Lucretia Peabody Hale was the first American writer to introduce American children to the delightful, slightly mad world of nonsense when six stories outlining the adventures of the Peterkin family began to appear in Our Young Folks in 1868. Hale was born into a large and distinguished family. Her father, Nathan, was a descendant of the famous Revolutionary War hero, and her mother, Sarah Preston Everett, the sister of the respected orator and divinity scholar Edward Everett. Eleven children were born to the Hales, seven surviving to form a family that was noted for its closeness and its humor and congeniality through the years. The four older children--Sarah, Nathan, Jr., Lucretia, and Edward--were separated by at least seven years from the younger ones--Alexander, Charles, and Susan--and formed their own little group within the family. Their adventures on the Boston Common, the secrets and enterprises hatched in the attic retreat...