Nancy and Plum by Betty McDonald, for the #1952Club

It is Christmas Eve, and Nancy and Plum are alone at Mrs. Monday’s Boarding Home in so-called Heavenly Valley, while Mrs. M, her spoiled niece, Marybelle, and the other orphans are enjoying the holiday in the city.  When the sisters dash outside to watch some merry sleighs go by, they are accidentally locked out of the house on a very cold night. But Nancy and Plum are intrepid: they take refuge in the barn, find a lantern, play with some kittens, crank the stove in the harness room so they can roast some potatoes they extract from the root cellar, and play imaginary games about having a family. They are stunned to find an empty box from their Uncle John, showing that although he left the girls at this boarding house years ago, he has sent gifts they never received.

Miss Waverly, their teacher, and Miss Appleby, the librarian, are worried about Mrs. Monday’s orphans and if they get enough to eat:

Miss Waverly said, “I believe that you are responsible for Nancy and Plum’s fine spirit.”

“What do you mean?” Miss Appleby asked.

“I mean,” Miss Waverly said, “that you have encouraged them to read, which has given them wisdom and understanding and humor way beyond their years.”

Miss Appleby said, “Well I wish I had enough money to give them a big meal with every story-telling hour.”

Miss Waverly said, “Sometimes food for the soul is more important than food for the body.”

The girls finally smuggle a letter out to Uncle John, but when he finally comes to see how they are doing, Mrs. Monday plans his visit while the orphans are at the end of year school program and picnic. When they find out they’ve missed him and he is not going to rescue them, Plum is furious and tells Nancy it is time for them to run away and save themselves. They climb out a window with their few possessions and head bravely down the road in the dark.

Plum said, “Goodbye, ugly, horrible, cruel, deceitful, dishonest Mrs. Monday! Goodbye Woodenhead with the shaving curls, Marybelle. I hope we never see you again.”

Nancy said, “I feel badly about leaving Eunice and the other children but I do think it is for the best. Now that we’re free we may be able to help them.”

Plum said, “Last one to that little bridge is an earwig”. . . 

It was a night of adventure. A night to remember.

Plum said, “You know, Nancy, we’re really awfully lucky. Not many children ever have a chance to take walks in the nighttime.”

They spend the night fearlessly in a haystack and are taken in by a kind farmer and his wife the next day. The Campbells want to give the girls a home but when they try to persuade Uncle John, he falls for Mrs. Monday’s lies again. It’s not until he finds the girls locked in a room with no food that he finally realizes he was fooled. There is a happy ending for Nancy and Plum, whose optimism and laughter make them appealing heroines and deserving of the family they have yearned for.

Betty McDonald (1908-1958) is best known for her adult memoir, The Egg and I, about her experiences as a young wife on a chicken farm in the Pacific Northwest (it is clear that it wasn’t very funny while it was happening) and her beloved children’s books about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which my third grade teacher read aloud. Betty was part of a large family and honed her storytelling skills, first on her siblings, and Nancy and Plum was told to her daughters, Joan and Anne, each night at bedtime, making it up as she went along.

This book was chosen for the 1952 Club, hosted this week by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.

Title: Nancy and Plum
Author: Betty McDonald
Publication: Paperback, originally published 1952
Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Source: Personal copy purchased at the University Bookstore in Seattle