In spite of her name, Beany Malone is a character one is likely to remember. The most reliable, although the youngest of her delightful but not always accountable family, Beany takes over the responsibility of the welfare of her brothers and sisters when their father, the overworked editor of the local paper, goes to Arizona to recuperate.

There is a story and a problem behind each member of the family [in "Beany Malone"]….

There is warmth, quiet humor, and excellent suspense in this story of a young girl's growing up. The Malones are charming, loveable people with a strong sense of values and a fine social outlook, whose problems are real enough to become the problems of the reader.

This is a fine novel, well written, convincing and alive. (p. 36)

Ruth Hill Viguers, in The Saturday Review of Literature (copyright, 1948, by The Saturday Review Co., Inc.; reprinted with...