Janet Lennon at Camp Calamity

    This is one of the Whitman books I've had since I was 15 so I've read it a number of times. The last time I read it was quite a few years ago but I recall finding it a little disappointing. I couldn't help comparing it to Donna Parker Mystery at Arawak which it did not stand up next to.

    This book is written by Barlow Meyers* who was mainly an author of westerns. She wrote all three books in the Janet Lennon series and one of the Annette books. Her writing style was vastly different from other typical Whitman authors, such as Doris Schroeder who wrote a large number of books for Whitman. Meyers' books always feature more dangerous villains and involve death by murder as a completely possible outcome for the heroine.

    *I was always under the assumption that Barlow Meyers was a man but I've seen them be referred to as a woman by others and, of course, Barlow Meyers could be a pseudonym. To be honest I am simply not sure if it was a man or woman.

    Fourteen year old Janet Lennon has gotten a last minute invitation to be a counselor at Camp Winhaven. She has to arrive at the isolated mountain camp that night. On the drive there she is passed by a blonde woman driving at a frantic speed and later a man driving even faster. A police officer is chasing the man who ends up crashing down an embankment but emerges unharmed. 

    When Janet arrives at the camp she meets the blonde woman, Mrs. Denton, and is later told by the camp director, Miss Malloy, that the Dentons are going through a divorce and custody battle of their daughter, Marcy. Marcy is being hidden away at the camp as Mrs. Denton fears her husband will kidnap the child.

    Janet awakens in Cabin Eight the next morning and introduces herself to the girls, who had all been asleep when she arrived the night before. Jo Ellen, a defiant trouble maker, immediately demands to know why Janet is "pretending to be the television star Janet Lennon". Jo Ellen challenges Janets authority by trying to leave for breakfast early and later by refusing to maker her bed. Janet does not let either of these slide; she makes Jo Ellen stay in the cabin, missing her fun camp activities, until she finally agrees to make her bed an hour later.

    Miss Malloy approves of Janet's actions when they're related to her later in a meeting. At this time she also tells Janet that Marcy is listed in the files under an alias and that no visitors are to be allowed to see her except her mother.

    Janet and her girls go for a hike later and stop to watch a construction crew who is working on the only mountain road into camp. One of the workers, whom the girls name Bluebeard, seems to stare at them angrily. Once at their hiking destination the girls play hide and seek during which two girls go missing. One girl, Karen, is found among some squirrels and birds who she has attracted with her skillful animal calls. The other girl, Jo Ellen, is not found so the girls head back to camp to gather a search party. However they quickly find her lounging on her bed laughing at Janet.

    Later in the day Janet is ask to do office duty while Mrs. Malloy goes into town. During this time Marcy's father comes in asking to see her. Janet feigns confusion and says no Marcy is at the camp. Mr. Denton goes through the files and is leaving after not finding her name listed when he spots her sweater, a hand knitted custom sweater Mrs. Denton had made Marcy. He leaves without saying anything.

    Later that night the camp has a sing along and Janet is asked to perform. This puts an end to Jo Ellen's claims that Janet is "pretending" to be the famous singer Janet Lennon.

    Janet wants to help the girls overcome their problems by the end of camp so she decides to teach the overgrown and clumsy Mary Ruth gracefulness by learning to swim, assigns the repressed and nervous Susan as kickball goalie to teach her self confidence, and has the small town Karen teach the other girls bird calls to...make her fit in more with the rich girls, I guess? That one isn't quite clear.

    Strange things also start happening in Janet's cabin such as a mysterious someone attempting to stealthily open the locked door late at night and the cabin key disappearing.

    One evening Janet returns from the counselors meeting to find all the girls asleep, except Marcy. Marcy's bed is empty and her blanket is missing. Janet looks around for her but upon not finding her reports it to Miss Malloy. The camp staff all being looking and when she doesn't turn up they begin to fear she's been kidnapped. They try to call the police but find the telephone lines not working. When they try to drive to the police station they find the mountain road blocked by the unfinished work of the construction crew. 

    Janet and Martha, another counselor, stop to tie the cut telephone wires together and as they're finishing Janet notices a car parked in the brush. She makes a quick search and decides to pull all the wires out from under the hood in case it's the kidnappers getaway car.

    They head back to camp and the police soon arrive as well as Mrs. Denton and later Mr. Denton. A huge search takes place over the next day but little is found due to the vast surrounding wilderness. On the second day Janet suggests that Mr. Bideloe, the elderly janitor who favors Marcy, lead a search party as he has bragged before about spending his youth on the mountain and knowing it "like the back of his hand". Unfortunately nothing turns up. 

    Janet awakes in the middle of the night feeling famished as she's been too worried to eat her meals. She decides to go grab something from the snack shelf in the kitchen and once inside the dark room she hears a person stirring. She is attack and goes unconscious. 

    When she awakes a few minutes later she finds two things in her hand which she had seemingly grabbed during her attack; a piece of Mr. Bideloe's shirt and a candy wrapper from some candy he had grabbed that morning.

    Janet feels she can not go to the sheriff with her discovery because the kidnapper is currently trapped on the mountain with Marcy and she feels any indication that the law is closing in would result in Marcy's death.

    She awakes early the next morning and remarks to Mr. Bideloe that she will be sneaking off to look for Marcy in a cave she had discovered while playing hide-and-seek with the girls. On her way out of camp she runs into Karen and instructs her to watch to see if anyone follows her out of camp and then report it to the sheriff immediately.

