I randomly came upon this sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen at a summer library book sale, and bought a used paperback copy for $1.00 (along with a few other items–I’m always looking for an excuse to support local non-profit organizations and to add to the enormous piles of books all over my house). If the first book was a love letter from two of the Gilbreth children to their father Frank, the follow up is a love letter to their mother Lillian, a rather remarkable woman in her own right. The lightly fictionalized account of the next phase of their lives begins as Lillian Gilbreth finds herself suddenly widowed, and vows to carry on the work that she and her husband had been doing, despite the obstacles that she would face as a professional woman in the 1920s.  Spoiler alert: she succeeded and became widely recognized as a psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator.

Much like the earlier book, this one is written for a young audience, with funny anecdotes about their large family, and inspirational parts about how they rose to every occasion while dealing with grief and sudden financial hardship. Probably the best part for me reading it was being immersed in the mores of the time. (The past is, indeed, a foreign country.) Mere days after her husband’s death, Ms. Gilbreth headed off to Europe on a business trip, leaving the younger children under the supervision of the teenagers (with only limited assistance from a somewhat disreputable handyman) on a summer trip to Nantucket. The drama over changing bathing suit styles and dating rituals is equally dated, but perfectly relatable. What’s really appalling to the modern reader is the attitude towards smoking (dismissed as harmless), and the casual racism (absolutely typical for the time, but very jarring now).

With those caveats, the book is rather sweet, if vague on timelines and the specifics of the family finances and the progress of Ms. Gilbreth’s illustrious career. I’d actually be rather interested in reading an adult version of this story, a serious biography of one or both of the Gilbreth parents, since this one leaves a lot out. One lovely thing, however: Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey shared the royalties from the popular books (and the movies based on them) equally with their mother and other siblings–apparently the family affection and loyalty depicted in the stories was not exaggerated.

NOVEL: Belles on Their Toes

AUTHOR: Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1950

IMAGE: Book cover, HarperCollins