The Peterkin Papers

Meet the Peterkins, a well-meaning New England family whose gift for overcomplicating the simplest problem drives this collection of comic short stories. When Mrs. Peterkin accidentally pours salt in her coffee, the whole household consults a chemist and an herb-woman before anyone thinks of just brewing a fresh cup. Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, along with children Agamemnon, Solomon John, Elizabeth Eliza and the three little boys, blunder through everyday tasks with earnest, logical-sounding nonsense, and it usually takes the sensible visiting Lady from Philadelphia to point out the obvious. Hale first ran these tales in the children’s magazine Our Young Folks before gathering them into a book in 1880. The gentle satire of over-education and family fussiness has kept the stories fondly read for generations.