    Once she gets to the cave she hears running down the trail towards her and, knowing someone is in the cave keeping watch over Marcy, she starts screaming like crazy. The sheriff had previously told her in an off comment that a screaming women is a criminals worst nightmare because it will bring any man in the vicinity running. So Janet screams and screams even after a man jumps out of the cave to silence her. 

    Soon more running feet are heard on the trail and all of Janet campers appear. They jump on top of the man who appeared from the cave and sit on him until the sheriff and his men arrive behind the girls. Bideloe, Bluebeard, and another man are all arrested and Marcy is rescued.

    The final pages include Mr. Denton providing scholarships to the camp, Susan winning the kickball game, Mary Ruth placing in a swimming competition, and Janet making a promise to return the next year.

- Janet doesn't think anything of how the janitor goes on about how pretty the little girls are and points out which ones are prettier than the others. Man, this was creepy. 

- I was surprised to see how much it's mentioned that the kidnappers could have already killed Marcy. That's a pretty dark thing for a children's book.

- I think it's important it mentions that "a screaming woman is a criminals biggest problem". I remember my father teaching me this as a child and I think its a great piece of helpful information young children could have learned.

- I like the idea of Marcy's sweater. When I read this book before I had pictured it with every single row a different color but now I think it probably had larger stripes. I've been planning for several years to knit a sweater based off it.

    This book is alright and there's definitely something that feels different about it. I originally planned on getting rid of it after this reading but now I'm not sure. 

True to You

    Sally Sorenson is a 15 year old Midwestern girl who has just returned home from her summer vacation on the west coast. She's excited to see her best friend Sue and tell her all about it, as well as see Sue's older brother, Whit, who she has a crush on.

    While she was gone some things have changed. Someone has bought the house three doors down and a glamorous 15 year old named Lenore Andre now lives there. A girl names Jonni who has an Italian haircut has also moved into what is called the crackerbox subdivision. The biggest change though is that the boundary lines for the schools have changed to accommodate for a new high school and so Sally will be starting her sophomore year at a different school. Unfortunately this means that she and Sue will no longer attend school together. Although Sally is not happy about this she doesn't complain since there's nothing she can do to change it.

    On the first day of school Sally is walking with her friend Myron when Lenore and her mother, who wears her blonde hair in elaborate hairdos, drive by in their eye-catching white convertible. They stop but then quickly drive on. At lunch Lenore seeks Sally out, saying her and her mother had debated offering Sally a ride that morning but figured she would probably want to walk with Myron. The two get along well and it's clear they'll be friends. Sally also has a class with Jonni and at the end of the day is invited over to her house. However she refuses as she's eager to see Sue and tell her all about her first day.

    After school she walks straight over to Sue's and waits at the bus stop but when Sue doesn't show up she heads home, leaving a message with Sue's mother to have her call. When she doesn't call, Sally calls her and Sue quickly goes into a frenzy talking about the well-to-do Ann Aisley who's house she was invited to after school.

    As the school year goes on Sally and Sue see less and less of each other, mainly because Sue has been obsessed with Ann Aisley. Lenore and Sally have become close friends but Lenore is still something of an enigma. Her mothers hands-off parenting, the way she doesn't even glimpse at price tags while shopping, and her fathers "employees" who slip in and out of the carriage house at all hours of the day shroud the Andres family in mystery. Sally also becomes close with Jonni and when she visits her house she finds it to be filled with books, a grand piano, and an oil painting Jonni had sat for, all of which change Sally's opinion of her as a "crackerbox kid".

    While at a football game between the new school, Hadley West, and the old school, Hadley East, Sally is introduced to Jonni's friend Judd, a nice boy who develops a mutual crush on Sally. The football team for the old school is on a winning streak and plan on winning the championship. The new schools team has been on a losing streak so it's a big surprise when they beat Hadley East. Hadley East then ends up losing their next and final game costing them the championship. They take their anger out on Hadley West by vandalizing it with red paint. 

    Unfortunately Judd gets blames for the vandalism and due to him being a crackerbox kid, i.e. poor, people are willing to believe it. However at the time of the incident Lucia, Sally's 9 year old sister, had been at the school and heard enough to place Sue's brother Whit at the scene. Lucia confides this to Sally who doesn't know what to do with this uncomfortable information.

    (This is where I took a month break from reading)

    She decides to tell Sue in the hopes that she'll pass it along to Whit so he can clear himself. But Sue refuses to believe it and gets mad, ending her friendship with Sally. Sally, not knowing what else to do, tells her father but excludes any names. However she knows her father will be able to figure it out and several days later she reads an article in the newspaper saying the culprits have been questioned and confessed.

    As the first quarter of school ends Sally realizes just how much her grades have slipped due to her friendship with Lenore. Lenore does not care about grades and always pressures Sally to blow off homework and studying to hang out. When Sally questions Lenore about her future in college Lenore dismisses it saying her father can pay her way into a school or suggesting that she might marry one of her fathers employees when she soon turns 16.

    Myron ends up joining the basketball team at Sally's urging and becomes the star player. When Sally attends an away game at her old school she runs into Sue, Whit, and Ann Aisley. Sue coldly says "Hi" but Whit is quite friendly, especially towards Lenore. After the game he tells the girls he won some money betting on it and asks if they want to help him spend it. Both are put off by this and Sally worries that Whit will end up in more trouble before he learns to reel in his behavior.

