Belles on their Toes
Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
After the patriarch’s death, the dozen surviving members of the Gilbreth clan must learn how to get along with Mother away, and a budget of $600 for several months. Then there is a bout of chickenpox which can be cured by only one The blurb is quite misleading, suggesting that the Gilbreth children set up an egg farm to sell eggs. If this does occur, it’s not discussed in the novel. They do collect manure from the streets though!
This sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen simply didn’t hold as many good ‘tips’ on motion study as did the first one. It’s a bit more entertaining perhaps and catalogues what older society times thought of a woman teaching motion study to engineering men.
I think I’d like a motion study kitchen! Imagine the inefficiencies that have crept into smaller businesses from the loss of people like the Gilbreths from the world. My partner notices these inefficiencies every day in her workplace. Ah, for simpler times.
Do I give this stars? For GoodReads, I have to, and so there I’ll give it 5 stars. But here, it’s non-fiction, so I’m just going to recommend it as a good, oldfashioned non-fiction that illustrates what can happen in a big family after a father dies.
I remember my mother reading this to me when I was little (her mother read it to her) and I enjoyed it (even though it was nonfiction) I didn’t know that there was a sequel. I wonder if my library has it and the first one. I wonder what I’ll think of the first book reading it as an adult.
–Kimberly @ Turning the Pages
They’re out of print as far as I know, so the library will definitely be your best bet for finding a copy 🙂