Surprise House

 

Surprise House

By Abbie Farwell Brown (1917)

Mary Corliss and her family have just moved to the country to take possession of her late grand-aunt's old house. Aunt Nan, who loved practical jokes and astonishing inventions, has left several surprises for the family, which they continue to discover. 

 To Mary, it is a great disappointment nonetheless: her aunt had willed a large sum to her little brother, John, to pay his way through college, while leaving Mary the old library, and everything in it. At first, despite her love of books and poetry, Mary would have gladly traded places with her brother, but she soon discovers that Aunt Nan has left not a few interesting surprises around the library. 

 As she journeys through the works of Shakespeare, Mary comes to love her mysterious aunt. What will she find in the hidden recesses of the library? Will she truly never have the opportunity to attend college? 

Elements for Parental Consideration:

One "gee"; one "ginger"; "queer"=odd is used many times (20+); "pussy" is used in reference to a cat, "ass" in reference to a donkey; John says of a picture of Aunt Nan: "She looks like a witch!" (she wasn't, and his mother scolds him); mention of dancing; mentions of fairies and a girl liking to read about them; a couple mentions of magic; several teasing references to a cat being a "witch-cat" (it's not); for a party, a person dresses up as a witch, she and three other wave their hands over a pot and sing a "spell", then dish out presents to all the guests.

*Many References to Shakespeare and his plays; brief references to Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter & Aladdin and his lamp. 

                                                                     

A Comment from the Reviewer:

While I found most of this story to be a funny, sweet, interesting tale, the final chapter (Chapter XII) was...not. That was when the people dressed as witches did their little pretend "spell" thing. That was it for me. Christians have no business messing in things like that, and reading about it will not be a good influence on children's minds. The darkness of Satanism is nothing to be lightly joked about and flippantly mimicked. Don't get me wrong--the first eleven Chapters are really sweet and funny, but the last took a dark turn. 

 Parents, if you're still interested, I have a recommendation: Chapter XI ends in such a way that a reader could stop after the first page or so (four paragraphs) of Chapter XII, without missing anything of importance--the plot wraps up there. It was the rest of the chapter that landed this book on the "Naughty" list. If you feel confident about the idea, this eleven-chapter story (emphasis on "eleven") would make a superb read-aloud. But, as the parent, that is completely at your discretion. 

                                                                                 

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