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Beany Malone #8
The More the Merrier
It's summertime and Beany has a plan! As the upcoming editor of Harkness High's school newspaper, Beany's dream is to emulate her predecessor, the wealthy, sophisticated Jennifer, by providing a private rumpus room for undisturbed staff meetings. In an attempt to raise money for the rumpus room, Beany takes in boarders. Beany becomes involved with the varying problems of her three overweight Lisa, cocky Ty and introverted Miss Rutledge. Will Beany be able to resolve her own problems as she manages the problems of her boarders?
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
About the author
Lenora Mattingly Weber
37 books54 followersLenora Mattingly, though born in Missouri, lived most of her life in Denver, Colorado. In 1916 she married Albert Herman Weber and was the mother of six children.
Weber's first book, Wind on the Prairie, was published in 1929. From 1930 through 1962 she wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Good Housekeeping. Her last book was published posthumously in 1972.
Lenora Mattingly Weber’s favorite topics included the Denver area, horses, and teenage girls. In 1943 the first Beany Malone book, Meet the Malones, was published. Beany Malone became Weber's most well-known creation, featured in 14 books and appearing as a minor character in the Katie Rose Belford and Stacy Belford series.
Weber's first book, Wind on the Prairie, was published in 1929. From 1930 through 1962 she wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Good Housekeeping. Her last book was published posthumously in 1972.
Lenora Mattingly Weber’s favorite topics included the Denver area, horses, and teenage girls. In 1943 the first Beany Malone book, Meet the Malones, was published. Beany Malone became Weber's most well-known creation, featured in 14 books and appearing as a minor character in the Katie Rose Belford and Stacy Belford series.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 13, 2011
Lenora Mattingly Weber, The More the Merrier (Thomas Y. Crowell, 1958)
It never fails. When I start a new whack of books, I usually read the first chapter in each to see what grabs me and what gets put aside until I finish the ones that grab me. When I start a Beany Malone book, I never even notice the half-page-size “2” that rings in the next chapter; by the time I think about it, I've found myself reading to the start of chapter four or five. Lenora Mattingly Weber's books are somehow instantly absorbing, and still have that bucolic feel despite the tone of the books becoming darker and darker as we go along in the series; the farther we go, the more that contradiction fascinates me.
In this one, the entire family is going away for the summer save Beany and Johnny. Jennifer Reed has named Beany incoming editor-in-chief of Hark Ye!, the Harkness High newspaper, and Beany's thoughts are turned to the construction of a rumpus room much like (identical to, though she won't admit it to herself) the one Jennifer has. Short on cash, she hatches a plan: she'll take in boarders for profit, which will make her enough money to redecorate the wine room in the cellar that, according to Martie, “hasn't seen a wine bottle in twenty-five years”. But that is just the overarching plot. The books also get more complex as we go along, with subplots running hither and thither as we go on. The two main subplots involve Lisa Hood, Beany's first boarder and a cousin of the neighbor across the street, who is desperate to lose weight after Beany fixes her up with a Marine friend of Andy Kern's, and Beany's struggle with herself after sealing a light pot from a construction site in order to provide light outdoors during the gang's late suppers. (These are, however, far from the only subplots.)
My biggest problem with the book has more to do with, I assume, Lenora Mattingly Weber's attitude than it does with the way the book is written. She harps on how much weight Lisa has to lose, and uses a solid graphic to illustrate it, the kind of thing anyone who's ever been on a diet will identify with (there's a piece of clothing she wants to fit into). And when it comes down to it, Weber does a great job at probing the psychology of weight loss, even given that the book's over fifty years old at this point. I was willing to swallow it all hook, line, and sinker until about 90% of the way through the book—when we find out exactly how much weight it is that Lisa has lost over the course of the book. At which point that entire subplot turns ludicrous. (I'm not going to tell you. You have to experience it, and the hysterical laughter that follows the disbelief, for yourself.)
And there's the aforementioned darkness in the book's tone, though that darkness is far more pronounced, strangely, in the opening chapters. It's as if there was some sort of a Pall over Weber's life that she was able to escape through writing (I've no idea if this is the case—dear Universe, find someone to write a Weber bio stat—but it's certainly not an uncommon state of affairs), or that abated while she was writing. If you compare it to the first few chapters of Meet the Malones, there's a marked difference. In fact, I think the opening chapters are even darker than those surrounding the theft of the oil pot, which is Beany's big moral dilemma for the book.
