Michael O'Halloran by Jean Stratton Porter

This review comes with a life story. Skip over this paragraph if you wish. When I was in elementary school my tiny home town did not have a public library, nor did my elementary school (Can you believe that? It was in the 1950s.). Since I loved to read (or maybe lived to read), I often turned to my mother's books which she had kept since she was a child. A rich aunt had given her many very nicely bound books, including (as I remember it)most of Louisa May Alcott, classics by Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson and suchlike, the Penrod books by Booth Tarkington, and a set of Jean Stratton Porter novels. Out of all those, I most loved Porter's Michael O'Halloran; I read it multiple times, maybe 6 or 8. I still remember the plot, after these many years. So as I was thinking of books to buy for my granddaughters (9 and 12), I looked it up to see if it was still in print. Yes! In a 2007 trade paperback printing! I just had to read it again.

Now comes the sad part--although I once loved this novel above all others, I have now grown too cynical to fall into Porter's world, with its noble and wise poor people and unhappy and selfish rich people, and the saving power of nature. Of course, one would perhaps not expect my 1950s pre-teen self to have developed cynicism, but (sadly) I am afraid that today even my young granddaughters will not believe that such people and such simple solutions really exist. Oh, what a world, what a world.

Jean Stratton Porter was extremely popular in the early part of the 20th Century, estimated at one time to have 50 million readers. Although her novels were written for adults, because they are easy to read and include children in the cast of characters, they became popular for children, as well. Their good characters are invariably very, very good (and wise), and their characters with grievous faults are invariably persuaded to change their ways, most often by only a contact with nature and a brief talking-to by one of the good, wise characters. Don't we all wish the world was this simple. When I was 10, I believed it could be, I guess.

Michael O'Holloran is a plucky orphan boy of about 15, making his way by selling newspapers, who finds and "adopts" a beautiful little orphaned waif who has been severely mistreated and who cannot walk. Determined that she will not end up in the "Orphings' Home, to be raised in droves, not flocks, nor herds," Micky receives help in his parenting endeavor from kind, understanding adults who recognize his sterling qualities. Along the way, his instinctive wisdom helps the helpers to better their lives.

If one could suspend disbelief, this unrealistically hopeful story might be touching and uplifting. I just can't manage that any more, but perhaps less jaded readers might be able to. I will try it out on my granddaughters.

(Today, Jean Stratton Porter is most well-remembered for her novel Girl of the Limberlost, which has been adapted for film more than once.)