Those Miller Girls!

Miller Girls #1

by Alberta Wilson Constant, Beth Krush (Illustrator), Joe Krush (Illustrator)

In 1900s rural Kansas, "Those Miller Girls" are Lou Emma and Maddy, whose escapades involve the forgetfulness of their professor father and their desire to have a mother.

Genres: Childrens

303 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1965

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens in the summer of 1909 with 12 year-old Lou Emma and her 10 year-old sister Maddy arriving in a small town in Eastern Kansas, where their widowed father is about to start a new job as a latin professor at a local college. The girls chaff under the sympathy of people who call them "poor little motherless things" and are determined to do all their own housekeeping and cooking. Lou Emma, however, secretly longs for a step-mother. The first few months of getting to know their new town are chronicled in this book, with special attention given to the Chautauqua, a kind of educational summer camp that comes to town in August. It is a source of great excitement for the characters, young and old alike. I personally can't imagine being thrilled to be camping for two weeks in a field with thousands of other people at the height of a hot humid summer in order to be entertained by lectures of various sorts and little girls performing temperance drills, but -- different times! It's a pleasant book that holds few surprises, but it's enlivened by touches of wit, and I like it very much. The fact that the illustrations are by Beth and Joe Krush, who have a way of bringing this era to life, also helps.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1909, Maddy and Lou Emma Miller are newcomers to Gloriosa, Kansas, where their widower father, Professor Cyrus Miller, has just accepted a position at Eastern Kansas Classical College. The two sisters are used to doing many things for themselves, and they look forward to having a little bit of distance from their overbearing Aunt Jesse, and to doing all the family's housekeeping themselves. As they settle into their new home, Maddy and Lou Emma meet the locals: college president Dr. Biddle and his wife and son, Tommy, next-door neighbors the Wacker family, milliner Kate Turner, and troublemaking classmate Adelaide Moss. All of these figures become key players in the events of their first few months in Kansas, including braving the chiggers to pick berries, attending a Chatauqua and a speech by William Jennings Bryan, and helping their father to build the college's first telescope.

I had a stack of family stories on the coffee table during this entire month, and only grabbed this one over a variety of others because it was illustrated by Joe and Beth Krush, whose work I have loved in Beverly Cleary's teen romances and in the Gone-Away Lake books. I knew from the first chapter, though, that the writing in this book is even better than the artwork, and that I had stumbled upon a new favorite.

At the heart of the story is the two girls' warm relationship with their academic father, and the unorthodox way the three Millers relate to each other in the absence of the girls' deceased mother. Because Professor Miller is such an intelligent and well-read person, the girls' dialogue with him is filled with allusions, Latin phrases, and plays on words, as well as inside jokes. Their family banter is delightful, and it really helps all three characters come to life.

In addition to the dialogue, which is well-written for all the supporting characters as well as the Millers, the details of early 20th century living are also well-incorporated into the story. The Chatauqua gathering is described in great detail, giving readers who have never heard of such a thing a complete picture of what these events involved. The appearance of William Jennings Bryan and the girls' membership in a temperance group also help readers understand specific aspects of life in the early 1900s that might be missed by general history books. I also really enjoyed all the details of dress, especially the hats Miss Kate makes in her shop, and the outfits required for Maddy and Lou Emma for various functions.

Readers who enjoy spending time in Minnesota with Betsy, Tacy, and Tib will find the same wholesome pleasure in Kansas with the Millers. Those Miller Girls! is often funny, but also spends adequate time on the girls' more serious emotions about things like being pitied as "poor motherless girls," wishing their father would fall in love with Miss Kate, and enduring tattling and bullying from obnoxious Adelaide Moss. A great mix of history, humor, and heartwarming family relationships, this book is one I am glad to own, and which I can't wait to share with my girls when they are older. Though it seems like it will be a difficult task, I'm also itching to find copies of the sequels: The Motoring Millers (1969) and Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma Miller? (1979)

This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a while it seemed that the long (and most interesting) Chautauqua episode would be the entirety and climax of this book, which would have likely earned it only four stars. It turns out, however, that was just the first act! The second act was exceptional and elevated the rating to five stars. Throughout the course of this book, we see a wide range of emotions from several of the characters, and there are a number of little conflicts that arise and are resolved while larger ones develop. There is plenty of 1909 period information - clothing, technology, activities, beliefs - and the travails of a small-town university professor (a widower with two young girls) make for an unusual and appealing backdrop. I hope that the sequels live up to such a high standard.

[Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It literally had me laughing at times. Not like hysterically dying laughing or anything, but laughing. It was funny, and at the end, I was literally squealing when their father was trying to find the woman he loved to tell her. (His wife died I think, not in the book; but before the story takes place, and he fell in love with this “new” woman after) and I love the relationship that the girls have with, what’s her face. The lady their father falls in love with. She’s amazing with the girls and is what they need which is a positive motherly role model.
Though she’s not their mother, she’s just as good to them as if she was.
You would have to read an actual like description of the book because I just kinda say a few things about it and what I think.
And there was a little something something going on between Lou Emma and... Tommy?
Idk. I can’t remember his name
This review is basically garbage 😂
But he is in the beginning. And though there young, I was still like 😭😭👏🏼
I loved it.

[CmPete Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book for youngsters. Sweet, but not cloying. A good picture of turn of the century life in small town Kansas.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of books was one of my favs when I was a little girl. Highly recommend for your little girl.

[Melannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story when I was younger. The rush of riding my bike to the library during my summer vacation intoxicating. I knew what adventures were awaiting me at the Huachuca City library. Mrs. Jackman always smiling as I approached the desk with an armful of books, Those Miller Girls, among them.

I miss those days. Sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the shelves, reading the first paragraph of this book. I am almost 50 years old and can remember the beginning....the two sister sitting in their father's new car, one pleading for speed, the other saying no in her mind.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet portrait of life for two girls with an absentminded father during a Kansas summer in 1909. The writing is descriptive and the plot moves along, if at a sedate pace. My favorite was Miss Kate Turner, the 26-year-old spinster milliner, come to start a new business in town, who has a curious way of getting the Professor to do things he doesn't want to. The person who recommended this on Instagram said it was like The Penderewicks and Betsy-Tacy.
I'd say those are apt comparisons!

[Chrisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Cute. I do have concerns about the creek subplot but that's because I think kids these days would actually get it. When I was that age it would have gone over my head. But Kate was a pretty good creation.

[Ariel Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those dang Miller Girls. Pullin’ on my heart strings.

[Leslie Cernosek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading the start of the Miller family’s adventures in Kansas. Honestly bummed I can’t attend Chautauqua.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books from childhood. It's a turn-of-the-century tale about a pair of young sisters and their father, a classics professor. Their mother has died, and Professor Miller decides to take a position at the new eastern Kansas classics college. He and the girls ride the train from Ohio to Topeka, where he buys one of the first gas-powered automobiles and drives them to their new home in little Gloriosa, KS.

The girls are young, but they ask their father not to hire a housekeeper -- they decide it's better to keep house themselves than be bossed around. They settle into their new home and begin to make friends, leading to various adventures involving goats, hats, berry picking, the Temperance Society drill, and a telescope. Lou Emma, the oldest, begins to dream of having a mother again, but her sister Maddy is less sure - and what does Prof. Miller think? Can the Millers find someone who wants a 'second-hand family?'

I loved the family rules - 1) the family sticks together, no matter what, 2) never interrupt Papa when he's studying, and 3) keep clean, keep fed, keep happy - anything else is fancy work. And I loved Lou Emma's voice as the narrator - she's a sweet, shy, like able girl who struggles with missing her mom and speaking up for herself.

Funny and tender and well-written -- I checked it out a million times, along with the rest of the series. If only copies weren't so hard to buy these days, but it's been out of print forever...

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the 6th grade. Really liked it. Don't remember why.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story but I think I would have liked it better if I had read it as a child.

[Cws]

JWAW-Con