And while the children are sitting there, waiting for their father to finish his tea, so they can learn what the surprise is I’ll take just a few minutes to tell my new readers something about the Brown family, and especially Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

As I have already mentioned, the family, which was made up of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brown and the two children, lived in the town of Bellemere, which was on Sandport Bay, near the ocean.  Mr. Brown was in the fish and the boat business, hiring to those who wanted row boats, fishing boats or motor boats.  In the first book of this series, “Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue,” the story was about the little boy and his sister, and what fun they had getting up a Punch and Judy show.

“Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa’s Farm,” was the name of the second book and you can easily guess what that was about.  The two children had much fun in a big automobile moving van, which was fitted up just like a little house, and in which they lived while going to the farm.  Bunker Blue, who worked for Mr. Brown, and the children’s dog Splash went with them.

While at their grandpa’s farm Bunny and Sue got up a little show, at which they had lots of fun, and, seeing this, Bunker and some of the older boys made up a larger show.  They gave that in two tents, one of which had belonged to Grandpa Brown when he was in the army.

The Brown children were so delighted with the shows that they decided to have another, and in the third book, named “Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus,” you may read how they did it.  Something happened in that book which made Bunny and Sue feel bad for a while, but they soon got over it.

In the next book, “Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu’s City Home,” I told the story of the two children going to the big city of New York, and of the queer things they saw and the funny things they did while there.

Bunny and Sue had played together as long as they could remember.  Bunny was about six or seven years old and Sue was a year younger.  Wherever one went the other was always sure to be seen, and whatever Bunny did Sue was sure to think just right.  Every one in Bellemere knew Bunny and Sue, from old Miss Hollyhock to Wango, a queer little monkey owned by Jed Winkler the sailor.  Wango often got into mischief, and so did Bunny and Sue.  And the children had much fun with Uncle Tad who loved them as if they were his own.

After Bunny and Sue had come back from Aunt Lu’s city home the weather was very warm and Daddy Brown thought of camping in the woods.  So that is what they did, and the things that happened are related in the fifth book in the series, called “Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-a-While.”  For that is what they named the place where the tents were set up under the trees on the edge of the big woods and by a beautiful lake.

Neither Bunny nor Sue had ever been to the end of these big woods, nor had Mr. Brown, though some day he hoped to go.  The summer was about half over.  Mrs. Brown liked it so much that she said she and the children would stay in the woods as long as it was warm enough to live in a tent.