Miss Tippy

Tippy Parrish #1

by Janet Lambert

Going on sixteen year old Tippy Parrish is devastated when her father is ordered to Germany. Tippy earnestly attempts to gain the title of Miss Tippy in the eyes of the Parrishes beloved cook, Trudy. Tragedy in the Parrish household contributes to the emergence of Miss Tippy.

Genres: Young Adult

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Janet Lambert, born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, was a popular girls' story author from 1941 through 1969 (and beyond to today). She wrote 54 books during that time about a number of different girls and their families. Her most popular series were about the Parrishes and the Jordons. These stories, and many of her other series, became entwined as the various characters met each other, married, and then had children of their own!

Janet, having an interest in both the theater and writing, decided to write her own plays in which to act. She did achieve her goal and appeared on Broadway. When she married a career Army officer, her life on stage came to a close, but her stories were still flowing. Knowing well the "life of the Army," many of Ms. Lambert's books are set on Army posts throughout the United States.

Legend has it that her stories started as bedtime stories for her children while they were overseas. Each night, the author would tell the next "installment" of the series. Later, after her kids were grown, she penned one of her stories (Star Spangled Summer) and—according to legend—it was sold to a publisher the very day after she sent it to them.

Reviews

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

2026 Reread
Enjoyed this reread. Bobby was an on again-off again pain. But everyone else was lovely. I also cried at one time.

I just love Tippy. She's so different from her sister, Penny, and nothing at all like her brothers, David and Bobby. Growing up as an Army brat, Tippy sometimes finds being the youngest a challenge. And when her father is suddenly ordered to another country after WWII, her nephew contracts polio, and her 16th birthday comes, Tippy struggles with life.
This author just pulls you into the story where real characters live, and the settings are places you can tell the author has been to before. I love the style of writing.

This is not a Christian book and there might be a stray swear word, but nothing else objectionable.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read from 1948. It's connected to other books the author wrote previously (about Tippy's older sister Penny), but you don't need to read them first to understand this book.

I love the slice of life presented in this book. Teens were real people but still viewed as children who weren't grown up yet and still had a lot to learn—but who were capable of doing useful things as well.

Several books follow in the series, and they seem to be readily available as ebooks and audio books. I think I'm happy to stop here for now, though, even though I enjoyed this first book.

[Karen Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tippy Parrish and her best friend Alice Jordon are having a fun-filled summer when Tippy's father suddenly finds that he's being stationed in Germany which throw young Tippy for a loop. Nearly 16, Tippy wants to be a good soldier's daughter and go with her parents happily to Germany, but she's having trouble being unselfish about it all. She had been looking forward to attending school with her friends and had so many plans. After all, her sister Penny and brother David have families of their own, and her brother Bobby will be attending college to prepare for his entrance exams for West Point so they will still be in New York. She'll be leaving everything she loves behind other than her mother and father and she struggles through coming to terms with it all.

Tippy is also struggling to become her own person and earn the respect of her family as being more than the baby of the family, including trying to learn how to ensure that she earns Trudy's respectful "Miss Tippy" appellation. Throw in a major family crisis when Tippy's nephew is diagnosed with polio, the steadying influence of her friend and potential boyfriend Peter Jordon, and multiple run-ins with flirty 2nd Lt. Ken Prescott and Tippy has a lot to handle.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my mom's book and I must've read it dozens and dozens of times when I was young. Even back then, I loved the purity of the late 40s early 50s. It's a shame that teens nowadays are so far from it. I plan to read this to my daughter when she's old enough and tell her stories about when the world was much less self involved.

[Laurie Elkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet WWII story of the Parrish family. These books were an escape for me in my junior high years and I still enjoy them.

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had read this when I was younger - I would have adored it. I still really liked it, it was every bit as charming as I've come to expect of books from that period, and while I don't have access to any of the other books in the series, I'm glad to have read it.

[Christine McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid teen growing up story. Characters are well-drawn, and it's good to see a happy family, and their approach to challenges and a crisis. Tippy is well-intentioned, but makes mistakes, and tries to learn from them.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Miss Tippy" is a book in Lambert's Parrish family, although the Jordans have prominent roles in this book, too. At the beginning of the book it is announced that Colonel Lambert is being sent overseas to occupied Germany; Mrs. Parrish and Tippy, as the youngest child, will meet him there once he finds a place for them to live. Bobby gets to stay at home with either Penny or David, who are both married and have families of their own. I thought the move to Germany would happen in this book but the book ends with Tippy and Mrs. Parrish getting on the transport ship.

Tippy is approaching her 16th birthday. She asks the Parrish's beloved cook, Trudy, why she calls Penny "Miss Penny" but just calls her plain "Tippy". Trudy says that the title must be earned through respect. She finally earns the title when a near disaster befalls upon the family and she is a stanchion post in holding it together.

As always, the Lambert books enchant me. The way that she brings various unrelated families together into a whole cohesive series is just magic.

[J.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tippy is a charming fifteen-year-old girl in the late 1940's, youngest in her family, and an Army brat. Her brother Bobby plagues the life out of her, and she idolizes her older siblings and their spouses. Tippy is pretty and popular and much admired by a gentle, quiet young West Point cadet and by a charming young officer. She wants to be a deep thinker and have high goals for life, but no one seems to take her seriously. Then a terrible illness strikes her nephew, and her father gets stationed in post-war Germany. Tippy must do a lot of growing up, and always she is hoping that someday the family's beloved cook will address her as "Miss Tippy," a sign of respect.
I had a tough time really bonding with Tippy--who is rather spoiled--but I always enjoy the ongoing story of Lambert's characters, and I expect to like Tippy more as she matures. These books offer fascinating glimpses into the past.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of teen novels of a certain era must seek out Janet Lambert's collection, which follows generations of teenage girls from the 30s to the 60s. Having already written several titles about Tippy's older sister, Lambert turns the light on Tippy in this Sixteen Candles story full of white sport coats and young officer gentlemen. And polio, because it's 1948. Tippy's relationship with the family's maid is the force behind this title, and their scenes might be sweet if only she weren't the family maid and directed by D.W. Griffith.
Ok, so it's The Help. I realize that now as I type this.
I would give it an extra half star for period descriptions of clothes, hair, food, social mores, steamship travel, New York (aka The Island... said no one ever)and some small suggestion of what your grand/mother was like at 16.

[Lyanne Quay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una famiglia americana in Germania dopo la sconfitta del nazismo. Babbo militare e insomma libro cult per capire l'america profonda prima dell'avvento della fiction college "ehi! ma io sono popolare"!
I prossimi libri emergono dalla notte della coscienza li ho letti che non avevo 10 anni.

[Dichotomy Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much about the last Penny Parish Book makes sense now! Going forward I am reading the books in Chronological order rather than series order.

[Tammie Groeneman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Janet Lambert is not my favorite author of this genre/time period, but this has all the feels: summer fun, boy troubles, growing up, big family but with the addition of some genuine drama and it did make me cry at the end which is unheard of for me so that's something.