Lydia was quiet and full of imagination, Jean was adventurous yet bossy, but together with their baby brother Mark, Father, and Cousin Mary, they made just the right sort of family. They loved doing things together, and in these stories that run through all the months of the year, they have old-fashioned fun together in New England during the 1940s.

On a wintry day in January, they share ice cream cones in a snow cave dug out by Father. February brings a sleigh ride-accompanied by the magical sound of jingling bells, they drive to the country as twilight descends, filling the air with hushed wonder.

When Father buys a red second-hand car, which the children name the Dragon, they are off on more day trips and adventures. In spring they help a farmer with sugaring-collecting sap from maple trees as the Iroquois did, and on Easter morning this close family watches the sunrise over Nantasket beach. So on through the seasons, til it is winter again and they spend Christmas in a cottage by the sea.

Includes new maps of 1940s Hingham, Massachusetts and the surrounding areas so you can see where Jean and Lydia’s adventures take them.

Illustrated by Marguerite Davis.