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The Mitchells #2
Canadian Summer
The large and growing Mitchell family, transferring their location to Montreal, can’t find a house to buy or rent. They settle, over Mother’s protests, for a remote, rickety summer house in the woods near a lake. The dangers, antics, quarrels, and fun which now unroll bring each member of the family into vivid characterization. Meanwhile we meet some delightful French Canadians and taste the special qualities of rural Quebec in the late 1940’s.
Canada, 1940's
RL5.3
Of read-aloud interest ages 8-up
Canada, 1940's
RL5.3
Of read-aloud interest ages 8-up
181 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
5 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Hilda van Stockum
54 books74 followersBorn February 9, 1908, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Hilda van Stockum was a noted author, illustrator and painter, whose work has won the Newbery Honor and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award. She was also a charter member of the Children's Book Guild and the only person to have served as its president for two consecutive terms.
Van Stockum was raised partly in Ireland, and also in Ymuiden, the seaport of Amsterdam, where her father was port commander. With no car and few companions, she recalled turning to writing out of boredom. She was also a talented artist. A penchant for art evidently ran in the family, which counted the van Goghs as distant relatives.
In the 1920s, she worked as an illustrator for the Dublin-based publishing house, Browne & Nolan. She illustrated her first book, an Irish reader, in 1930, and her last book in 2001, giving her a 71-year career as a book-illustrator.
Van Stockum attended art school in Amsterdam and later in Dublin, where she met and later married Ervin Ross "Spike" Marlin, who at the time was her brother Willem's roommate at Trinity College. Willem Van Stockum was killed piloting a bomber over France in 1944. Van Stockum memorialized him in her book The Mitchells (1945), about the travails of raising a family in Washington, D.C., during the war. She often used her family as models for the written and illustrated characters in her books.
Not surprisingly then, Van Stockum was, in fact, raising a family in Washington, D.C., at the time, having married Marlin, who by 1935 was a Roosevelt administration official.
She had written and illustrated her first book for children, A Day on Skates , in 1934. It had a foreword by her aunt-by-marriage, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and won a Newbery Honor. During the next four decades she averaged one book per year written, illustrated, translated or some combination.
Van Stockum and the couple's six children were in tow for Marlin's peripatetic assignments, and it seems nothing short of miraculous that she managed to write and illustrate a score of children's books. In addition, she translated and illustrated editions of many other authors.
Asked in 1942 by the Washington Post how she did it, Van Stockum replied with characteristic aplomb, "By neglecting my other duties." Highly organized in her work, she illustrated and painted in the winter and wrote in the summer, when she could get her children out of the house.
Known for their warm, vivid, and realistic depictions of family life in the face of danger and difficulties, van Stockum's books typically featured families and were set wherever she happened to be living; Francie on the Run (1939), about a child who escapes from a hospital, was set in Ireland. Friendly Gables (1958) completed the Mitchells' saga — by then they had moved to Montreal from Washington.
Her most popular book, The Winged Watchman (1962) is the story of two Dutch boys who help the Resistance during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The book is based on letters Hilda received from relatives in the Netherlands, and has been praised for conveying an accurate sense of life under Nazi occupation.
Hilda van Stockum died in 2006 at the age of 98.
Van Stockum was raised partly in Ireland, and also in Ymuiden, the seaport of Amsterdam, where her father was port commander. With no car and few companions, she recalled turning to writing out of boredom. She was also a talented artist. A penchant for art evidently ran in the family, which counted the van Goghs as distant relatives.
In the 1920s, she worked as an illustrator for the Dublin-based publishing house, Browne & Nolan. She illustrated her first book, an Irish reader, in 1930, and her last book in 2001, giving her a 71-year career as a book-illustrator.
Van Stockum attended art school in Amsterdam and later in Dublin, where she met and later married Ervin Ross "Spike" Marlin, who at the time was her brother Willem's roommate at Trinity College. Willem Van Stockum was killed piloting a bomber over France in 1944. Van Stockum memorialized him in her book The Mitchells (1945), about the travails of raising a family in Washington, D.C., during the war. She often used her family as models for the written and illustrated characters in her books.
Not surprisingly then, Van Stockum was, in fact, raising a family in Washington, D.C., at the time, having married Marlin, who by 1935 was a Roosevelt administration official.
She had written and illustrated her first book for children, A Day on Skates , in 1934. It had a foreword by her aunt-by-marriage, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and won a Newbery Honor. During the next four decades she averaged one book per year written, illustrated, translated or some combination.
Van Stockum and the couple's six children were in tow for Marlin's peripatetic assignments, and it seems nothing short of miraculous that she managed to write and illustrate a score of children's books. In addition, she translated and illustrated editions of many other authors.
Asked in 1942 by the Washington Post how she did it, Van Stockum replied with characteristic aplomb, "By neglecting my other duties." Highly organized in her work, she illustrated and painted in the winter and wrote in the summer, when she could get her children out of the house.
Known for their warm, vivid, and realistic depictions of family life in the face of danger and difficulties, van Stockum's books typically featured families and were set wherever she happened to be living; Francie on the Run (1939), about a child who escapes from a hospital, was set in Ireland. Friendly Gables (1958) completed the Mitchells' saga — by then they had moved to Montreal from Washington.
Her most popular book, The Winged Watchman (1962) is the story of two Dutch boys who help the Resistance during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The book is based on letters Hilda received from relatives in the Netherlands, and has been praised for conveying an accurate sense of life under Nazi occupation.
