The Berry Patch

by Josephine Lawrence

Four cousins - Elspeth Oliver, with a high opinion of herself; plump Jane Bennett, who likes basketball; lively Gideon Berry, suspended from school for a year; and Winthrop Miller, who spends too much time indoors studying - are all sent to Mercer for a year to stay with their uncle, Judge Randolph Berry, and his sister, Aunt Carrie. They are not the only ones staying at "The Berry Patch." Uncle Rand also invited the new teacher of the freshman class, John Tabor, to board with the family, and Hilda Brooks, a worthy girl from a shiftless family who will do chores in exchange for the opportunity to live with the Berrys and attend Mercer High. But the cousins got off on the wrong foot: John Tabor heard them complaining about their new school on the train, and they treat Hilda like a servant, although their uncle and aunt have asked them to welcome her as an equal.

Can the cousins from the city overcome their prejudices and make friends in Mercer?

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

A versatile and prolific author, Josephine Lawrence began her career in journalism, soon branched out to ghostwrite girls' and tots' series under her own name and pseudonymously, then went on to earn national recognition for her adult fiction. When she died in 1978, she had written 33 adult novels and approximately 100 children's books. Despite Lawrence's many publications, biographical information about her remains sparse, scattered among a number of brief articles and reviews of her books. This webpage attempts to remedy that lack of information by providing a detailed bio-bibliography of a noteworthy -- and too often overlooked -- woman writer.

Reviews

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant, if uneventful, in which four cousins, all high school freshmen, spend the school year with their uncle (stern but lovable judge with high standards but infinite compassion) and kind aunt (a worthy widow who dispenses good needs in the neighborhood) and improve themselves in the process.