1. The Penderwicks are one of my all time favorite Book Families. The blended family of His; Rosalind, Jane, Skye and Batty; Hers, Ben; and Theirs, Lydia, grows over the five book series. Neighbors become lifelong friends or banished enemies. Summers are long and idyllic when not beset with possible runaways, thieves and sibling disagreements of the mild kind. School years are beset with classroom anxieties and friendship struggles.
2. The Casson Family (Start with Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay) - Mom, Dad, Cadmium, Saffron, Indigo and Rose. This "artistic" family and their neighbors delve into all kinds of problems from finding one's passion to finding one's soul mates. The adventures start when Saffron suspects that she is actually a cousin, instead of a sister and she sets off to Italy (!!!!???) with her neighbor and best friend to learn the truth. Oh, the madness never stops with these four.
3. The Conroy sisters - also by Hilary McKay. Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe appear on the scene when they are shipped off to Big Grandma's for the summer, hence the title of their first book, The Exiles. Phoebe, the youngest, is intractable and endlessly creative in indicating her displeasure.
4. The Fitzgerald-Trouts from Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding. Kim, Kimo, Peppa and Toby are sort of related to each other. No matter, they live in a car on the beach and every now and then, one or the other of their assorted parents hands over some cash. The kids look after themselves, cooking, washing their clothes, getting to and from school. But when the older kids' legs get too long to sleep comfortably in the car, the four head off to find a real home. There are two books about this crazy family.
5. The Incorrigibles. Start with the Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. What list of favorite book families is complete without siblings raised by wolves? Miss Penelope Lumley, barely more than a girl herself, has been hired to teach the three Incorrigibles how to behave like regular children. They were found in the forests that surround Lord Ashton's estate. All three children, Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia, are delightfully smart, brave and loyal although their speech is punctuated by howls. Their governess is beyond reproach and quite a lot of fun.
6. The Applewhites. Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan. Jake Semple has one last chance to keep out of Juvie and that's as a foster child at the artists' colony/school run by the Applewhite family. Every single Applewhite, - parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the lot - has some kind of artistic genius - except for E.D. Their talents make them absolutely worthless in the real world. So it is up to E. D., who has a special genius of her own, and Jake, who fits in better than he likes, to keep the "school" afloat.
7. The Stanleys. (The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder). David and his three siblings welcome Amanda, their new stepsister, into the family in this first book of four. Amanda studies witchcraft and beguiles them all. Then ghostly things begin to happen in their new house, where a ghost decapitated the wooden cupid at the foot of the banister.
We can't forget THESE families, either...
8. The Blossoms by Betsy Byars. (Not-Just-Anybody Family). Pap is supposed to be watching his grandkids while their mother is traveling with the rodeo. But how was he to know that Junior would try to fly off the barn roof? Then, HE gets picked up for littering when the tailgate of his truck comes loose. And Maggie can't get in touch with her mother. Sounds sad? It's a hoot. All the Blossom family books are.
9. The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, Mrs. Moffat has her hands full trying to keep a roof over the heads of her brood. But they all help whenever they can, keeping an eye out for each other, doing odd jobs, learning to read and write, creating museums and other great stuff.
10. or the Melendy family by Elizabeth Enright. While their widowed father works in the city during the week, the Melendy children are left home with the gardener and loving housekeeper to explore the countryside, rescue an abused neighbor who becomes their brother, travel into the city on the weekends and create games and codes and mysteries.
11. or the five children or Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. I enjoy them best because of the sand fairy and the adventures he/she sends them on. Still without these five siblings we'd never have this classic fantasy. (Alas, I don't know their names. I did once. But I've forgotten.)
12. OR - and here I am showing my age - the Pepper family of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. Totally old-fashioned, earnest and full of "family values", these fatherless children manage to help their struggling mother keep body and soul together while having plenty of "scrapes" and "adventures".
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