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Eve Garnett (1900 to 1991) was an English writer and illustrator. She started off as just an illustrator. One assignment caused her to go into some of the poorer areas of England. Appalled by the poverty, she determined to write a children’s novel celebrating working-class English families, which was the genesis of The Family from One End Street.
The Family from One End Street won the 1937 Carnegie Medal, awarded for the best children’s novel in Great Britain, which was only the second year the contest had been held. The Carnegie Medal is similar to the American Newbery Award. Several books that are in the Plumfield Library that also won the Carnegie Medal include The High King by Lloyd Alexander, The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and The Merchant’s Mark by Cynthia Harnett (see my review).
Garnett’s book is full of warmth and humor, with people speaking and acting realistically, set in a small English town. Mr. Ruggles is what we call a garbage collector but in England is called a dustman. Mrs. Ruggles takes in laundry to help support their family of seven delightful children. How they come up with names for all their children is hilarious and serves for the opening of the book. The rest of the story deals with adventures the various children have and the scrapes they get into and out of. In some ways, The Family from One End Street reminds me of the All-About Family book series by Sydney Taylor, set in late 1800 New York City about a lower income Jewish family. However, the British novel is funnier and more light-hearted. If a member of your family can do respectable British accents, then this book would make a wonderful family read-aloud.
For those who want to know “and then what happened,” Garnett wrote two sequels to The Family from One End Street: (1) Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street and (2) Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn, both easily available in paperback (not so easily available in hardback). All three books are appropriate for upper elementary to middle school age students.