Imagine having a whole afternoon to yourself, with money to spend, in the fantastic world of New York City. Now, imagine the thrill of that experience through the eyes of a child, and you have the premise of The Saturdays, a magical and memorable novel by Elizabeth Enright.

The four Melendy children (aspiring actress Mona, mischievous Rush, artistic Randy, and the youngest, Oliver, “a calm and thoughtful person”) conspire to create I. S. A. A. C.: the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club. Each week, the Melendys pool their spending money and give one sibling the chance to have an afternoon’s worth of adventure in the City. From the art museum to the circus, each Melendy has an experience to be treasured in memory for the rest of his or her life.

In the introduction, Elizabeth Enright answers the question of whether or not the Melendys are real by saying that they are a “mixture”. “They are made out of wishes and memory and fancy,” she writes. “This I am sure is what all the characters in books are made of; yet while I was writing about these children they often seemed to me like people that I knew; and when you are reading the stories of their trials and adventures I hope that you, too, will sometimes feel that they are ‘real’”. For many readers, this hope comes true; through Enright’s effortless, intimate storytelling and her warm illustrations, the wonderful Melendys and their enchanted city home become both very real and well-beloved.

Recommended for readers eight and up.