    Sometime later Lenore misses a day of school and when Sally arrives home she sees an article on the front page of the newspaper about Lenore's father being arrested for hosting illegal gambling in the carriage house. The article mentions some teenage boys that helped provide the police with information to make the raid and arrest. Whit immediately comes to Sally's mind so she calls Sue who confirms that Whit was working with the police on it. Sue seems completely heartless over how this will affect Lenore and even refers to her only as "the convertible girl" which really puts Sally off. Although Sue is being friendly again and wants to make plans to catch up Sally feels disappointed and lacks any enthusiasm about the rekindling of their friendship. 

    She calls Jonni who feels terrible for Lenore and worries she'll think they don't want to be friends with her anymore. Sally calls Lenore who is surprised Sally still wants to associate with her and coaxes her to return to school. With her friends help Lenore tries to go on as usual with life and spends extra time focusing on her studies. Then one day she shows up at Sally's door in a traveling suit and informs Sally her family is moving and she'll be attending boarding school. Sally is really sad to see her go as she feels closer to Lenore than any other friend she's had before, including Sue, but she is happy for Lenore who is excited about the change.

    After Lenore's departure Sally finds herself in an awkward position at school as some people don't want to associate with her because of her friendship with Lenore. Sally doesn't mind too much tho and at Jonni's insistence she joins the Girls Club which she finds a lot of joy in. She remains close friends with Jonni, Myron, and Judd, and her friendship with Sue is once again back in tact. She also finds herself less nervous around Whit and can converse with him normally. We end with Sally life looking normal and happy.

- One thing that makes this book feel different from all the other girls books from this time is that our main character is not self conscious of her appearance, her social standing, or social skills. Sally likes how she looks and is confident. She doesn't stress over having to make new friends at a new school or feel intimidated by Lenore's beauty. It's honestly so refreshing in a character.

- On page 51 Sally is accidentally called Sue; "Lenore had not mentioned anything about a ride tomorrow, Sue thought guiltily to herself."

- It's funny when Sue accuses Sally of only saying Whit vandalized the school because she has a crush on Judd and wants to get him out of trouble. Little does Sue know Sally has been head over heels for Whit for years.

- Whenever Lenore gives Sally a gift her mother makes her return it because it is too expensive. She even clearly wants Sally to return the Christmas present Lenore bought her because she thinks it's too expensive. I think this is a little mean because it puts Sally in such an awkward position. Returning a gift appears so rude and insulting. I understand her mother is worried about the money spent of the gifts but Lenore family is clearly wealthy so I don't know why she gets so upset.

- Sally tells Lenore that more boys would like her if she didn't wear "weird-o" eye makeup and bleach her hair. I thought this was really rude and uncalled for. Lenore is already extremely popular so I don't know why Sally thinks she needs to give her advice. Lenore feels insulted and I can totally understand why.

    Overall this book is ok. There's something about it that separates it from the typical teenage book of the era. Sally a likable character and so is Lenore although I feel like we could have gotten to know both much better. 

Milestone Summer

    Judy Princeton's father has just passed away a month go leaving the family to struggle along without him emotionally and financially. Now without enough money to stay in their lovely house in Carmel they must move into the old run down Victorian house three miles away in Monterey. The house had been built by Judy's great-grandparents and has gone through numerous tenants, becoming rundown.

Mrs. Princeton has plans to fix up the house but has no idea how to go about it and has limited funds. Her only idea so far is to remove the gingerbread wood work from the outside and clear away the vines. 

    

    While her and Judy are standing outside discussing this they are approached by José, a man who had worked for Judy's grandparents. He offers to help clear away the vines. While he does this a crowd begins to form along the side walk with two people in the crowd being members of the Urban Renewal League, a new group whose mission is to make the area more attractive without destroying historical landmarks. The group has applied for a government grant and thinks the Princeton house would be a good example of the type of work they're trying to do. If approved as a project this means the group will fund the work but the Princeton's don't get to make the ultimate decision on what gets done. 

    The project is of course approved and soon workers show up to clean away the overgrown foliage, cut off the gingerbread, and paint the house moss green, a color which Judy suggested. They also plan on tearing down the two little cottages on the property. Judy is appalled to hear this since she planned to redecorate the cottages and rent them out. She's able to talk her way into keeping the cottages and excitedly begins making plans to remodel one of them. She wants to fix it up the way she would want it if she were to live there, daydreaming about soon living in it with her longtime boyfriend Kent.

    Her daydream is destroyed when she heads to a interior design store and selects a living rooms worth of French provincial furniture and 12 yards of damask fabric, planning for it to amount to $200, but having it actually cost $1,100 not including tax. Shocked and disappointed she informs the sales woman she can't afford it and is told she has to pay the $180 for the fabric which has already been cut. Judy feels terribly discouraged and disappointed. Emotional about the furniture, Judy rushes home and declares she's giving up on the cottage and on Tony, the handsome neighbor boy who plans on helping with the cottages.

    Judy calls Kent, who she had previously blown off to hang out with Tony, and insists he come take her for a picnic at Point Lobos right away. The picnic is short and tumultuous. Judy finds Kent insensitive and Kent find Judy juvenile. When they sit down to eat their picnic lunch Kent begins to tell Judy all about Diane, the 18 year old girl that has moved into Judy's old Carmel home with her multi-divorced mother. 

