Alice Atherton's Grand Tour

Blume, Lesley M. M. Alice Atherton's Grand Tour

October 10, 2023 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Ten-year-old Alice takes little interest in life after the death of her mother of a fever in New York City in 1927. A doctor is called in, and he recommends a change of scenery. Even though he hates to part with her, Alice's father reaches out to friends who are expatriots who live a wealthy but Bohemian lifestyle in the south of France. Miss Pennyweather, Alice's uptight governess, is sent with her, which leads to a very uninteresting ocean voyage, since she is outraged by everything that is not exactly the way it is back in New York. This holds true once they reach the home of Sara and Gerald Murphy, who live with their children Patrick, Baoth, and Honoria. The children are encouraged to frolic barefoot in simple frocks that can be stained by fruits that they pluck from trees they pass, and Miss Pennyweather demands that she and Alice be put on a ship home immediately. In the end, the decision is Alice's, and only Miss Pennyweather is packed off. Alice gets used to this lifestyle, which includes a tame monkey named Mistigris, and is not sure is she should look forward to the "lessons" that Mr. Murphy has planned. He reaches out to his friends, which results in the children learning art from Pablo Picasso, writing from Ernest Hemingway, and ballet from Serge Diaghilev. They even have rather unusual lessons delivered to them from Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who push the envelope even for parents as liberal as the Murphys. Mr. Atherton is interested to hear all of the adventures that Alice is having, and eventuallyl arranges to come and visit with the Murphys himself. The family is based on real people who lived in the 1920s and hosted many celebrities of the time, and the book includes biographical information on the real people who are depicted. 

Strengths: My senior thesis in high school was on F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I thought McAlpine's The Mystery Box, which imagined Frank Dixon and Carolyn Keene as artists in 1920s Paris was inspired. I've also watched entirely too many episodes of The Durrells in Corfu and secretly want to read nothing but children's literature published in the early part of the twentieth century. I found this every bit as charming as this author's quirky road trip book, Julia and the Art of Practical Travel. Who doesn't want to spend a summer hanging out on a French beach, picking fruit from trees, and running about with Hemingway's son? The illustrations were very evocative of the time period as well. 
Weaknesses: This is absolutely perfect for readers who love Streatfield's Shoes books or imagine that they could be in Birdsall's Penderwicks family. Sadly, I have yet to find these readers among my students. Additionally, I found it hard to believe that any parents ever would have entrusted the Fitzgeralds with any children. Ever. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Smith's I Capture the Castle or Margery Sharp's works, or like a Classic story about girls who are sent to live with other families, like Fisher's Understood Betsy or Alcott's Eight Cousins.