Grandma's Attic Series by Arleta Richardson

"Mabel, you came storming in here in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon with your hat on sideways and asked if life is funny. Now, I don't suppose you want to tell me what's going on?"

Good old Grandma's Attic. It's actually not that old, but already it's a classic. At least the first four books are. Did you know there were more than four? Well, if not, I don't blame you. For some incomprehensible reason, they have gone out of print. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Mabel O'Dell was a real person. She grew up on a farm in 19th century Michigan with sensible Christian parents and two brothers who liked to tease. Her closest friend, Sarah Jane, was practically a sister (a bit of a smart aleck as well), and together they got into trouble all the time... sometimes with good intentions, sometimes not! There was the time they made face cream, which hardened like cement and simply would not come off. Once Mabel quite impressively managed to lose a horse carriage! All these incidents, besides making my sister and I laugh out loud, always taught Mabel something about life and godly character. Eventually the stories were passed on to her granddaughter Arleta, who just so happened to become a writer.

Arleta loved her grandma's stories. She wrote the original four story collections, then five novels about Mabel's life after leaving the farm. The last book is another short story collection. These have sadly faded into obscurity. Also, sometimes they have different names. Here are the titles:

#5. Away from Home or, Sixteen and Away from Home

#6. A School of Her Own or, Eighteen and on Her Own

#7. Wedding Bells Ahead or, Nineteen and Wedding Bells Ahead

#8. At Home in North Branch

#9. New Faces, New Friends

#10. Stories from the Growing Years

I have read them all, thanks to friends who discovered most of a set and my own lucky find at a book sale. If you want to read them, you'll have to do some hunting. I suggest we all email the publisher and pray.

Are they worth it, you ask? I think so. Okay, don't go spend hundreds of dollars like you're trying to get your hands on the world's last copy of Pride & Prejudice. Just stay within the realm of reason. For the most part, I enjoy them every bit as much as the still-in-print books. My only objection is that the story moves along slowly sometimes, but it is filled with the same wit and charming misadventure one expects from Grandma's Attic. Who wouldn't want to watch Mabel and Sarah Jane become schoolteachers, brides, and finally mothers, aided by that enduring sense of the ridiculous? I have to wonder if their little girls ended up best friends just like them! Though not too much like them, they would hope.

"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)