Title: The Mischief Maker
Author: Donna Gene Stankey
Co-Author: Ramona Hammel
Publisher: Romana Hammel Books
ISBN: 978-1956742213
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 270
Reviewed by: Michaela Gordoni

Pacific Book Review

The Mischief Maker is about the primary author, Donna Gene Stankey’s father, Ralph. It is the sequel to Rate. The book is not one story, but a collection of memories from the lives of a family in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

There is Ralph (or Rate, as he was often called), a mischievous but charming boy; his no-nonsense sister, Blanche; his mother, Miney, who can never find enough room in her stone heart to love Ralph as much as his older sister; and Ralph’s father, Millie who is untalkative and stubborn. In fact, “dragging words from Millie was like pulling teeth from a chicken–impossible.”  The memories follow them through their life on the farm in Michigan, to life on the town, and then on the farm again. It is focused on Ralph, a boy too smart for his own good, who supplied his boredom with reading and mischief making.

The Mischief Maker has no plot, just events and memories. It is written a little bit dryly, without much ethos or pathos. Despite that, one can definitely feel sorry for poor Ralph. It is obvious that he is treated lesser than his older sister, mostly by his mother, but his father, too. Ralph was so smart and cocky that he would not finish writing his school exams because he was always confident that he answered enough correctly to get a passing grade, much to his teacher’s chagrin.

As the title promises, there certainly is a lot of mischief on Ralph’s part. One particularly amusing story from this memoir is when Blanche catches the eye of a certain young man that Ralph does not like. Determined to prevent the “sissy” from walking Blanche home from church, Ralph embarrasses him by pulling out his chair from under him as the young man is about to sit down. His plan worked well.

It is easy to see why Donna Gene Stankey was inspired to write about her father. He had a unique and amusing childhood, and he grew up in an interesting time period when cars began to kick horses off the road. From tales of pockets full of frogs, to getting into fist fights and countless injuries, The Mischief Maker, overall, is a pleasant memoir that many readers will appreciate.