Cheaper by the Dozen

by Christopher Sergel

Book Overview

Excellent dranatization of the well known book complete with costume notes and stage positions and props. It would make an outstanding play for amateurs. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871292289
• ISBN13: 9780871292285
• Release Date: January 1950
• Publisher: Dramatic Pub.
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent read for anyone

Non-fiction is a category with very few books I would recommend that everyone read. Usually, the topics are tied too closely to interests. I think that this is one of the few books that is actually of general interest. Frank Gilbreth Sr. was the sort of over-the-top character you could imagine would invent a new field, and so he did. Motion study, and industrial engineering owe him a lot. His wife and he were an excellent team who innovated the way people work. The book takes great pains to explain the factors that made their family unique, from size to father and mother. All sorts of bizarre and funny moments are recorded within. Personality of the players is excellently displayed in the various events. If you want a peep into another era and culture, or just some humorous anecdotes, this book is excellent. If you are entering the workforce, you might find some excellent time-saving tips in there as well. This is simply one of my favorite books.

A neccesary and very funny read......

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it's funny and will make the reader understand how a super large family really can make it financially.I read this book the first time because it was required in junior high (now known as middle school). I just read it again with my teenage daughters to maybe bring some understanding to them about saving time and money and that time is money. This father is the king of creative spending and overlapping chores to save time.A very enjoyable book to read. This is an excellent book to co-read with your children of any age and might help you get a few frugal points accross to them. It's a comical read laced with some very neccesary ideas of financial knowledge.This is a quick book to read, and in my case a shared time of family financial understanding. Don't pass up reading this fun book. It'll make you laugh and think..."That's a good idea." reading about dad's fanatical penny pinching ways. A great story that everyone should read.

One of the funniest family books ever

I used to giggle over this book as a kid. It was a huge hit amongst my classmates, and we wore through several copies of Cheaper By the Dozen. The Gilbreth family of 12 kids, parented by efficiency experts Lillian and Frank, were a bit eccentric and very funny. I still can remember the line one of the kids rapped out to a guest at dinner "Please, we are NOT in the mood for an organ recital." This was the standard reprimand for belching in the family and never intended for public airing. The Gilbreths were actually serious innovators of efficiency for the new factory assembly lines, figuring out the number of movements needed to complete a task and establishing a unit of work movement called the Therblig. They were also warm, funny, loving parents and their story is a good one to read out loud to kids, who invariably love this book.

By jingo!

My mother used to read me this book when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's - but when we lost our copy we could never find another one - they were as rare as Hen's teeth - and we definitely wanted another copy. What a relief to see it is reprinted, and to find that the stories are just as funny and wonderful as they ever were.This is a book about the Gilbreth family; Father, mother and twelve (yes 12!) children. Most especially this is the story of the Father, and his time-motion studies which he applied in work and in life. He was a time and motion expert in the first couple of decades of the twentieth century - travelling internationally and showing the new factories how to improve their production by increasing their efficiency.This book has been written, with great affection and humour, by two of his children - Frank and Ernestine. I find it truly amazing that not only did the family boast twelve children but they all learned to speak foreign languages, touch typing, mental maths and even morse code - all because their father worked out dozens of ingenious ways to motivate them - although often it was quite reluctantly on their part. Their father was a truly larger than life character who dominates the book with his booming pronouncements and occassionally humbling mistakes - but you can almost see his eyes twinkling with a ready laugh.This isn't just a book for adults, kids love having the stories read to them. If nothing else there are wonderful tips about how to get your children to want to learn!

What a great book!

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN Format: Paperback,1st ed., 180 pages ISBN: 0553272500 Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Younger Readers Pub. Date: February 1981 Other Formats: Hardback Recommended Age:Third grade and upWonderful...Once you start to read the first page you wont be able to put the book down. This perfect way to spend a rainy day. You will be very amused when you read about the hilarious events of the Gilbreth family. The family of twelve children have many adventures you will enjoy reading. The father is almost crazy and a very successful business man. He is very strict and overprotective. He won't let his daughters wear make up or dress the way they like to. They slowly change his mind and begin to dress their way. He thinks his children can do anything and is also believed he could do anything. He loved jokes and laughing and you will love the practical jokes they play on each other. The rich family loves to go to movies then out for ice cream. They also spend their summers at the beach, where their Dad forces them to learn to swim. He wants them to learn as much as possible about everything so he always finds a way to teach them new things. As an efficiency expert he made sure that everything was done in a time efficient way. It was a sin to waste time in the Gilbreth house and he was constantly coming up with new ways to save time. The Dad in the story liked to parade around and show off his kids. Although this was embarassing to some of the kids as they got older Dad found it hilarious. The mother also was sometimes embarrassed or insulted by the attention they got or the comments other people made. This book will keep you laughing right up to the last chapter when Dad dies. The book is a mixture of humor and then sadness at the ending. This is an excellent book that everybody should read. I recommend this book for anyone that knows how to read no matter how old or young! Dina Bastianini, Pine-Richland High School