The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House
The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House centers on Bert and Nan Bobbsey, the older set of dark-haired twins, who must manage their household in Lakeport after their parents rush away on an emergency trip. The story opens with light domestic scenes—Flossie and Freddie's ball game, Bert's sawhorse prank, and the season's first snowfall—before introducing the central conflict: a snowball thrown from a group including Bert, Danny Rugg, and Sam Todd shatters a stained-glass church window. Sam Todd falsely accuses Bert before the whole school, and though Bert suspects bully Danny Rugg is responsible, he refuses to tattle without proof, leaving his reputation clouded. That evening, a telegram summons Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey to the bedside of gravely ill Uncle Rossiter. Unable to bring the children, they arrange for elderly, hard-of-hearing Mrs. "Aunt Sallie" Pry to help housekeeper Dinah and her husband Sam look after Bert, Nan, and the younger twins, Flossie and Freddie. Aunt Sallie's deafness produces a running comic thread of mishearings throughout the book. Domestic mishaps escalate quickly: Flossie and Freddie get "lost" playing in the old dog kennel, Sam Johnson is abruptly called away to a sick relative, and then Dinah must follow him south—leaving Bert and Nan to run the household entirely alone. A severe blizzard buries Lakeport, cutting off mail and telephone service so the children have no word from their parents. Nan proves herself a capable substitute mother, cooking meals (including a comic biscuit-related mishap when Flossie sits on the dough) and nursing Aunt Sallie, who falls ill with lumbago. Bert takes on manly responsibilities—shoveling snow, tending the furnace, and heroically chopping loose a storm-damaged tree branch after it crashes through a window, tumbling off the roof into a snowdrift in the process. Amid the chaos, Bert twice follows Danny Rugg into the church and, after a fall through a trapdoor, ultimately helps a deacon and the sexton discover Danny's lost birthday ring lodged near the broken window—concrete proof that Danny's snowball, not Bert's, caused the damage. Danny confesses, clearing Bert's name, and the boys reconcile. The book's climax combines danger and relief: Bert misjudges the furnace damper, filling the house with smoke that Nan mistakes for fire, just as Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey unexpectedly arrive home—along with Sam and Dinah, back from their errand—resolving both the smoke scare and the children's long isolation simultaneously. The family reunites, Danny publicly admits his guilt at school, and order is restored. The novel closes on a warm, humorous note, with the children playfully reenacting their adventures, and a preview promising the next volume, The Bobbsey Twins at Clover Bank.
By Laura Lee Hope · First published 1925 · Genre: Children's Literature, Domestic Fiction, Family Fiction · 22 chapters · 64,271 words
First lines
"Now it's Freddie's turn! " called Nan Bobbsey. "Get ready to catch the / ball," and she motioned, showing that she was going to toss it to her / small brother.
"No, I want to have it once more! " cried Flossie, who was Freddie's / twin sister. "Come on, Nan! Please throw it to me! " and she jumped up / and down, her light, fluffy hair tossing about her head. It was cold / out in the yard where the children were playing, and that is one reason / why Flossie jumped up and down. Another reason was that she was excited / about the ball game Nan had gotten up for the smaller twins. "Come on, / toss it to me! " begged Flossie.
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The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House is listed on Textopian as a novel by Laura Lee Hope, dated 1925 CE.
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- Work type: Novel
- Author: Laura Lee Hope
- Date: 1925 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Children's Literature, Domestic Fiction, Family Fiction, Adventure, Mystery
- Length: 64,271 words
- Structure: 22 chapters, 1,769 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House by Laura Lee Hope
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
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Genres
- Children's Literature — Narrative explicitly targets young readers with age-appropriate protagonists, innocent humor, moral lessons, and educational content about responsibility and family values.
- Domestic Fiction — Central plot revolves entirely around housekeeping duties: cooking biscuits, washing dishes, managing household operations, caring for sick Mrs. Pry, and maintaining the home during parental absence.
- Family Fiction — Family bonds form the emotional foundation, depicting sibling relationships, parental reunion after separation, and the children's collective effort to maintain household stability.
- Adventure — Multiple dramatic incidents propel narrative forward: Freddie's fall into drain pipe, Bert's tumble from roof, branch crashing through window, and terrifying false alarm of house fire.
Tags
children's literature · family adventure · classic fiction · domestic mystery · twins · siblings · household management · cooperation · problem-solving · early readers · vintage literature · nostalgic
Contents
- Down in a Pipe
- A Broken Window
- The Lost Ring
- Bad News
- Aunt Sallie Pry
- Lost Twins
- Sam Goes Away
- Bert's Tumble
- Nan is Worried
- A Call for Dinah
- Lumbago
- The School Bell
- Snowed In
- Nan's Biscuits
- Broken Wires
- A Great Crash
- Bert Falls Off
- Aunt Sallie is Worse
- In Church Again
- Danny's Ring
- Fire
- Just in Time