Hilda van Stockum died in 2006 at the age of 98.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 18, 2023
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
In this second of three books based on a fictitious version of author Hilda van Stockum and her family, the Mitchells relocate to Montreal for Father's new job. To Mother's chagrin, the only house available to rent for the summer is a remote and rustic building near a lake without any modern amenities. Despite her initial reservations, however, she, Grannie, and the children have a wonderful time exploring nature and befriending the locals, Mr. Magee (whom the children call Mr. Magic), Mr. Purcell, a young man who uses a wheelchair after being wounded in war, and Pierre, an artist who lives nearby and delivers the family's groceries.
Like The Open Gate and Miracles on Maple Hill, this is a great family story about kids exploring a new rural environment. The Mitchell children greet their new surroundings with gusto, and their enthusiasm makes for some nerve-wracking and suspenseful scenarios involving injuries and worried parents. French Canadian culture and language permeate the story in a natural and engaging way, and for kids who have never really had to "rough it" the conditions the family must endure are novel and appealing.
I read through this book every bit as quickly as the first one, and loved it for its wholesome portrayal of family and its comforting resolution of all major problems and concerns. It's a good book to curl up with during a summer thunderstorm, and would also make a great read-aloud for those whose French is good enough to pull off a convincing accent.
In this second of three books based on a fictitious version of author Hilda van Stockum and her family, the Mitchells relocate to Montreal for Father's new job. To Mother's chagrin, the only house available to rent for the summer is a remote and rustic building near a lake without any modern amenities. Despite her initial reservations, however, she, Grannie, and the children have a wonderful time exploring nature and befriending the locals, Mr. Magee (whom the children call Mr. Magic), Mr. Purcell, a young man who uses a wheelchair after being wounded in war, and Pierre, an artist who lives nearby and delivers the family's groceries.
Like The Open Gate and Miracles on Maple Hill, this is a great family story about kids exploring a new rural environment. The Mitchell children greet their new surroundings with gusto, and their enthusiasm makes for some nerve-wracking and suspenseful scenarios involving injuries and worried parents. French Canadian culture and language permeate the story in a natural and engaging way, and for kids who have never really had to "rough it" the conditions the family must endure are novel and appealing.
I read through this book every bit as quickly as the first one, and loved it for its wholesome portrayal of family and its comforting resolution of all major problems and concerns. It's a good book to curl up with during a summer thunderstorm, and would also make a great read-aloud for those whose French is good enough to pull off a convincing accent.
March 18, 2016
I appreciate that the children (especially the two littlest) are presented as energetic and not at all always perfect little angels.
November 28, 2022
My kids and I love this series! I wondered how the author would do, putting this family in a totally different setting, but the plot totally worked! Five minutes after finishing this book, my kids were already asking when we'd start book three.
September 5, 2011
A very pleasing, mildly Enrighty sort of book about an American devout Catholic family spending a summer in rural Quebec. It reminded me, also, of The Nickel-Plated Beauty and the sequel to Roller Skates and Go the the Room of the Eyes and Miracles on Maple Hill. Any of you will like it.
August 1, 2011
This book is the sequel to Mitchells: Five for Victory. Mom read this book out loud to us when I was in high school.
November 16, 2016
Just as good as the first time through and this would be #4
June 8, 2022
This book was a great improvement on the first one in the series. We made me want to go to the Canadian mountains. Just say wonderful but to read as a family.
April 19, 2021
I guess I forgot to add this when we actually read it, a few months ago. It was just as delightful as the others in this series, all of which my 11YO daughter and I loved reading aloud together. Actually, this one may have been my personal favorite b/c of the setting and reading about the summer adventures of the Mitchells while it was winter in PA. These will be cherished books for us in years to come.
March 20, 2017
Hilda Van Stockum does a wonderful job carrying the story forward from The Mitchell's - Five for Victory as the family spends the summer in Canada. Lots of outdoor experiences, mishaps and adventures!
A few references to Catholicism, a few references to their financial struggles and a few french words or people that reference the french influence found in Canada, but this just brings authenticity to the writings.
The narrator, Mary Sarah Agliotta does an excellent job bringing the Mitchell family to life. Her voice sounds like Megan Follows of Anne of Green Gables and makes the listening experience such a delight!
A few references to Catholicism, a few references to their financial struggles and a few french words or people that reference the french influence found in Canada, but this just brings authenticity to the writings.
The narrator, Mary Sarah Agliotta does an excellent job bringing the Mitchell family to life. Her voice sounds like Megan Follows of Anne of Green Gables and makes the listening experience such a delight!
March 16, 2021
Hilda van Stockum does it again! This second book in The Mitchells trilogy didn’t get off to quite the sterling start that the first book did, but it soon had me laughing, choking back tears and had my kids begging me for one more chapter.
December 3, 2021
Geography read aloud for Canada, 2nd grade.
November 16, 2022
This is quite an old book, but it was really fun to read. It was intended for young adults originally, I think. It reflects a different culture and time, so I found it quite interesting.
July 4, 2025
Sweet family adventure. All the rustic summer living you could wish for, and lots of genuine child moments that only a parent could describe.
Roman Catholic references here and there.
Roman Catholic references here and there.
April 7, 2014
Written in the 1940s, this book reflects the times. Children were given a lot more freedom to explore their world, and had many adventures that children today could not possibly have because they are too busy at one planned activity after another. I enjoyed it immensely!
July 20, 2014
10YO girl liked.
January 31, 2016
Just what I like -- huge family, independent kids, even a dash of religion. I should find myself a copy.
April 9, 2017
This is always a fun, educational read. I enjoyed it as much as I have as a kid.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews