Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, 5/5

I thought this lesser-known companion to the popular Cheaper by the Dozen would suffer from Sequel Syndrome but it doesn’t–the stories it contains are funny, touching, and calculated to make even a cynical reader like myself wish the book were ten times longer.  While the first book is dominated by the charismatic person of their father, this sequel is a tribute to the mother who somehow managed to keep the family together after her husband’s death, put all the children through college, keep up the family business and pioneer the male-dominated world of industrial engineering.

[Why I read it: I enjoyed Cheaper by the Dozen.]