The Four-Story Mistake is a children's novel

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 by Elizabeth Enright

Elizabeth Enright

Elizabeth Enright was an American children's author and illustrator. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois.-Life:Her father, Walter J...

, the second of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays, and followed by Then There Were Five

Then There Were Five

Then There Were Five is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the third of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake, and followed by Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor of...

, and Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze

Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze

Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the last of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake and Then There Were Five. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor of economics, and...

. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor of economics, and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper. The Four-Story Mistake is one of Enright's most beloved books for children. While the exact setting of the novel is not known although it states Carthage , NY a town near Watertown NY. The yearly cycles and the flora and fauna of rural upstate NY are vividly described.

Plot

During the height of World War II, the Melendy family find themselves moving out of New York City and into the countryside. Randy, the third child of the Melendy family, feels saddened and sombered by the move. But the house they move into turns out to be an adventure unto itself. The Four-Story Mistake is an odd-looking house with a rich architectural history, surrounded by bucolic countryside. The four Melendy children soon become absorbed in the adventures of the country, adjusting themselves with all their accustomed resourcefulness and discovering the many hidden attractions that the house has to offer. Oliver discovers buried history, Rush is stranded in a tree during a storm, Randy finds a diamond in the most unlikely of places, and Mona learns what it truly means to be an actress. And none of them could have ever guessed at the secret hidden in their very own play space, the office—a secret that had been shut away for over 60 years.