Six little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's

In Short

Six spirited brothers and sisters leave their grandmother's lakeside home in Maine to spend the remainder of their summer vacation with their aunt in Boston. The children—Russ, Rose, Laddie, Violet, Margy, and Mun Bun—navigate city life with relentless curiosity and endless energy. Throughout their stay, they invent games, get into mild scrapes, lose and regain personal belongings, and try to locate the owner of a lost purse full of money. The book endures because it captures the pure, uncomplicated rhythm of American childhood, celebrating sibling companionship, innocent curiosity, and gentle domestic security.

The Story

The story picks up as the six Bunker siblings—Russ, Rose, Laddie, Violet, Margy, and Mun Bun—wrap up a summer trip at Grandma Bell's in Maine and prepare for their next journey. After a strange moment in the woods where they track down a lost voice that turns out to be a talking parrot, the family boards a train and then a night steamer bound for Boston to visit their father's sister, Aunt Jo. Before they even clear the harbor, minor mishaps begin: Rose's beloved doll Sue bounces out of an automobile and has to be retrieved by a helpful boy on a bicycle, and young Margy briefly goes missing on the boat before being safely accounted for.

Upon arriving at Aunt Jo's city home, the children dive headfirst into urban play. Aunt Jo’s large St. Bernard, Alexis, becomes their immediate companion. Russ and Laddie try harnessing the dog to an express wagon with string, leading to a frantic chase into a mud puddle with a neighboring dog. Undeterred, the boys attempt to create a backyard fountain with a garden hose, soaking themselves and digging up the yard. Meanwhile, during a walk downtown, Rose spots a pocketbook lying on the sidewalk. Inside is sixty-five dollars alongside a sad, unsigned letter, but no address. Mr. Bunker advertises the lost cash in the local paper, but no claimant comes forward, leaving the wallet locked safely in Aunt Jo's safe while Rose wonders if she might eventually keep it to buy toy balloons.

The summer unfolds through a series of lighthearted domestic catastrophes and inventions. Rose builds a makeshift "airship" out of toy balloons and a basket to launch her doll Lily into the sky, only to watch the wind carry it completely out of sight. Violet gets turned around after buying bread at the bakery and briefly loses her way on the city streets. Margy crawls into a kitchen dumbwaiter to give her rubber doll a ride, wedging her foot and getting stuck between floors until Aunt Jo frees her with a long-handled parasol. Mun Bun wanders off, climbs into a parked junk wagon, and happily drives the horse down the street until a policeman escorts him home.

The middle children keep themselves busy with riddles, kite-flying contests, jump-rope games with neighborhood friends, and a improvised "skatemobile" made by fastening an old roller skate to a wooden crate. When Laddie coaxes a lost monkey down from a tree with peanuts, the family cares for the animal until its owner—a doleful Italian organ grinder—comes down the street searching for his partner.

The climax of their vacation arrives with a day trip on a paddle-wheel steamer to Nantasket Beach. The children enjoy carousel rides, smooth slides, and penny phonographs. While at the beach, they meet Mary Turner, a cashier at the bathing pavilion. In a joyful twist, Mary reveals that Rose's runaway balloon airship landed in her Boston backyard weeks earlier; she saved the lost doll Lily and happily returns it to its young mother. Shortly after returning to Aunt Jo's, the rightful owner of the missing pocketbook is finally identified, bringing all the summer's open mysteries to a happy, satisfying close before the family prepares for their next adventure.

How It Unfolds

Off to Boston After finishing their stay at Lake Sagatook, the six Bunker children travel by train and steamboat to Massachusetts. Along the way, they manage to recover a dropped doll and briefly misplace little Margy on the steamer deck before arriving safely at Aunt Jo's city house.

City Life and Muddy Fountains Settling into Aunt Jo's home, Russ and Laddie tie string around Alexis the St. Bernard to make a dog-harness for their express wagon. The play devolves into chaos when Alexis chases a neighbor's dog into a giant mud puddle, prompting the boys to later dig up the yard with a hose to create a makeshift fountain.

The Lost Wallet While walking on the city sidewalk, Rose discovers a discarded pocketbook stuffed with sixty-five dollars and a sad note. Mr. Bunker places an advertisement in the newspaper to find the rightful owner, while the wallet sits locked in Aunt Jo's safe waiting for a claim.

Escapades and Lost Objects The children embark on a series of neighborhood adventures, including Rose sending her doll Lily into the sky tied to gas balloons, Violet getting lost after buying a loaf of bread, and Margy getting trapped inside the kitchen dumbwaiter shaft.

