The Malones [in "Meet the Malones"] are certainly worth meeting. They are individuals in their own right, but you will see in them something of the family next door or down the street, for these four motherless youngsters and their companionable father are very much alive and of this day. And of our time and our country is their unspoken knowledge that democracy really begins at home, around the family council table….

When Martie Malone [the father] went off to Hawaii he left his household running fairly smoothly….

Nonna [the glamorous, efficient step-grandmother] fixed everything beautifully—at first—and the Malones reveled in ease and comfort. But somehow the old, generous, helpful way of life was managed out of existence, the debts and plans were half forgotten, until the arrival of three small refugees made them realize painfully that you can't have things for nothing, that independence and...