    Diane is a carefree beatnik who thinks the US is going to be bombed and just wants to have fun until then. She's given Kent a book of poetry written by one of her friends. He reads one of the poems to Judy which advocates having fun while also denouncing religion. Judy, who has spent the past month going through hardships, is disgusted with the poem, with Diane, and even with Kent. She tells him to take her home immediately where she talks to her mom and Tony about her disappointments with the cottages.

    A few days later Tony insists on taking Judy to a shop in Carmel to show her something. The shop sells clothing and accessories for women but what Tony wants her to see is the tables and desks being used for display. They're made out of inexpensive rattan.

    Now I didn't know what rattan was. When I had read this book before I had just imagined it as teakwood because I was under the very false impression that teakwood was inexpensive. Rattan is the stem of a palm and is used to make wicker furniture. 

    Tony and Judy are both excited to find an answer to their furniture problem. They track down the shops decorator who tells them she purchased the inexpensive furniture from a shop in Chinatown. So Judy plans a trip there with Kent who, more or less, invited himself along.

    On the drive to San Francisco Kent nonchalantly tells Judy that Diane is also going to San Francisco that day. Kent becomes impatient while Judy looks at rattan furniture in the Chinatown shop so he wonders outside where he just happens to run into Diana. He tells Judy he's going with Diana, who is looking for some beads, for a half hour. He however doesn't come back so Judy just heads to her aunts where she and Kent are planning on staying the night. Once there Kent calls and excuses his absence by saying Diana had twisted her ankle and needed medical attention but he plans on coming right over to pick Judy up for dinner and dancing. 

    Throughout the night both seem content and very much in love. The night is quite late after they've finished their after-dinner dancing but Kent insists on going to one more place called The Red Cabbage. It turns out to be a beatnik dive and who else happens to be there but Diane. Judy feels Kent must have known Diane would be there, even though he denies it. 

    Diane and her friends are drinking alcohol and seventeen year old Judy feel uncomfortable by the idea of spending the evening with drunk strangers. This infuriates Kent who venomously turns on Judy. He then takes her home, having a hissy fit the whole way and deciding to stay somewhere else for the night. Judy tells him not to bother driving her back home tomorrow, planning on taking the train instead. However she quickly changes her mind when she realizes the train won't get her home until evening which will be too late to tell Tony about the success with the furniture.

    The drive home the next day is eye opening and Judy realizes just how much she and Kent have changed in the last 6 months. Kent, who graduated last school year, has no plans for college, career, or anything except turning into a beatnik. Where as Judy is planning on using her last year of high school to set a path in life; she wants to get into a good collage, plan a career in interior decorating, and work with a number of volunteer groups including the Youth Center, American Field Service, California Scholarship Foundation, Future Homemakers of America, as well as continue her work as a Candy-Stripper. All of which Kent finds laughable.

    Judy and Kent already had plans for going to the lodges dinner-dance next Saturday and Kent will be out of town until then so Judy puts him out of her mind for the time being. She spends time with Tony, working on the cottage, sailing in his boat, and hanging out with him and his friends. A new play is about to open at the Warf Theatre where Tony works so Judy host a pre-play party with her new friends Pat, Dick, Maria, Michael, Tony and his family, as well as her old best friend from Carmel, Kay and Kay's boyfriend Jerry.

    After the play the young crowd goes to the Warf which is busy since it's Friday night. They go into a fish bar (not sure what that is) and are having fun dancing when Kent and Diane walk in together. Immediately spotting Judy, Kent waves and then makes a hasty exit pulling Diane along with him. This strange behavior confuses Judy and the next night on the way to the dance Judy asks Kent about it. 

    He says he and Diane were annoyed at how everyone was dancing and acting immature, stating that the jitterbugging girl Judy was with was the worst. Little does he realize the girl was Maria, the well known European actress. At the dance Maria shows up with Tony as her escort and Kent immediately starts salivating over her to which Judy has fun telling him she was the jitterbugging hoodlum Kent was disgusted by. Diane is also there and briefly tries to flirt with Tony who doesn't give her a second glance. That night Judy tells Kay that she's come to the realization that things between her and Kent are over.

    The next more Judy heads out to the cottage to put the finishing touches on it with Tony. Tony opens up about his feelings for Judy and Judy reciprocates them. Then right as they've finished a newlywed couple shows up at the door asking if the cottage is for rent. Judy takes them to her mother and they work out a rental agreement for $100 a month. After the couple leaves Mrs. Princeton sits Judy and her brother, Flip, down to tell them she's been approached by a couple who want to buy the old Victorian house. The money would be enough for them to buy back their old Carmel home which Diane's mother is selling at a bargain because she wants to get out of Carmel because she claims it's "filled with squares". Judy, Flip, and Mrs. Princeton all agree that the house in Monterey is their home now and they chose to stay. 

- The way Judy's mother speaks with her is interesting and sometimes strange. She asks Judy to make decisions and sometime almost even for permission for thing, such as asking Judy if they can go to the Urban Renewal meeting. Maybe this is because she just lost her husband and would normally have asked him these things. It just seems strange at times.

