When I first proposed to read this story aloud to my children, my oldest, then perhaps 8 or 9 years old, protested loudly! She thought it was going to be a series of numbers and notes about expenditures that I was going to read to her. It only took a little persuading and a few pages before she was hooked. This is a true story - really a set of simple reminiscences - about a Norwegian immigrant family living in San Francisco in the early 1900s (somewhere between the 1906 earthquake and World War I). The stories center around the author's mother, "Mama" - a wonderful character who is difficult to describe with just a few quick adjectives. This is partly because the author reveals her mother's character through favorite family stories in a lovely, subtle way (with plenty of laugh-out-loud spots!). You come to see that Mama is shrewd but completely selfless; she has a wonderful grasp of human nature, but is easily misunderstood (by friends, relatives or readers of the book) because she so readily sees what is good in everyone; she is quiet, but oh, SO stubborn and certainly knows how to get things done in spite of insurmountable odds! Looking through Mama's eyes at the interesting characters that come into her life is a wonderful experience and one you shouldn't miss. Here's a little part of a story to give you a little sense of the book. A boarder, Mr. Hyde, has lived with their family for some time and enthralled all of them by reading classic novels aloud to them every night.

Even when the warm weather came we children didn't beg to go out in the evenings to play one-foot-off-the-gutter. I think Mama was glad; she never liked us running the streets. Best of all, Nels went less and less to the street corner to hang around with the neighborhood boys. The night they got into trouble for breaking into Mr. Dillon's store Nels was home with us. He'd wanted to hear the last chapter of Dombey and Son. Mr. Hyde had taken us deep into Ivanhoe when he got the letter. "I must go," he told Mama. "I shall leave the books for Nels and the children. Here is my check for all I owe you, madam, and my profound thanks for your hospitality." We were sorry to see Mr. Hyde leave, but it was with great excitement that we brought his books out into the kitchen. There were so many of them! We read some of the titles: A Tale of Two Cities, Nicholas Nickleby, Vanity Fair, The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mama dusted them reverently. "So much we can learn," she said. Nels, she added, could read aloud to us each evening, just as Mr. Hyde had done, because Nels too had a fine voice. I could see that made him very proud. Mama showed Mr. Hyde's check to Aunt Jenny. "You see?" she said. "The warm coat I shall have after all." It was too bad that Aunt Jenny was still there when Mr. Kruper came. Mr. Kruper owned the restaurant and bakery down the street and he was angry. "That man Hyde was a crook!" he shouted. "Look at this check he gave me. It's no good! The bank people tell me he cashed them all over the neighborhood." Aunt Jenny's triumphant nod said as plainly as words - I told you so! "I'll bet he owes you folks plenty, too, eh?" Mr. Kruper asked. Mama looked around at all of us. Her eyes rested longest on Nels. "Read," she told him gently, "read to us from Ivanhoe." Then she walked to the stove and put the check into the flames. "No," she answered Mr. Kruper. "No. He owes us nothing."

I think this is best as a solo read for the 12 and up crowd, though it could be read aloud - perhaps with a little explanation or discussion along the way - to children much younger. If you've ever seen the movie I Remember Mama (1948) with Irene Dunne, you're already acquainted with the main characters of this lovely little book. If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out on a real treasure that could be enjoyed before or after this book. But that's a matter for a separate review.

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino is best known as the author of children's stories, especially I, Juan de Pareja which won the Newbery Award in 1966). Long before all that, in the 1930s, she was simply Elizabeth Borton, a modern American lady, living in Boston and working as a journalist, when she was given an assignment in Monterrey, Mexico. There she met, was courted by and eventually married a native by the name of Luis Trevino. In this book she recounts the adventures her courtship and marriage and most particularly her adjustments to life in a completely different culture from her own. She paints a charming pictures of Mexican culture and faith and some of the stories about her mistakes and embarassments are hysterically funny. In moving to Mexico not only does she give up her old way of life (modern America of the 1930s was a significant contrast to life in Mexico), but she wholeheartedly embraced the Catholic faith and learned to truly love the hallmark of Mexican culture - the strength of the family and the essential role of mothers in the home and family.

This story is delightful for its own sake, but also gives tidbits of history (Mexican and Spanish), religion, and culture. It is also the sort of book that is useful and delightful for teenage girls to read as they begin to consider their future roles as mothers, wives and influences on their community. (The humorous incidents will probably keep it interesting enough for the guys as well.) There are some references to dating and courtship, the consequences of drinking too much and other subjects which would not be suitable for young children (although they are handled in a reasonable manner). Don't be turned off by the word "seduction" that shows up in the first few pages. It comes up in a fairly harmless context and is not an indication of shocking material to come.

I also found her discussions of parenting interesting because she was raising her children at a time when American doctors advocated bottle feeding and a sort of detached parenting . When she wrote the story, however, the doctors had begun to come around to a healthier and more natural parenting philosophy and the author expresses some of her regrets and frustrations at following the conventional wisdom which really went against her instincts.

Her arguments in favor of the Mexican view of the role of women is quite compelling. The Mexican role is, in many ways, very Catholic. Women are not inferior or subservient (as in the "Leave it to Beaver" American model of the 1950s) nor do they feel the need to fight for "equality" as in the American feminist model of today. The Mexican women have (or perhaps had) a very strong and dominant role within the family which was the center of society. They liked to make their husbands feel manly by allowing them to help them because it made them better husbands and companions. Although the author does not fully embrace every particular of the Mexican customs in this regard, she sees them generally as the women's way of cunningly "allowing" the men to feel superior in order to keep them happy while almost always having the final word.