All of which makes it sound like I liked this a great deal less than I did, I'm sure. I'm totally sold on Beany Malone, and have been since reading the first book in the series a few years back. Weber has the storyteller's gift to be sure, and if the language seems a trifle archaic nowadays, especially where the dialogue is concerned, well, that only adds to the charm in my book. There are times when it feels overly simplistic, and one can look askance at that fact that some of these plot threads have rather rushed endings (this does after all show us that the complexity got out of her hands as the book went on), but these are still very fun reads. I'm not sure the middle-grade girls who were their initial targets back in the fifties would be thrilled with them today, but I think the high school/college crowd might go for them, given a big major-label reprint, and of course you have a built-in audience of nostalgics who were actually around when the books came out in the first place (I missed them by a decade or so, myself). Well, worth discovering. *** ½
It never fails. When I start a new whack of books, I usually read the first chapter in each to see what grabs me and what gets put aside until I finish the ones that grab me. When I start a Beany Malone book, I never even notice the half-page-size “2” that rings in the next chapter; by the time I think about it, I've found myself reading to the start of chapter four or five. Lenora Mattingly Weber's books are somehow instantly absorbing, and still have that bucolic feel despite the tone of the books becoming darker and darker as we go along in the series; the farther we go, the more that contradiction fascinates me.
In this one, the entire family is going away for the summer save Beany and Johnny. Jennifer Reed has named Beany incoming editor-in-chief of Hark Ye!, the Harkness High newspaper, and Beany's thoughts are turned to the construction of a rumpus room much like (identical to, though she won't admit it to herself) the one Jennifer has. Short on cash, she hatches a plan: she'll take in boarders for profit, which will make her enough money to redecorate the wine room in the cellar that, according to Martie, “hasn't seen a wine bottle in twenty-five years”. But that is just the overarching plot. The books also get more complex as we go along, with subplots running hither and thither as we go on. The two main subplots involve Lisa Hood, Beany's first boarder and a cousin of the neighbor across the street, who is desperate to lose weight after Beany fixes her up with a Marine friend of Andy Kern's, and Beany's struggle with herself after sealing a light pot from a construction site in order to provide light outdoors during the gang's late suppers. (These are, however, far from the only subplots.)
My biggest problem with the book has more to do with, I assume, Lenora Mattingly Weber's attitude than it does with the way the book is written. She harps on how much weight Lisa has to lose, and uses a solid graphic to illustrate it, the kind of thing anyone who's ever been on a diet will identify with (there's a piece of clothing she wants to fit into). And when it comes down to it, Weber does a great job at probing the psychology of weight loss, even given that the book's over fifty years old at this point. I was willing to swallow it all hook, line, and sinker until about 90% of the way through the book—when we find out exactly how much weight it is that Lisa has lost over the course of the book. At which point that entire subplot turns ludicrous. (I'm not going to tell you. You have to experience it, and the hysterical laughter that follows the disbelief, for yourself.)
And there's the aforementioned darkness in the book's tone, though that darkness is far more pronounced, strangely, in the opening chapters. It's as if there was some sort of a Pall over Weber's life that she was able to escape through writing (I've no idea if this is the case—dear Universe, find someone to write a Weber bio stat—but it's certainly not an uncommon state of affairs), or that abated while she was writing. If you compare it to the first few chapters of Meet the Malones, there's a marked difference. In fact, I think the opening chapters are even darker than those surrounding the theft of the oil pot, which is Beany's big moral dilemma for the book.
All of which makes it sound like I liked this a great deal less than I did, I'm sure. I'm totally sold on Beany Malone, and have been since reading the first book in the series a few years back. Weber has the storyteller's gift to be sure, and if the language seems a trifle archaic nowadays, especially where the dialogue is concerned, well, that only adds to the charm in my book. There are times when it feels overly simplistic, and one can look askance at that fact that some of these plot threads have rather rushed endings (this does after all show us that the complexity got out of her hands as the book went on), but these are still very fun reads. I'm not sure the middle-grade girls who were their initial targets back in the fifties would be thrilled with them today, but I think the high school/college crowd might go for them, given a big major-label reprint, and of course you have a built-in audience of nostalgics who were actually around when the books came out in the first place (I missed them by a decade or so, myself). Well, worth discovering. *** ½
August 1, 2023
Ugh! Beany, why are you so clueless and stupid?? Another painful book, where Beany makes me cringe with almost all her decisions. I have to say I like the book because the ending is good, if it wasn't I wouldn't bother reading it. Andy is a gem and Beany is lucky he even bothers to continue a relationship with her after all the stupid things she does. Definitely not my favorite book out the series but a must read if you like Beany Malone.