- I'm very confused on how the house and grounds of the Victorian house are suppose to look, as well as the cottages, or "shacks" as they are referred to. There is an illustration on the books end pages but it doesn't appear accurate. The house is apparently situated right next to the ocean, is on a somewhat busy corner, has streets behind it, but also is above rundown shacks inhabited by poorer residents. The cottages are also apparently the size of a studio home, as that's what Judy plans to rent them out as, but also portable and don't have bathrooms. Judy plans on building a bathroom onto it, mentioning this as if its as easy as hanging up curtains, and moving them to face the "other street" which I'm assuming is maybe the street behind the house? I don't know, I'm so confused by it.

- Judy never seems to miss her father. He only passed a month ago and yet she appears to have completed her grieving. Many people ask if she's the daughter of THE Phillip Princeton and she's always just like "mhm, yep". Never once getting teary eyed.

- Kent and Judy have been dating since she was 12 yet the second she's gone Kent falls for Diane. It makes it seem like Kent is basing his love life on proximity. Apparently he only dates whatever girl lives next door.

As luck would have it I just stumbled on this picture of an old play house. [x]

I'm wondering if this is similar to what the cottages look like since one was being used as a play house by Tony's little sister and because they're movable. Although the cottage is said to be small I didn't think it would be that small!

Practically Twins

     I have read this book before and remember I found it really awful because I felt that the main character was treated very poorly and it broke my heart. 

    Mary Ann is a 15 year old girl who has just gotten a new mother and sister. Her mother had passed away five years before and since then has been raised by her father and grandmother.

    Her father works for a company that specializes in custom made packaging for parts for rockets and missiles. I assume he works in sales for the company cause he travels for work. On his travels to California he met Phyllis, a secretary for a company that uses customized packaging. Mary Ann had been told about Phyllis so she is not too surprised when her father calls her from California to say he and Phyllis are getting married. 

    They've decided to do it right away so Mary Ann is not able to be in attendance. Her father will also be remaining there until Janice, Phyllis' 15 year old daughter, gets out of school for the summer. So they get to be a happy little family for awhile while Mary Ann sits nervously alone at home.

    Well, she's not totally alone as her grandmother lives there, or rather did live there. She now has to move out which Mary Ann feels devastated over. Van-loads of Phyllis' furniture have also been arriving, replacing the familiar items in Mary Ann's home and her room has even been taken from her control as she is to share it with Janice now (even though the Grandmother's room is now empty. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me).

    Even though Mary Ann is shook up by all the changes and worries Phyllis and Janice might not like her or she might not like them, she is determined to act perfectly and say all the right things because she wants very much for her father to be happy.

    As she is waiting for her new family to arrive home from the airport she hears Gil, the 16 year old neighbor boy who is more or less her unofficial boyfriend, go into the garage. He often does yard work for Mary Ann's father and is replacing hedge clippers back in the garage. Mary Ann walks with him down the driveway where she runs into her best friend Polly and Polly's dog, Vitamins.

    While they're all on the side walk talking, Uncle Chuck pulls up with Dad, Phyllis, and Janice. Mary Ann starts panicking as she had had a whole plan of greeting the new members of the family inside the house and is now stressed about it happening publicly for the neighbors to watch. 

    She briefly feels better when her beloved father engulfs her in a hug but when he says "Honey, here she is. Wasn't I right?" she gets confused and then sad when she realizes he now calls someone else "honey". Mary Ann is intimidated when she sees how beautiful Janice and Phyllis are. Janice immediately overwhelms her with a hug and talking a mile a minute but Phyllis seems nice and calm. Mary Ann likes Phyllis right away and recalls her promise to herself not to think of Phyllis as a stepmother since "stepmother" is commonly associated with "wicked stepmother". She has promised herself to think of her simply as her mother which is just one of the ways in which Mary Ann is a sweet angel too good for this family.

    Mary Ann shows Janice around the house and they seem to be getting along great. Janice acts very friendly and Mary Ann feels at ease until she calls her father "daddy":

    Janice looked at her strangely. " Do you always call him that?"

    "Call him---?"

    "Phil. Do you always call him Daddy?"

    "Yes. Of course. Why not?"

    "Oh, nothing. Just that it..." Janice shrugged dismissively.

    Mary Ann instantly becomes self conscious again.

    That evening Phil suggests that Mary Ann (I'm just going to call her Mary from now) takes Janice around to meet the kids in the neighborhood. Polly sees them and asks if she and Vitamins can come along. While she's gone to get Vitamins, Janice goes up to Polly's 17 year old brother, Andy, and his friend Scott who are working on a car in the driveway. Upon sight of her Scott shouts out "like wow, man!" which has got to be one of the most dated things I've ever read but also sets the tone for how Janice is going to be perceived throughout the book.

    Everyone in the neighborhood adores Janice; she's beautiful, sophisticated, and a wonderful conversationalist. All this makes Mary feel terribly inadequate, especially cause she struggles awfully with talking to people. On the way home Hildred calls over to them. 

    Hildred is the most popular girl in school and has never given Mary the slightest thought. She is however very keen to befriend Janice which of course makes Mary feel awful. This, mixed with being mentally exhausted and tired causes Mary to remark how all of Janice's friends in California have private pools and drive convertibles, something Janice had mentioned earlier. 

    

    I'm not quite sure what this comment was made for. Mary says it to be rude, I assume towards Hildred, but it embarrasses Janice who takes it as mocking. That night Mary is silently crying in her bed and missing her mother when she hears Janice sniffle. She wonders if Janice is crying and feels awful, blaming herself for it.

