- follow the various adventures had by 4 siblings around town
- involves moving to a new house
- convo: pretending to be druids, death of parent (years before), bad behavior is never punished, Halloween chapter, goblins mentioned, ghosts, witches, saying charms, tobacco, lying, hypnotism*
- language: pooh x2, gee x5, shucks x1, mild name calling (old sardine, hoodlum, etc.)
Type: chapter book
Ages: 5-8
Author: Eleanor Estes
Illustrator: Louis Slobodkin
*Regarding the hypnotism, the main girl pretends to be Houdini, hypnotizing people. She chants in “sepulchral tones” and says things like, “The spell is bound” all to scare a nearby girl.
One good thing about the Moffats is that there is a closeness between the siblings and a love for their dear, hard-working mother. But the moments of meanness to other children without consequences were too much for me. My kids did giggle at certain amusing parts of the book, but the story as a whole is already mostly forgotten in our house (in other words, it wasn’t memorable). We liked Ginger Pye and its sequel better.