The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale

Coffee Drinker by Ivana Kobilca, public domain image

Summary: The Peterkins were a lovable but comically inept family that possess ingenuity, logic, resourcefulness, and energy — but not common sense. The general formula is that the family tries to solve some problem in an appealingly roundabout way, fails, and is eventually rescued by “the wise old lady from Philadelphia” who always cuts the Gordian knot with some effective but prosaic solution. The charm of the story is not in the plot, but in the telling, with the building up of layers of complication, and the affectionate fun poked at the not-quite-cartoonish characters. The “wise old lady’s” solution is usually obvious to the reader, or even the young listener, from the start. (From Wikipedia)

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Total running time:  4 hours, 24 minutes

Piano Lesson by Mihály Munkácsy, published by the Bekescsaba Mihaly Munkacsy Museum under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 and under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license

Chapter 00-01 – Preface/The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee

Chapter 02-03-04 – About Elizabeth Eliza’s Piano/The Peterkins Try to Become Wise/Mrs.
Peterkin Wishes To Go To Drive

The Blue House in Zandaam by Claude Monet, public domain image

Chapter 05-06 – The Peterkins at Home/Why the Peterkins Had a Late Dinner

Chapter 07-08 – The Peterkin’s Summer Journey/The Peterkins Snowed Up

Chapter 09-10 – The Peterkins Decide to Keep a Cow / The Peterkins’ Christmas-Tree

Under the Chestnut Tree by Carl Larsson, public domain image

Chapter 11-12 – The Peterkins’ Tea Party / The Peterkins Too Late For the Exhibition

Chapter 13-14 13 The Peterkins Celebrate the “Fourth” / The Peterkins’ Picnic

Chapter 15-16 The Peterkins’ Charades / The Peterkins are Obliged to Move

Chapter 17-18 The Peterkins Decide to Learn the Languages / Modern

Improvements at the Peterkins

Children's Breakfast by Albert Anker, public domain image

Chapter 19-20 Agamemnon’s Career / The Educational Breakfast

Chapter 21 – The Peterkins at the Carnival of Authors in Boston

Chapter 22 – The Peterkins at the Farm

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