village near Boston. They play their piano from the front porch because the movers left it with the keyboard facing the parlor window, and they're ready to raise the ceiling to make way for a towering Christmas tree. Only the timely intervention of the wise old lady from Philadelphia keeps them from acting on their more elaborate madcap schemes.<br>Author Lucretia Hale, sister to writer and cleric Edward Everett Hale, helped break new ground in children's literature by writing stories to amuse young people rather than instruct or uplift them. These tales first appeared in 1867 in a popular children's magazine of the era, and in the course of a decade, the Peterkins became a household word. The years pass them along to every new generation, noted <i>Harper's Bazaar, </i> with the hint that human nature is about the same everywhere and all the time. Hailed by <i>The New York Times</i> as a masterpiece and graced with 153 delightful black-and-white illustrations, this book offers a glimpse of nineteenth-century New England life that charms readers of all ages<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"How sorry we have felt for those who knew not Lucretia Hale and the Peterkins...a masterpiece."<BR>-"The New York Times <BR>""Lucretia P. Hale's Peterkin family and 'the lady from Philadelphia' are standard characters in American fiction, and surely that is much to say of an author in these book-crowded days...Few writers leave behind them such a tribute to their greatness as the Peterkins are to Lucretia P. Hale, for the years pass them along to every new generation with the hint that human nature is about the same everywhere and all the time."-"Harper's Bazaar <BR>""People young and old, solemn and gay, rich and poor, will be glad to welcome a new edition of the "Peterkin Papers." It is pleasant to meet the Peterkin family again..."-"The Chicago Tribune" <BR>"[Lucretia Hale is] among the best of American women writers." --"Harper's Bazaar"<br><br>" How sorry we have felt for those who knew not Lucretia Hale and the Peterkins... a masterpiece." <BR>- "The New York Times <BR>"" Lucretia P. Hale' s Peterkin family and ' the lady from Philadelphia' are standard characters in American fiction, and surely that is much to say of an author in these book-crowded days... Few writers leave behind them such a tribute to their greatness as the Peterkins are to Lucretia P. Hale, for the years pass them along to every new generation with the hint that human nature is about the same everywhere and all the time." - "Harper' s Bazaar <BR>"" People young and old, solemn and gay, rich and poor, will be glad to welcome a new edition of the "Peterkin Papers." It is pleasant to meet the Peterkin family again... " - "The Chicago Tribune" <BR>" [Lucretia Hale is] among the best of American women writers." --"Harper' s Bazaar"<br>