The Moffats Quotes

“The Moffats tells about four young children and their mother who live in a small town in Connecticut. Their adventures are based on Estes’ memories of her childhood and focus on a working-class, single-parent American family during World War I.”

“The Moffats are a fatherless family in Cranbury, Connecticut, which Estes modeled after her hometown of West Haven. Mama is a dressmaker with four children: Sylvie, Joey, Janey and Rufus.”

“The two youngest, ten-year-old Janey and five-year-old Rufus, are the focus of these stories. When the book opens, Janey watches as a strange man nails a For Sale sign on their house.”

“They have lived there since shortly after her father died, and Janey cannot imagine living anywhere else. Mama tells the children not to worry about it until it sells.”

“When the first day of school arrives and Rufus goes to kindergarten, he takes very seriously the instruction to watch over his young friend Hughie.”

“The way Mama could peel apples! A few turns of the knife and there the apple was, all skinned! Jane could not take her eyes from her mother’s hands. They had a way of doing things, peeling apples, sprinkling salt, counting pennies, that fascinated her.”

“There wasn’t anyone to play with, so Jane picked up her doll, Hildegarde, stuck her in her knitting bag, and went out the back door. All the fruit trees in the yard looked inviting to Jane. She had half a mind to c limb the old apple tree, sit in one of its forks, and do some knitting.”

“When Hughie runs away from school and hides on a train, Rufus follows him, and a helpful engineer gets them back just in time for lunch.”

“Another time, the children decide to rig up a ghost in their attic to scare the neighborhood bully Peter Frost. They use their Mama’s dressmaker’s form (called Madame-the-Bust), a pumpkin with real teeth and a scooter.”

“There is Sylvie, the oldest, the cleverest, and-most days at least-the responsible one; Joey, who though only twelve is the man of the house...sometimes.”

“Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary fun. Only a Moffat could get locked in a bread box all afternoon, or dance with a dog in front of the whole town, or hitch a ride on a boxcar during kindergarten recess.”

“It is about a small museum that the four Moffat children set up to help them remember the special times in their lives now that they are growing up.”