In spite of her name, Beany Malone is a character one is likely to remember. The most reliable, although the youngest of her delightful but not always accountable family, Beany takes over the responsibility of the welfare of her brothers and sisters when their father, the overworked editor of the local paper, goes to Arizona to recuperate.

There is a story and a problem behind each member of the family [in "Beany Malone"]….

There is warmth, quiet humor, and excellent suspense in this story of a young girl's growing up. The Malones are charming, loveable people with a strong sense of values and a fine social outlook, whose problems are real enough to become the problems of the reader.

This is a fine novel, well written, convincing and alive. (p. 36)

[Leave It to Beany!] is another story of the charming Malones. Sixteen-year-old Beany, in the midst of a high school romance and diverse energetic family projects, finds that her desire to help people in unorthodox ways leads her into several ridiculous and difficult situations…. The cousin Sheila episodes, concerning the attempts of the Malones to stuff the lonely, glum girl into a pattern of the American Girl, present an amusing and often perceptive study of the iron defense mechanism which may be built up by a girl outside the magic circle of a high school clique. A warm-hearted, very human story. (p. 63)

Virginia Kirkus' Bookshop Service, February 1, 1950.