November 7, 2008
Oh man I was so blue all day yesterday and I just lay in bed and read these little darlings in between weepings and they were HELPFUL AS HELL.
March 21, 2023
Bonnie is een jonge vrouw die door van haar ouders heel wat vrijheid krijgt. Bij hun thuis heerst er zelfs een artistieke sfeer en hun huis heeft veel weg van een zoete inval. Vader is een journalist en stiefmoeder een kunstschilderes. Het gezin hangt wel stevig aan mekaar qua steun maar is zeker niet zo zoetsappig als dergelijke verhalen uit het nederlandse taalgebied uit die jaren plegen te zijn.
Niet woke - een dik meisje moet vermageren om aan een jongen te geraken, o ramp der rampen.
Bonnie pleegt op een gegeven ogenblik een diefstal maar daar heeft ze nadien veel spijt van en ze probeert uit alle macht om dat goed te maken (weliswaar zonder er voor gestraft te worden, op welke manier dan ook).
De kostgangers zijn een raar zootje maar uiteindelijk loop alles voor iedereen goed af, zo zoet is het boek dan weer wel. Maar niet klef, het leest vlot en er zit voldoende aktie in om ook de lezer die niet op romantiek zit te vlassen te boeien.
Niet woke - een dik meisje moet vermageren om aan een jongen te geraken, o ramp der rampen.
Bonnie pleegt op een gegeven ogenblik een diefstal maar daar heeft ze nadien veel spijt van en ze probeert uit alle macht om dat goed te maken (weliswaar zonder er voor gestraft te worden, op welke manier dan ook).
De kostgangers zijn een raar zootje maar uiteindelijk loop alles voor iedereen goed af, zo zoet is het boek dan weer wel. Maar niet klef, het leest vlot en er zit voldoende aktie in om ook de lezer die niet op romantiek zit te vlassen te boeien.
February 26, 2023
Oh yay…a whole book full of fat phobia and fat shaming 🙄 Plus, Beany has officially taken up permanent residence in TSTL-ville.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
December 18, 2022
I read this back in August and finished the series at the beginning of October, but I'm behind on reviewing the books. I wanted to write long, detailed reviews with each book in hand, but that won't happen. Now that it's December, I have to just say something!
I'm pretty sure this book starts off with Beany thinking about Norbett, and about how she is much happier with Andy. I appreciate how this series shows that someone's first love won't necessarily last forever, and that major emotional ups and downs in a romantic relationship are a red flag. Beany recognizes that Norbett is fine for other girls, and that he and Dulcie are doing well together, but that he wasn't right for her.
Much of this book deals with Beany and her siblings hosting paying boarders in their home. It is an interesting concept, but this volume isn't a favorite. Beany's plans go inevitably awry, and she makes some extremely ridiculous decisions to try to prove that she isn't as boring and straightlaced as the young male boarder says she is. The plot also involves a major emphasis on weight loss, since a young female boarder has run away from her verbally abusive family who has ostracized her because of her weight. This girl ends up beginning a romance via letters with one of Andy's friends in the Marines, and wants to lose weight before they meet.
The author's understanding of the psychology of weight loss comes through clearly, and aspects of the story are certainly realistic, but I dislike the level of emphasis that this book has on the girl's weight, and it seems laughable when she feels like a new person after losing twenty pounds. If she only needed to lose twenty pounds, then she was not as big as everyone kept saying she was. Worse, she ends up making excuses for her family's behavior, even though Father O'Brien had made it very clear after his interactions with the family over the phone that they were self-absorbed, unkind, and seriously problematic. The romance with the Marine is cute, but the family situation never gets satisfactorily resolved, since they never admit that they did anything wrong.
