Nonie an Autobiography Biography Paperback – Import, 21 April 2008

I loved all of Lenora Mattingly Weber's books when I was growing up. So even after all these years I remembered her name when I came across it on Amazon and had to read this memoir. It is a bit of a patchwork quilt made up of her journals and her son's memories. Her life and its challenges were not as smooth and light-hearted as those in her novels of course. You can recognize the upbeat personality and energy of Beany Malone in Nonie. She is on my list of heroines now and I only wish I could have known her and been one of her friends. She suffered, she was generous, really an amazing woman. I will reread this autobiography/biography and her novels. She has become a role model for me. I don't want to give away what her challenges were but she certainly faced a lot and managed to raise a family and write a lot of books anyway.

This can be confusing to follow because it isn't chronological, swinging back and forth to different times (often without reference to the date) and is written by LMW herself, and her son David and has quotations from other family members and friends. However, despite this, it's an interesting book about LMW's life, her family and how and why she wrote her books. If you're a fan of LMW's books then I recommend it, but I will warn potential readers that it's very sad in parts.

Lenora Mattingly Weber was a favorite childhood author of mine and I was completely addicted to her Beany Malone series. As an adult, I ended up in Colorado and was surprised to find out that not only were the Malone books set in Denver, Weber also lived in the Denver area all of her adult life. This made interesting reading for me because I know all the landmarks that are mentioned in this autobiography/biography and had a lot of fun locating her stomping grounds and trying to find the exact locations of the houses where she used to live.Her life wasn't easy, and it isn't always easy to read what she had to bear whilst trying to get her writing career off the ground. In her place, such a grind would have surely brought me to a state where nothing artistic could have ever been created. However, she had a drive to write that kept bubbling to the surface in spite of adversities that might have squelched talent in a less remarkable woman.It was and engaging, but sad read. I guess I had hoped to find her personal life as idealistic as the literary worlds she created. Probably, it was her stubborn hope even in the face of an extremely challenging life that made her books so comfortable and fun to read. I have heard her books referred to as "too sweet", but I admire anyone who can hold on to the sweetness of life when so many bitter hardships dogged her days.In the part of the book that she wrote, I especially loved the constant reference to her imaginary housekeeper, "Annabelle", a dedicated servant who lived to keep the house and family running smoothly, leaving Nonnie with the luxury of free time to write to her heart's content. Sadly, the real Annabelle never appeared, and all the great stories had to be tucked into spare moments between cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, nursing a sick husband, and making an extremely meager income somehow stretch to cover the needs of a growing family. All of this in the early 20th century, before women had any of the conveniences that gave them the gift of leisure time to pursue personal enrichment. It makes me ashamed that I don't handle my own life better almost a century later!This is the story of an extraordinary woman who poured out stories of hope and imagination to young girls who couldn't get enough of her books. And when you see her photos, you will know that she did it with a warm heart and a bright smile!

Nonie as she is called in the book led a full and interesting life. She did have her share of sadness. Her kids also were not the well behaved children you might picture thinking of her well behaved fictional families. I found it slightly confusing in spots as the timeline jumps around a bit. But definitely worth a read if you are a fan.

It was fun reading a biography of my favorite young adult fiction author. Growing up, I loved Lenora Mattingly Weber's books. I used to race to the library one summer and read them, sometimes in one night! I grew up with Beanie Malone and Katie Rose and Stacy Belford! I cried when I read this book. I never realized how sad of a life that Mrs. Weber had.