Maida's Little House

Maida #2

by Inez Haynes Gillmore

Maida's Little House is a heartwarming children's book written by Inez Haynes Irwin. It tells the story of Maida Westabrook, a young girl who dreams of having a little house of her own. Maida's father is a wealthy businessman, and her family lives in a grand mansion in the city. However, Maida longs for a simpler life, where she can have her own space and take care of herself.One day, Maida's father surprises her by buying a small cottage in the countryside. Maida is overjoyed and immediately sets to work making the house her own. She decorates it with her own furniture, plants a garden, and even gets a pet dog. Maida's little house becomes her sanctuary, where she can escape from the pressures of her privileged life and experience the joys of independence.As Maida settles into her new home, she learns valuable lessons about responsibility, hard work, and the importance of following her dreams. She also discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in the countryside, as she explores the nearby woods and fields and makes friends with the local farmers and their families.Maida's Little House is a charming tale that will appeal to children and adults alike. With its timeless themes of self-discovery, independence, and the joys of nature, it is a book that will inspire and delight readers of all ages.1921. This is the second book in The Maida Westabrook series, which features Maida Westabrook, the orphaned daughter of Jerome Buffalo Westabrook, Wall Street tycoon. Although Maida has had everything that money can buy and the devotion of her father, she suffers from poor health. After an operation, on a chance visit to Charlestown they visit a little neighborhood shop, and Maida is enchanted and wishes that she, too, could keep a shop just like this one. Buffalo Westabrook, delighted to see Maida take an interest in something, buys the shop and arranges for Maida to live above the shop with elderly Irish housekeeper, Granny Flynn. The only two conditions are that she must make the shop pay, and she must not reveal her true identity. There is a fairy tale charm about Maida, the poor little rich girl, who is restored to health and who finds happiness living in an ordinary neighborhood among ordinary children, tending her little shop. In Maida's Little House all of her friends spend a happy summer in her perfect little house that has everything a child could wish for. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Childrens

268 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2004

Reviews

[Gina House · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and charming adventure! 😍❤️

I was so nervous that this second book in the Maida series wouldn't be as good as the first, Maida's Little Shop, but it was!!! Yay!

When I read a 5🌟 book by a new-to-me author, I sometimes worry that the rest of the series might not be quite as awesome. That sounds so pessimistic, but it's usually true (or at least I've found that it is).

I'm happy to say that, in this case, this book was just as good and in a slightly different way, which was very exciting.

Maida and her friends spend the entire summer at Maida's Little House in the country of Massachusetts—filled with daily chores like cooking, gardening and tidying up, as well as mysterious adventures concerning local gypsy friends who are staying in the nearby woods.

Every page was a delight and joy to read. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this middle grade series over the course of this year. Inez Haynes Irwin has such a special and appealing way of writing. I love that her characters are all different and unique, but all have qualities to admire. Friendship, caring (for people and animals) and taking responsibility for your actions (but not in a preachy way) are some of the themes that IHI does best!

Highly, highly recommended! Extremely happy that I read this book for Middle Grade March 2024 this year 🤩💖

[J. Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second in the "Maida" series by Inez Haynes Irwin. Scion of riches Maida -- now healthy and fully recovered from her illness -- comes back to the place she ran her Little Shop to invite her friends to live with her over the summer in a guest house on her father's estate.

It's rather pleasant. There are brief references to the (minor) housekeeping dilemmas the kids face, but they don't drive the action in the way that they do in, say, Wiggin's Half-a-Dozen Housekeepers, where the kids are on their own for a few weeks. Here, though they may be in the background, there's more of an adult presence.

The storyline, in general, is inferior to the Little Shop, and if the next book wasn't titled Maida's Little School, I'd probably stop looking into the series.

I may quietly leave this out in a place accessible to my six year old DD#1 -- you don't get to fifteen books in a series like this without having some attractiveness to young girls -- but won't push it.

Wikipedia makes much of Irwin's proto-feminism and left-wing cred, but I am hard pressed to see any of that in the Maida books. Maybe Maida -- far richer than the typical protagonist -- goes a bit further in the "lady bountiful" business than you'd usually see?

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet, old fashioned story! Sure to be a favorite with tween girls as the main girl invites friends to spend the summer with her in the dearest and funnest little house ever.

This series is best read in order.

Cleanliness: Someone says "Mother of God" and "Lordee." References the Halloween chapter from the previous book as the children reminisce over that party. One of the gypsies reads fortunes - only mentioned. A woman is described as being "buxom." Uses of “good gracious” “goodness” “gee” and the like. Uses the word "negro" once. Fairies and goblins are referenced when children are imagining/walking through the forest. Mentions how "once the earth had been covered with great icecaps."

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[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have been revisitng this series which is well-remembered from my childhood...inherited from my aunts.
What I just learned is that Irwin was not part of a writing syndicate as so many series authors were at this time, but was in fact an ardent feminist...certainly makes re-reading these even more interesting.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story starts out slow. I haven't read the first book in this series, so all of the characters were new to me -- the Big Six, the Little Six, the parents, and the servants. Then there are quite a few chapters that just describe how wonderful the little house is with all of the extras a child could desire -- a lake, canoes, a tennis court, rooms for each child, bicycles, gardens ... the descriptions go on and on. The kids spend all of their time oohing and ahhing. Then IH Irwin must have decided that the reader could now visualize the delightful setting so she could proceed with a story.

The kids are all incredibly well-mannered and talented, and the parents apparently don't mind sending off their children for the summer. Of course, I expect children from the 1920s to be depicted as well-mannered, that's part of the fun of reading these old books. The kids have good old-fashioned fun and willingly do their chores.

I did wonder about the gypsy camp. Were there really roaming gypsies in the New England states in the 1920s?

Then there was the columbine incident. Maida gathered enough wild columbines to make a huge bouquet, and then she ended up abandoning them when something more pressing occurred. I'm a little surprised that picking wildflowers was portrayed as acceptable. In Colorado, that practice was being discouraged by the 1920s. Columbines wilt especially quickly, and Maida should have known that. Under ideal conditions, those poor flowers would have been without water for at least an hour. (Need I add that this is one of my pet peeves?)

I would have liked this series as a child. I have one other book in this series, #5 Maida's Little Camp.

[Katherine Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this second story in the "Maida" series, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first book, "Maida's Little Shop". Although the scenario was fun and every child's dream (getting to live in your own adorable house with all of your best friends, and have a pond, garden, tennis court, bicycle excursions, hiking, tree house etc, at your disposal, all funded by a wealthy benefactor), and although the characters were the same as in the first book, this book somehow lacked the charm of the first one. Each chapter seemed almost self-contained, and the sub-plot concerning the gypsies was not very compelling, despite the fact that it would seem to be rich with possibility. I do recall from reading these books years ago that "Maida's Little House" was my least favorite title in the series, and I am fairly certain that as I re-read the others, I will enjoy them more than I did this one. This one serves the purpose, though, of setting up the others, as far as introducing the Little House and environs.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I utterly adored this book as a child.

[Tirzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my mom discoverrd this book on one of my grandma's shelves. I haven't read the first one, so it took me awhile to get all the characters down and after that happened, I was able to enjoy the story. It is set nearly one hundred years ago and in a time that seems more simple than today and yet the children's zest for life and friendship is something to which today's children can relate. There are a few more Maida books my mom has and I will continue reading.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these books as a child and have recently become obsessed with acquiring the whole set (still looking for Maida's Little Lighthouse, Maida's Little Farm, and Maida's Little House Party of anyone sees them!)

Anyway, re-read this last night and so happy it holds up still — I'm so excited to dig more into them!

[Siri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read by a six or seven year old in
Bay City, MI about 1975. From her mother's bookshelf. Still remembered.

[Dawn Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

For childhood memories. Also gave this to my granddaughter to read.

[Patricia A Murphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok for kids, perhaps

Don't know why Amazon put this in my queue. It was utterly boring. Kept reading in hopes a plot would develop. None did. Perhaps a fun kids read.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Maida books were some of my favorite set of books when I was a child. I loved that Maida had her own little house with a tree growing up throught the center. She always took her friends on adventures with her. She also had her own Village and I don't know how many other things she had, but they were fun books to read.

[Susan Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a little girl. Seemed very exciting at the time!