    The next day her father has to take the car into the repair shop and asks the three girls to go with him. Mary is desperately hoping Phyllis and Janice will say no so that she can have some one-on-one time with her father, something she has yet to have since his return. But Phyllis ends up suggesting he take Janice alone and Mary stay and help her with unpacking. I think this is really thoughtful of Phyllis and nice that she wants to spend time alone with Mary. 

    While they're working she tells Mary about how Janice's father had died in a plane crash and how hard it has been for Janice to accept it. Mary is sympathetic to the point of being moved to tears, something which she's embarrassed about. 

    While they're working Gil comes knocking on the door and it's clear by his dressed up appearance he is looking to meet Janice who he has heard about from Scott. Scott is hosting a party at the roller rink, which his father just payed to have remodeled, and of course Janice is invited. Mary and Polly are also invited but the invitations seem to be an extensions of Janice's invitation.

    Once Gil leaves, Mary heads over to Polly's to tell her about the party. Polly is thrilled and starts talking about how great Janice is to have already gotten them invited to a senior boy's party. Mary doesn't stay for long and when she's walking down the street to her house she's happy to see her father in the drive way. She calls to him, runs up eagerly, and is very much hoping for a kiss like he use to always give her but instead he begins to scold her. Mary hadn't told Phyllis where she was going and Phyllis apparently became worried. Mary feels confused because she had always been allowed to leave to Polly's before with out telling anyone and hadn't been informed of the change of rules.

    When she goes in the house Janice is busy in the kitchen making Sloppy Slurpies for lunch (aka Sloppy Joes). Mary's grandmother was a wonderful cook and preferred to do the cooking herself so Mary was never given the opportunity to cook for the family before. Her father than says "You might set the table, Mary Ann. After all, Jan is making lunch" which Mary takes as criticism. She spends lunch holding back tears which aren't helped by Phil's over the top praise of Jan's cooking.

    The day of the skate party finally rolls around and Janice is such a hit that you'd think the party was being thrown in her honor. All the boys crowd around her including Gil who makes sure to have lots of...skates? Dances? Whatever the refer to them as, with Janice. At one point he pawns Mary off on Tug, a boy who had been skating with Janice and who goes by the name Tugboat.

    Tug quickly guides Mary off the rink making it clear he has no interest in her and as Mary stand conspicuously at the rail she spots Polly's brother, Andy, who offers to skate with her. Mary is an exceptionally good skater, it's one of the few things she is confident about, and she's happy to find that Andy is just as good if not better.

    As August rolls around Mary is struggling living with Janice. Jan is a terrible slob who leaves their shared bedroom and bathroom a mess for Mary to clean, abandons her chores for Mary to do, and takes over Mary's closet space. Although Mary has talked to Janice about these things nothing changes and Mary feels she cannot discuss it with anyone else without it being brushed off as jealousy.

    Jan's behavior catches up with her though when Phyllis sees the room a mess. She warns Jan that if it happens again she will be punished. It does and she is. Her punishment is that she can no longer participate in the upcoming Bike Hike, a picnic party that she has organized. Phyllis tells Mary that she will have to take over as host. This terrifies socially self conscious Mary but she ends up doing a great job which gives her confidence a boost. She also protects Janice by excusing her absence as her not feeling well. Jan appreciates this and the two bond that night over having both lost a parent.

    When the new school year starts Mary is eager to be a good sister and help Jan get settled in however she really doesn't need any help as Jan has already become one of the most popular girls in school. Mary has also noticed that Polly and Gil have seem to forgotten she exists; in the presence of Jan they ignore anything she says and pretend she is not there. They also only seem to call or visit for Jan.

    Mary Ann spends her time focusing on schoolwork which she enjoys, especially English. She has Mrs. Fellows as her English teacher this year which she is excited about as she admires Mrs. Fellows and wants to impress her. Mary soon finds out Jan isn't very good at school, mainly because she doesn't study, and is shocked and uncomfortable when she catches Jan digging through the waste paper basket for the rough draft to Mary's book report.

    First report cards of the year arrive and Mary has gotten an A, two Bs, and a C. She hopes to raise her grades but is sure they're good enough to earn her that much desired kiss from her father she has yet to receive. Jan has gotten two Cs and two Ds which everyone excuses by her being at a new school. Phyllis is the only one who acknowledges it's because Jan doesn't study.

    When Phil arrives home he compliments Mary's grades and just as she's expecting her kiss he tells her, almost criticizingly, that if she had switched schools like Jan she wouldn't be so fortunate to get good grades. Mary is confused as to why her hours of hard work are not being considered. Jan then walks in, announces her decision to study more, and Phil rewards this with a kiss, walking out of the room with his arm around her and leaving Mary devastated.

    All she wants to do is talk things over with her grandmother but both her visits for thanksgiving and Christmas get canceled. Then on top of everything else Mary ends up being the only one not invited to an upcoming party. Even Polly who is considered more of an outcast than Mary is invited. Mary is utterly humiliated but then Andy, who had helped her during the Bike Hike, asks her out to a movie that night and she has a wonderful time.