There is enough ongoing character development in this book that I wouldn't recommend skipping this one, but it was definitely not a favorite.
I'm pretty sure this book starts off with Beany thinking about Norbett, and about how she is much happier with Andy. I appreciate how this series shows that someone's first love won't necessarily last forever, and that major emotional ups and downs in a romantic relationship are a red flag. Beany recognizes that Norbett is fine for other girls, and that he and Dulcie are doing well together, but that he wasn't right for her.
Much of this book deals with Beany and her siblings hosting paying boarders in their home. It is an interesting concept, but this volume isn't a favorite. Beany's plans go inevitably awry, and she makes some extremely ridiculous decisions to try to prove that she isn't as boring and straightlaced as the young male boarder says she is. The plot also involves a major emphasis on weight loss, since a young female boarder has run away from her verbally abusive family who has ostracized her because of her weight. This girl ends up beginning a romance via letters with one of Andy's friends in the Marines, and wants to lose weight before they meet.
The author's understanding of the psychology of weight loss comes through clearly, and aspects of the story are certainly realistic, but I dislike the level of emphasis that this book has on the girl's weight, and it seems laughable when she feels like a new person after losing twenty pounds. If she only needed to lose twenty pounds, then she was not as big as everyone kept saying she was. Worse, she ends up making excuses for her family's behavior, even though Father O'Brien had made it very clear after his interactions with the family over the phone that they were self-absorbed, unkind, and seriously problematic. The romance with the Marine is cute, but the family situation never gets satisfactorily resolved, since they never admit that they did anything wrong.
There is enough ongoing character development in this book that I wouldn't recommend skipping this one, but it was definitely not a favorite.
May 21, 2015
Heartwarming, bygone era
The odd thing or the best thing about these books is that they create a nostalgia for a time that I never experienced. But these stories, stripped of the outdated slang, fashion, and media could occur anywhere. Just a fun read.
The odd thing or the best thing about these books is that they create a nostalgia for a time that I never experienced. But these stories, stripped of the outdated slang, fashion, and media could occur anywhere. Just a fun read.
September 26, 2016
Another glorious escapist read set in the 50s.
December 9, 2017
Violence against women in the last book, fat-shaming in this one? I hope the next installment in the series doesn’t feature a lovable racist.
August 24, 2021
I enjoyed that so much I had to tell myself to quit reading it or I'd finish it. I want a rumpus room too with bucket chairs. What are they? I don't know but Beany wanted them.
July 31, 2022
This has always been one of my favorite Beanys. I'm always intrigued by the food and clothing details of the 50s, enjoy the ups and downs of her oft-thwarted plans, and vicariously savor the summer get-togethers that she, boarders, friends, and family partake in.
November 29, 2022
When Judge Buell says "you teens are far too young to be throwing parties in the backyard without supervision" and you agree LOL.
The main detail I remembered from this book was her trying to paint the basement to have a rompus room like Jennifer.
The main detail I remembered from this book was her trying to paint the basement to have a rompus room like Jennifer.
January 28, 2024
Beany and Johnny have the house to themselves for the summer. Beany decides to take in boarders to make money for a rumpus room renovation. As you probably can guess, things don't turn out exactly as planned.
August 5, 2011
I enjoyed this book, though it’s pretty easy to see where things are going. Lisa, the ugly duckling, will be transformed; Ty will be reformed; Miss Rutledge will come out of her shell; Beany will learn the value of the warm and bustling Malone household; the rumpus room will fall through. Still, time spent with the Malones is nearly always enjoyable. Though Beany acts rather stupid sometimes in this book, it’s still easy to sympathize with her (most of the time). But part of me can’t help wishing that she could have her rumpus room. It would be nice for something she’s wanted to actually work out. But maybe that’s not life…? I appreciate the character of Dulcie adding some spice in contrast to some of the more ‘perfect’ characters, like Mary Fred. I don’t dislike Mary Fred, but like Beany, I’m “slower to bubble, slower to bounce” (p. 3) than she is. All things considered, this is another fine—though not outstanding—offering in the Beany series and a nice light summer read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2016
This is my least favorite of the Beany Malone novels, because everyone says about one character that she would be pretty if she wasn't so fat, and they are constantly advising her to "reduce" (diet).
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews