Full House: The Story of the Anderson Quintuplets

by Karen Anderson, Jo Robinson

Telling her own story of what it is like to raise quintuplets, the author, mother of three boys and two girls born in Oregon in 1973, shares the experiences and activities of the first six years of her children's lives

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Born 1945
per Library of Congress website

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

my grandmother is the author of this book, and my mother is the youngest child, diane. so i love this book! it’s so great that because of this book my mother has gotten to travel the world and i get to see how it was like when she was a child. much respect to my grandparents for doing such a fantastic job raising them!

[Infosifter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I've read several times in my life, as a child and again as an adult. This story of a family having quintuplets (along with two older adopted boys, one with a severe hearing deficiency) is a fascinating one.

[Leisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a 13 year old . . . and have re-read it a number of times - last time as an adult about five years ago.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the Anderson quintuplets, born in 1973 in Oregon. The parents are Eric and Karen Anderson. They are so refreshingly wholesome. Even the story of their courtship is lovely.

The children are Scott, Roger, Owen, Audrey and Diane. Karen and Eric chose to raise these children on their own with no help. It's fun reading about their day-to-day life. I also appreciated a glimpse at good, solid discernment.

While still in the hospital, Karen begins to consider caring for the infants without help. The account on pp. 70-74 recounts how she used her powers of observation, her understanding of herself and her husband and her gut to come to the conclusion that she'd rather do it alone. Her husband confirmed this. They decided to be prudent and maintain a long list of people they could call on at a moment's notice. They also decided they'd call in permanent help if things didn't work out.

Warning: Eric and esp. Karen are so seemingly perfect, it may put you off your lunch, but it's still a great read.

[Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty sure I first read this book as a freshman in high school-- I was wandering through the library one day, it caught my eye, and I sat down to read it. I've re-read it a couple of times since then.

This book was great for me to read as a teen for many reasons (although this was one I never checked out to take home--my mother would have had a heart attack right there and then): 1) Because she talks a bit, but not a lot, about birth control and fertility drugs, I did some research about them; 2) Since I was reading a memoir from an adult perspective, it helped me get that there were points of view other than that of a 14-year-old out there, even if I disagreed with them; and 3) It opened up the world of non-YA, non-fiction literature to me, much more so than anything I'd read at school to that point did.

But of course, I didn't know any of those things then. It's only with 20+ years of hindsight that I realize how great it was that I ran across this book one day.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is lots of details on day-to-day life with one adopt the deaf son, and all those little babies. I also enjoyed the sections when Dr. Teaberry Brazzle 10 appeared.

[Madolin]

so-so