The only problem that clouds Lucien and Silvia Wade's calm, comfortable life is that Lucien wants children and Silvia does not. When the wild Polydore children-Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Emerald, Demetrius, and Diogenes-move in next door, however, chaos follows and the Wades each reconsider their position. In Our Next-Door Neighbors Michigan author Belle K. Maniates hilariously explores middle-class life in early twentieth-century America and questions what the typical American family should look like.