The Malone family return in this follow-up to Meet the Malones, with youngest sibling Beany—full name: Catherine Cecilia Malone—taking over as protagonist from her older sister Mary Fred, the heroine of the previous book. Now sixteen, Beany is a student at Harkness High, where she has a strong crush on Norbett Rhodes, the nephew of the very man her father, newspaper columnist Martie Malone, has been crusading against. As if being "enemies" with Norbett weren't enough, Beany finds herself worrying about the happiness of each of her elder siblings when her father is sent away to Arizona for a few months, in order to regain his strength after a protracted illness. Deciding that the Malone way of opening their hearts and home to the world is misguided, and can only lead to pain, Beany tries to influence and guard each of her family members from vulnerability. But as she witnesses Mary Fred confronting a choice between popularity and what she knows is right (and what her heart wants); Elizabeth steadfastly waiting for and then supporting Don, her wounded veteran husband who is newly returned from World War II; and Johnny finding a way to help elderly family friend Emerson Worth realize his dream of seeing the early history of Denver preserved, she slowly discovers that the Malone way is best after all...

Published in 1948, five years after Meet the Malones, Beany Malone is also set around five years after that first book, shortly after the end of World War II, which looms large in the story. The storyline involving Don, who must have his injured leg amputated, would be one example of this, but so too would the entire sub-plot involving Mary Fred and Ander (whom I was happy to see were together as a couple!), and the controversy stirred up by returning GI college students with little interest in observing campus traditions. I thought that these elements of the book were quite interesting, from a historical perspective, offering a snapshot of the personal and cultural adjustments that would have been necessary on all sides, to integrate thousands of young men back into American society, after the horrors of their experiences in the recent war. I also found them quite moving, and admired both Elizabeth and Mary Fred for their response to the challenges they faced. Beany herself made a wonderfully sympathetic protagonist and heroine, so wholeheartedly invested in those she loves, even while imagining that it was possible to fence off her heart. The reader realizes immediately that this is a futile effort, but watching Beany come to that realization is one of the chief delights of the book. I found her romance with Norbett charming, and also frequently amusing, as she is so oblivious, and he so obtuse. If I had any criticism to make of the book, it would be the way in which the storyline involving Kay and Faye Maffley was resolved. While on the one hand I appreciated the way in which Weber explored the problems arising from a mother who attempts to be a peer and friend to her child, rather than their parent, on the other hand I found the overly pat and almost anti-climactic conclusion to that sub-plot rather unsatisfying. Despite this critique, I enjoyed this one every bit as much as, perhaps even a bit more than the first, and am eager to continue on with the story of Beany and the Malones. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed the first book in the series, and to readers who enjoy lighthearted vintage fiction for children, or who are looking for children's books featuring loving Catholic families. ( )

The second in the Beany Malone series. The first in the series by Lenora Mattingly Weber was published in 1948 with the setting seeing soldiers coming home from WWII. The series has continued to be reprinted for over 50 years! I think I sarted reading them in the mid 1960s, and though obviously dated, I am enjoying reading them again.

The Malones are a motherless family and Dad is a journalist. In the first book he left home to cover Pearl Harbor and in the second he's in Arizona recovering from pneumonia. The oldest daughter is in her twenties and has a 3 year old. They came back to her family home when her soldier husband was at war. There are 3 other girls and a boy in the family giving the author lots of plot opportunities! I've already got book 3 on the Kindle. ( )

I've been avoiding Beany Malone for years and years, laboring under the misapprehension that she was one of those books I dismiss as "soda shoppe romances". She's not. Well, maybe a little, but there's much more to Beany than that.

I started reading this book by accident. I was cleaning out my amazon inventory, trying to streamline my life. Beany's been in inventory for several years, and as I pulled her down from the shelf, it seemed more attractive to start reading than to continue working. I was skeptical but increasingly captivated as I went on.

It's a vanished world that Beany inhabits, one full of large skirts and small bedrooms, one where high school students who are actually held back in school due to academic nonperformance, and parent participation is optional.

The characters are believable, the plot is interesting if a little cluttered, and in short, I liked it much more than I expected to. Though I'm unclear on why Beany couldn't write that pivotal editorial herself.
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The Beany Malone Series by Lenora Mattingly Weber. The 14 Book Collection includes, Meet the Malones; Beany Malone; Leave It to Beany; Beany and the Beckoning Road; Beany Has a Secret Life; Make a Wish for Me; Happy Birthday, Dear Beany; The More the Merrier; A Bright Star Falls; Welcome Stranger; Pick a New Dream; Tarry Awhile; Something Borrowed, Something Blue; Come Back, Wherever You Are. The Malones of Denver, Colorado are a warm open-hearted family with a welcoming home, open to friends and all others in need of physical and emotional nourishment. The series has the warmth and sense of solidarity intrinsic of wartimes and the post-war era. There is a general feeling of peace and simplicity. When the series opens, the Malone children are motherless, as Mary Malone has been dead for three years. The father, Martie Malone, is often absent due to his duties as editor of the Denver Call. Three of the four Malone children, Mary Fred, Johnny and Beany, live at home. The oldest Malone daughter, the beautiful, loving Elizabeth, has been married to Lieutenant Donald McCallin for one year. The Malones live on Barberry Street in a large, wide-bosomed gray stone home. Their surrounding neighbors are Mrs. Morrison Adams (known as Mrs. Socially-prominent Adams) in her red brick home with immaculate white trim and frilly curtains in the windows, and the imposing and stately home of the Judge Buell family.
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Fun old books to read, sometimes slightly boring but mostly enjoyable! ( )