    After Christmas Jan throws a new years eve party. As midnight approaches one of the boys suggest exchanging new years kisses which everyone becomes excited about. Mary is sure Gil will be the one to kiss her since they've been dating up for a year and everyone assumes they're going steady. She's very eager to receive her first ever kiss from him so it's devastating when he kisses Jan instead. A mad rush is made by the boys at midnight to reach Jan but out of all of them she chooses Gil. Mary feels horribly betrayed and it doesn't help her mood when Tugboat is the one to kiss her, and then becomes infatuated with her for the rest of the party.

    The next morning, still feeling hurt by Jan, Mary types out a copy of an English composition she had handed in before winter break. Jan has yet to write her composition and Mary has a feeling if she leaves her paper in the wastebasket that Jan will copy it thus getting her in trouble. 

    Mary feels really guilty about what she's done, especially after Jan admits to stealing the paper and turning it in. Mary doesn't have the heart to tell Jan she had planted it there on purpose and completely blames herself for any trouble Jan is about to get in, ignoring the fact that Jan is the one who chose to cheat.

    Mary is able to get the paper back from Mrs. Fellows and plans on helping Jan write a new one but first she needs to clear her conscious. So on the walk home she tells Jan how she had left the composition in the wastebasket on purpose. Janice is furious and although she doesn't consider herself a cheater, she considers Mary a traitor and puts all the blame on her. They tell Phyllis and Phil what has happened and the whole thing becomes so absolutely over-dramatic with Phyllis actually saying "I have failed as a mother". 

    Phil tells Mary she must confess to Mrs. Fellows what she has done. Phyllis also tells Jan she must confess to the teacher but this is almost considered an afterthought. The majority of blame is unfairly put on Mary. When they tell the teacher of the situation she gives them both an F even though Mary completed the assignment on time and did not cheat. This is extremely unfair as it drastically lowers Mary's grade which she had been working very hard on. 

    Mrs. Fellows also said she's considering telling the counselor and having it go on Mary's permanent record and that it will affect her ability to get into college and get a scholarship. This is seriously over the top! Mary literally made a copy of her paper and put it in a garbage can, how is it her fault at all that Janice decided to cheat? Mary is also grounded along with Jan.

    Mary uses the time stuck at home to study and when grades have improved on the next report card she is ungrounded. Jan's grades are as bad as ever so she is still grounded, she finds this unfair and blames it on Mary Ann for being in the den too much. The den is where the girls do their homework and Janice refuses to be in the same room with Mary Ann.

    Mary begins sleeping in the den since things with Jan have become so uncomfortable. When Phil, Phyllis, and Jan go out shopping one morning Mary notices Jan has once again left their joint bedroom and bathroom a mess so she cleans it up to try and keep Jan from getting in further trouble. But, of course, this makes hissy-fitty little Jan pissy as she had told her mother she'd clean it when she got home and Mary doing it makes her look bad.

    Mary calls her grandmother from a payphone and begs her to come see her. On the phone she ends up telling her grandmother everything and her grandmother says she'll see what she can do about a visit. In preparation for the visit Mary moves back into her bedroom since the den doubles as the guest room and her and Jan begin talking to each other again.

    Mary has been going on occasional dates with Andy and one night she tells Jan that if she wants Gil she can have him as she only sees him as a brother now. Jan says she feels the same way so they agree to give him to Polly. Mary also decides to help Jan with all her school work so her grades will go up and she can get ungrounded. Grandmother comes for a visit but by that time everything is settled and the book ends.

    Oof, this book is rough. It almost feels as if it could be turned into a Beatrice Sparks book about an emotionally neglected child. I'm surprised Mary Ann didn't run away or something. She really is considered so inferior to Jan by everyone. And the only reason there is a happy ending is because Mary is willing to put up with all the terrible things she endures and pick up all of Jan's slack. If her and Andy didn't end up together there wouldn't have been anything good that happens to Mary.

    The most heartbreaking part is not how Mary is treated by Jan and her friends but how she is treated by her father. Although he is very considerate of Jan being put in a new situation he seems clueless that Mary Ann is also in a new situation. He does nothing to help her adjust and does not notice when she is struggling.

    I like Phyllis and the first time I read this book I didn't even appreciate her so I'm going to keep a list of all the kind things she does:

- she makes an effort to spend one-on-one time with Mary.

- thanks Mary for setting the table.

- implies Mary is attractive by saying she'll be kept busy by the doorbell by boys after Gil had stopped by.

- when Scott stops by to invite the girls to the roller rink party he ask "will you allow your daughter and your---and Mary Ann..." to which she immediately says "Mary Ann is also my daughter".

- she makes sure Mary gets a new skating outfit.

- she takes Mary to get a proper haircut.

- she's proud of Mary for her good report card.

- she insists Jan invites Mary along to social events like school games.

- she's sympathetic towards Mary when her grandmother can't visit for the holidays

Annette and the Mystery at Smugglers' Cove

    I can not remember anything about this book. I've read it once when I was 17. I had ended up acquiring three Annette books along with some other random assortment of Whitman girls books when I bought a "lot" on eBay for the Donna Parker books. I ended up reading all of them except this. I remember being 17 and looking through my books and thinking "huh, why haven't I read this?". I wasn't allowed to buy books often when I was a kid so I re-read and re-read like crazy. So it was quite strange I left any book I owned unread. Funny thing is it appears it's previous owners had also left it unread because it is in almost new condition which is unusual for Whitman books.

