Little Miss Atlas

Tippy Parrish #2

by Janet Lambert

While in the Bavarian Alps, Tippy finds herself missing Peter Jordon despite her being lavished with attention by a handsome American Lieutenant.

Genres: Historical Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Janet Lambert, born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, was a popular girls' story author from 1941 through 1969 (and beyond to today). She wrote 54 books during that time about a number of different girls and their families. Her most popular series were about the Parrishes and the Jordons. These stories, and many of her other series, became entwined as the various characters met each other, married, and then had children of their own!

Janet, having an interest in both the theater and writing, decided to write her own plays in which to act. She did achieve her goal and appeared on Broadway. When she married a career Army officer, her life on stage came to a close, but her stories were still flowing. Knowing well the "life of the Army," many of Ms. Lambert's books are set on Army posts throughout the United States.

Legend has it that her stories started as bedtime stories for her children while they were overseas. Each night, the author would tell the next "installment" of the series. Later, after her kids were grown, she penned one of her stories (Star Spangled Summer) and—according to legend—it was sold to a publisher the very day after she sent it to them.

Reviews

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

2026 Reread
Of all the books by this author, I think this might be one of the hardest. It's not sad as in deaths and such, nor is it depressing, but Tippy is really struggling to find her place and her emotions are up and down in a Germany that is trying to recover after a war and a dictator who stole so much. It is a good book.

There is not much about Germany after WWII, but this story, set in that war-torn country, gives a look at things not often thought about. Tippy find herself struggling in a new country and one so vastly different than America. But since her father's in the army, she doesn't have much choice about where she lives. Or does she? I love the characters in these books! They are living, real, and personable. They aren't perfect, but they aren't totally horrid either.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series that began with the beloved Star Spangled Summer has continued, and the heroine is now Tippy, Penny's little sister, a pretty and thoughtful teenager, about seventeen years old. Colonel Parrish has been stationed in Germany, dealing with post-war military issues, and his wife and Tippy come to join him. Tippy lacks Penny's burning ambition (to go on stage) but is much more sensitive and she worries about the defeated Germans and the generally depressing atmosphere (at one point she starts giving away all her clothes to those less fortunate). She misses her beau, Peter Jordon, back at the U.S. Military Academy where he is a football hero, and his sister Alcie, who is Tippy's best friend. Although whiny and childlike at times, Tippy comes across as real and convincing. When Ken Prescott appears, a dashing young lieutenant stationed in Munich, from a family long friendly with the Parrishes, it would take a stronger girl than Tippy (or this reader at 12 or so) to resist being swept off her feet. Ken is one of Lambert's most attractive heroes: handsome, affectionate, and honorable. Back home, the age difference would probably be a problem but in Germany, they are thrown together, under the oblivious eyes of her parents, and begin to fall in love.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Parrish-Jordan series written by Janet Lambert is a look backward into history. The books were written during or just after World War II. Yes, they're dated, but that is part of their charm. If I had read these in an earlier time I would probably have given them 5 stars. They aren't any less good but it's just that today there are books that are so over the top that I can't compare these rather quiet little missives with them.

I found this book especially interesting. The War is over. Colonel Parrish has been sent by the Army to occupied Germany. Mrs. Parrish and Tippy, as the youngest child at age 16, have moved there with him, living in a little village in the Bavarian Alps. There are no young people on the base, and only Lieutenant Ken Prescott, at six years older, visits occasionally from another base to break up her boredom. Tippy is unhappy and the devastation following a war really bothers her. She likens the horror of war to a dragon. She spends much of her time giving away her clothes to the poor Germans who have nothing. And is she falling in love with Ken? Or is her heart with Peter Jordan back at West Point? Ken is definitely in love with her.

I found it very interesting to learn that the Americans bought their ration of cigarettes at the P-Ex and used them as payment to the German people for their services and for tips. Presumably, the Germans then bartered these cigarettes for food. The picture painted of a post-war torn country is certainly bleak but the Parrishes do their best to help the locals. They have a young boy and 4 girls working for them just so the Germans can get 3 meals a day! There is no rancor shown against the young people of Germany, who didn't wage war on Europe; just pity.

This series is so worth reading! Janet Lambert was herself an Army wife who was stationed on Governor's Island and then with her husband, lived in Germany post war.

[Karen Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a much more serious book than many of the others as Tippy and her mother head off to join her father in Germany. Tippy's not happy about going and is even more unsettled when she sees the ruins of Germany and its people after World War II. It's such a massive change from her easy-going life in the US that it tears her apart more than she expected and worries her parents greatly. She meets a number of interesting people and Ken Prescott is there to cheer some of her days, but she's unsure of herself and not really happy.

Tippy really grows as a person although she has to go through a lot of emotional turmoil to do so. Much as I love her sister Penny, I do think Tippy is my favorite Parrish.

[Dichotomy Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so it took me over a month to read this short little book. The bottom line is that I'm just not a big Tippy fan. I wasn't that much into Penny either, but Carol made up for that series. I'm having a hard time finishing these. But I have so many checked out from libraries across the state, and they are so old and decrepit that I know they will take them out of circulation as soon as I return them. So, it's now or never....

One scene in this book that got my dander up, is when Ken is trying to convince Tippy that she needs to leave post-war Germany and memories of all the constant memory of all the horrible things that happened there and go back to America, but telling her how great and perfect America is. And Tippy rightfully brings up how we treated the Native Americans by taking their land, and how we enslaved an entire race. And Ken responds by basically saying oh that was a long time ago, we've grown up and learned, and we'd never do something like that now. Um...hello....Japanese Internment Camps?

Next is Confusion By Cupid, (these books have to be read based on published date, not series order to make any sense), which is thankfully about the Jordan's...

[J.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tippy and her mother are on their way to post-war Germany, and Tippy tries to handle her conflicting emotions with varied results. Behind her cheery, extrovert ways she is a sensitive girl who worries about bigger issues in the life than her own social whirl but finds her feelings difficult to express. She finds a friend in a handsome officer, a longtime friend of the family, who tries to cheer her . . . and unintentionally adds more complications to her life.
This vivid picture of post-war Germany and the life of American military families stationed there was interesting. Reading about the military transport ship was a treat in itself! Tippy is still not my favorite of Lambert's heroines, but she grows by the end of the book, and her developing romantic dilemma is entertaining.