Enchanted Caravan

by Dorothy Gilman Butters

This book looks younger than the text actually is- so watch out in placing it with appreciative readers for it's an unusual story and demands unusual appreciation and presentation. There is quite definitely an element of magic, much more adult and elusive than fairy tale magic, but there all the same. It concerns five lonely people who are thrown into intimate relationship by an odd set of circumstances, and live and work together through a wonderful summer in an odd shabby old caravan. Through the happenings of that summer, they find themselves. There are two romances,- one a mature love story which is ready to ripen into marriage as the story ends, the other a teen age romance with fulfilment in the future. All in all, it is the type of story Junior High and even some High School students really want and need (and young adults wont find it below their interest level either). (Kirkus Reviews)

207 pages

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Author Dorothy Gilman Butters wrote children's stories for more than ten years, before she switched to writing adult novels under the name Dorothy Gilman . She is most well-known for the Mrs. Pollifax series about a woman in her 60s who chooses to become a spy.

Gilman attended Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1940–1945 and the University of Pennsylvania 1963–1964.

Gilman was a Unitarian Universalist.

Reviews

[Jolene MacFadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in the process of republishing each of the children's books that this author published during her early publishing career for her family. In this process I get to read each story once more. This book is her very first book ever published. The story was well written and still relevant even today. Remember that storys are generally cyclical. This story is about a father who gathers his daughter from an orphanage (Boarding school today) for a summer trip in a converted bus, camping, visiting great places and meeting new people along the way.

Grab a copy today. It is available in eBook, paperback and hardback editions.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series, and I recently found out she'd written several children's books before beginning that series. This was a very charming, old-fashioned, and adventurous story of found family in the years just after WWII.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enchanted Caravan was Dorothy Gilman’s first book, written for young adults and under her married name. Jenny Peel has lived in an orphanage since she was a baby. Her mother died and her father felt unable to cope with an infant along with a career that involved constant travel. (He was a traveling knife sharpener and went from village to village.) Her father arrives at the orphanage, and they plan to spend the summer together. Her father drives a caravan kitted out with his tools and workspace and also with a small living space that includes a tiny cooking area. Before they travel very far, they find that they have a stowaway. Reuben is running away from an abusive foster home and Jeremy agrees that he can travel along with them. As they travel about the Vermont countryside, they also end up picking up Jamie Falloden, an artist and Anable Lea, a young woman trying to make up her mind about marriage. Anable persuades Jeremy to change his caravan over to a traveling candy and ice cream caravan and it is a great success. This is such a feel-good story about found family, and everyone has a happy ending except the villain.

[Alissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. The audiobook is read by AI and is hard to listen to. It’s like one long stream of consciousness with no pauses or voice inflections. Questions are read as sentences. Overall I made it ten minutes into the book and couldn’t listen any more than that. My 1 star review is based solely on the audiobook voice and is not a review of the actual story. Maybe I’ll eventually read the book.