Wedding in the Family

Midge Heydon #1

by Rosamond du Jardin

When Tobey Heydon got married, her fifteen-year-old sister Midge felt both joyful and sad. She was delighted that her sister was so happy and thrilled with the wedding festivities, but sad that Tobey would be leaving home. The best man, Johnny Randall, a smooth talking older man, catches Midge's eye. Later at Green Lake, Midge finds herself attracted to a good-looking, popular young man. Will she fall for this one or will her friend Tom Brooks help her to see the light?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Childrens

196 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Rosamond du Jardin, née Neal, first wrote humorous verse and short stories for newspaper syndicates, then went on to sell approximately a hundred stories to such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, McCall's and many other publications, abroad as well as in the United States. She also wrote five novels for adults before her first novel for teenagers, Practically Seventeen, which was published in 1949.

She was married to Victor Du Jardin on October 28, 1925. They had three children, Jacqueline Neal, Victor Junior, and Judith Carol, with whom she would later co-author Junior Year Abroad.

In addition to writing, Mrs. Du Jardin frequently spoke at schools, and students enjoyed meeting in person the creator of some of their favorite stories. Mrs. Du Jardin enjoyed her school visits, too, because she liked and respected teenagers as individuals and firmly believed that they are interesting, normal and dependable people.

Born in the small town of Fairland, Illinois, Rosamond du Jardin was two years old when her family moved to Chicago. She lived there and in the Chicago suburbs for the rest of her life.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Chapter Two of Wedding in the Family, Tobey Heydon, now 22 and one week away from her wedding to Brose (bleah), gives her 15-year-old sister Midge a stuffed tiger, Boo, to replace the stuffed dog, Pootsie, that Midge has had since she was a baby. "I thought if I got you a replacement," Tobey says, "you'd throw the old one out," or at least "put it away in a closet somewhere."

Now replace "Boo" with "Midge" and "Pootsie" with "Tobey," and that's basically what du Jardin has done with the Tobey Heydon book series. Way back in Practically Seventeen, Tobey mused about how her 24-year-old sister Janet must be bitter about being so old and married and irrelevant. Now that Tobey is soon to be married and on her way to mid-20s decrepitude, we are likewise free to throw her away or put her in a closet. We do get to see Tobey and Brose's wedding, but only because it serves as a vehicle for Midge's first big crush on Johnnie, Brose's best man. As soon as the wedding is over, Tobey and Brose move away so Brose can go to graduate school in chemistry and Tobey can presumably waste her college degree, not that we even get to know what she majored in. She's got her man (sort of; it is Brose after all), which is all we need to know, I guess.

The rest of the book is about Midge and her series of crushes on boys she can't have and her semi-snotty attitude toward boys who like her. Also, she eats a lot, which is a character trait and not a judgment on my part. Midge is kind of boring actually. She eats and pines over boys and sometimes goes swimming.

Anyway. One more book to go, about Midge and her new friends, which I am half-hoping is a group of radical feminists, but I'm guessing they won't be.

[koza · Rating 2 out of 5]

In which Tobey and Brose marry, but no longer have personalities.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, Midge is nowhere near as engaging as big sister Tobey. Her boy crazy ways were just a little irritating.

[mic jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* Tobey's younger sister Midge gets her turn in the spotlight after the big to-do of Tobey's marriage to Brose. Most of the story takes place at Green Lake, where the Heydons spend their summer vacations. The ending is stronger than the beginning in this one, and I find that I liked Midge more when she was a kid sister. Her character seems to have less defined personality than Tobey, Pam and Penny, and my favorite, Marcy. At darling 15, Midge's head is in the clouds, and she loves being swept away by romantic fantasy, instead of focusing on the boys right in front of her. We've all been there. Outside of her fantasies, however, I don't know much about Midge, other than her love of horses (only mentioned at the end) and eating weird combinations of food. Not dying to read the last one, One of the Crowd, a kind of weird title since Midge was talking about not conforming in this one. But I am mildly curious about whether her character will be developed more.

On a different, slightly wacky note: I have a haunch that Rosamond du Jardin was into astrology and was writing each of her protagonists with a clear understanding of their zodiac sign. Tobey? Leo all day. Pam and Penny? Probably Aquariuses. My girl Marcy? Soooo Cancer. And Midge? She's giving me Pisces..maybe with a Taurus moon. It kinda makes me wish this woman lived longer than her 60 years! She had homespun wisdom for the teen girl of every star sign, but we only got to so many. :-(

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book - we finally get to see Brose and Tobey's wedding through the eyes of little sister Midge, plus revisit their good old summer lake vacation site. Midge learns a few things about guys, humorously eats at every opportunity (growing girl!), and hangs out with pal Judy. Cute, light, vintage.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious to hear phrases like "Strictly from hunger" again. She ditches the player for the true love all along. How could she not have seen that from the beginning?

[P Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious!

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was my favorite of the whole Tobey and Midge series. I liked Midge, I liked that I didn’t have to hear so much about Brose (yuck), and I loved the second half of the story at the lake house.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was nice to see Tobey and Brose married finally but Midge was never as appealing to me as her big sis.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a teenager, and I loved it. I read it over and over. I would like to get a copy to re-read as an adult.