Monkeys and Skate Wagons Laddie captures a runaway monkey using peanuts, keeping it on the porch until a traveling hand-organ man comes searching for his missing pet. Meanwhile, Russ builds a wooden skatemobile out of an old roller skate, leading to high-speed sidewalk rides and scraped knees.

Nantasket Beach and Reunited Treasures The family takes an excursion boat to Nantasket Beach for carousel rides and seaside amusements. There, they meet a pavilion cashier who turns out to have retrieved Rose's balloon-borne doll from her backyard, resolving the mystery just as the pocketbook's true owner is located.

The People

• Russ Bunker: The eldest sibling, Russ is an inventive, energetic problem-solver who takes the lead in organizing games. He wants to build things that work—from string harnesses for dogs and backyard fountains to homemade kites and roller-skate wagons. He often helps his younger brothers and sisters out of small jams.
• Rose Bunker: Gentle and motherly toward her toys, Rose wants above all to keep her dolls safe. When her doll Sue falls from an automobile and her other doll Lily floats away on a cluster of toy balloons, she grieves their loss deeply until chance and good fortune bring them back.
• Laddie Bunker: Full of innocent curiosity, Laddie is obsessed with riddles and animal companions. He constantly quizzes his family with jokes he makes up or half-remembers, and his gentle nature allows him to rescue a runaway monkey by offering it peanuts.
• Violet (Vi) Bunker: Outgoing and endlessly inquisitive, Vi asks more questions than her father can answer. She wants to be helpful, such as volunteering to fetch bread from the bakery, though her tendency to get distracted by stray kittens occasionally leads her off course.
• Margy and Mun Bun Bunker: The youngest two siblings, who act as a pair. Driven by simple impulses to ride things, Margy climbs into the house dumbwaiter and Mun Bun takes the reins of an unattended junk wagon, both blissfully unaware of the worry they cause their parents.
• Aunt Jo: Daddy Bunker's sister in Boston, who opens her grand city house to six energetic children. She is patient, indulgent, and resourceful, using her long-handled parasol to rescue wedged children and encouraging their wholesome urban play.

In Its Own Voice

"Look! You can hold your right elbow in your left hand, but you can't put your right elbow in your right hand. Nobody can!"

Laddie presents his favorite riddle to Aunt Jo after arriving at her home, delighting in the simple physical puzzle that leaves the adults laughing.

"The pocketbook opened easily enough, and as Rose turned back the flap she gave a cry of surprise... 'Oh, it's just full of money!' cried the little girl."

Rose stumbles upon a lost purse on the Boston sidewalk, sparking a summer-long mystery about who dropped the cash and whether it will ever be returned.

"I came down to the laundry to dry my rubber doll after I'd washed her... and I crawled into the go-up-and-down-thing, and it went down with me. But it didn't go all the way down. It stuck and I couldn't have a nice ride."

Margy explains her predicament to her mother after being extracted from the dumbwaiter shaft, completely unfazed by the potential danger of her adventure.

What It's Really About

At its heart, the book explores the freedom, resilience, and unvarnished optimism of early twentieth-century American childhood. The narrative celebrates the small-scale autonomy of children who are permitted to explore their surroundings, build their own playthings out of scrap materials, and navigate minor crises without adult micromanagement. It highlights the tight bonds of a large family, where older siblings guide the younger ones and parents offer steady, calm oversight rather than restrictive discipline. Underneath the simple episodic plot lies a subtle lesson in community trust, honesty, and empathy: lost items are returned, strangers on the street act as helpful guardians, and every small disaster ends in reassurance and warmth.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers looking for a nostalgic, lighthearted window into early 1900s family life will find immense charm in this story. It offers a gentle, comforting reading experience that evokes a bygone era of simple pleasures—steamboat rides, carousel horses, sidewalk games, and homemade toys. Parents reading aloud to younger children will appreciate the clean, accessible prose and the cheerful, cooperative dynamic among the six Bunker siblings.

The book is an artifact of its time, which presents a few historical friction points for contemporary readers. The episodic structure follows a episodic, series-book rhythm where minor plot points repeat—such as Mother Bunker constantly "counting noses" to ensure no child has vanished. The language and characterization reflect early-twentieth-century juvenile publishing conventions, including period references to street organ grinders with monkeys and casual depictions of young children wandering city streets unsupervised that may feel alien to modern readers. However, its unfailing warmth, gentle humor, and vivid depiction of childhood independence remain deeply refreshing. It stays with you as an enchanting reminder of a time when a backyard hose, a ball of string, or an afternoon at the beach was all that was required for pure delight.