    Annette and her friend/house guest Babs are relaxing on the beach of Annette's Laguna beach house. The girls are discussing an upcoming Luau they're going to be throwing with there friends when Rod and Neil sail up in their boat. The boys tell the girls how they're on their way to go skin diving and ask if Annette aunt can give them some soda. Annette sends them into the house to get some and then jumps in the sailboat with Babs as a prank on the boys for not inviting them to go sailing.

    As the girls sail out the waters get rough and the wind picks up causing them to head farther out then they had planned. Not able to turn around Annette is forced to sail down the coast in search of a bay that can protect the small boat from the wind. They end up in Smugglers' Cove and soon see a motorboat with 2 men fast approaching. The girls think it must be someone sent out by Neil and Rod on a rescue mission but once the boat gets close it begins doing fast circles around the small sailboat, causing violent waves before taking off. 

    Babs quickly falls overboard and when she doesn't reemerge Annette jumps in to save her. Upon surfacing they find the sailboat on it's side. They hang on for a bit in hopes the motor boat will return but when it doesn't they swim for shore. The swim is almost fatal as Babs, already a weak swimmer, has grown tired from the ordeal and Annette struggles to help her to shore. Once safely on the ground they rest on the beach and quickly fall fast asleep, not even waking when the sailboat crashes into the rocks.

    When the girls awake they walk up the canyon and find a little cottage and barn. It is the home to Mr. and Mrs. Marino and their grandson Pablo. Mrs. Marino is kind and gives the girls hot chocolate and cookies before they begin their long trek back to Laguna. However Mr. Marino glares at the girls from the barn door. Later Annette learns they are from San Marcos but have fled the small country due to the recent revolution. On the road a coast guard helicopter passes overhead looking for the girls and soon picks them up. On her arrival home Uncle Archie scolds Annette and tells her she will be paying for the repairs to the boat.

    The next day Annette takes the two boys to Smugglers' Cove to start repairing the boat. While they work she hikes up a cliff and notices the same motorboat coming towards the cove however it disappears after signaling to Mr. Marino who indicates for them to stay away.  Annette and the boys are hoping to catch site of the motorboat again and see it's registration number so they can identify the owners and have them pay for the boat repairs.

    When Annette returns home Babs is bursting with exciting news. Convinced that she has seen their new, good looking Latin neighbor before she has spent the day scouring celebrity magazines and has finally discovered that Mr. Horton is actually the son of the exiled San Marcos President. Babs wants to rush over to his home and get an autograph and Annette goes with her. 

    Once at the properties hedge Annette is shocked to see one of the men from the mysterious motorboat and quickly concludes that the Mr. Horton was the boats other occupant. They rush home and Annette tells her uncle, who has recently becomes friends with Mr. Horton, and expects him to mention the repairs to the boat. He refuses saying Annette is still at fault for the boat repairs. Neil and Rod disagree and later that night hot tempered Neil marches over to Mr. Hortons to demand the money. While there he overhears Horton being threatened to some tough Las Vegas men he apparently passed a bad check to. He promising he'll be getting the money for it soon. Before Neil gets a chance to talk to him he is grabbed by Horton's guards, punched, and tossed out on the sidewalk.

    The next day the boys are going back to Smugglers' Cove to scuba dive for their snorkeling equipment that was lost when the sailboat overturned. Mr. Marino has forbid them from entering the cove so the boys plan on anchoring at a distance and scubaing unnoticed into the cove.

    Annette, wanting to bring some books to Pablo, bums a ride with them. When she gets to the house Mrs. Marino asks her to quickly leave saying her husband has an important guest coming but asks her to come back the next day. Annette heads down to the beach and relaxes between two rocks while she waits for the boys to pick her back up.

    Soon she sees the mysterious motorboat stopping outside the cove and an airplane flying overhead. A cylinder is parachuted from the airplane and lands in the water but just as the men get ahold of the parachute the cylinder becomes disconnected and disappears into the ocean. The boys soon come sailing along to pick up Annette and the men quickly scram.

    That night the two boys and two girls head back out to Smugglers' Cove. The boys are going diving for abalone for the luau and the girls sit in the sail boat practicing their luau songs on a ukulele. Little do they know that Neil has plans to find the cylinder and attempt to exchange it for the boat repair money. The three others are peeved at him after he finds it and get him to agree to give it to Horton the next morning. 

    Unfortunately they all over sleep and by the time they awake Horton is already at Smugglers' Cove with tree hired divers looking for the cylinder. Annette heads over and speaks with the Marino's who tell her the package is Mr. Marino's and very important but Horton is trying to get a hold of it to help his Vegas debts. Annette rushes back home to stop the boys from handing it to Horton but finds that they planned to do it that evening. 

    Neil ends up getting curious and opening the cylinder to find a "worthless" old painting inside and is convinced it must have had money and jewels in it that had been switched out. Worried he will be on the hook for a stolen fortune he needs to reseal the cylinder with a soldering iron before it can be taken to the Marinos. This causes a delay and the cylinder is hidden in the garage and then in Annette car all while Horton, having found out about the groups presence in the cove the previous evening, is looking for it. 

    Annette ends up having to rescue Pablo who has been kidnapped by Horton and race to the Marino's all while Horton chases them. This is at the same time as her luau is happening. Horton gets arrested for stealing Annette uncle's car to chase her in. The painting is super old and worth a fortune. The money is to help the Marino's exiled countrymen. All ends well and before the summer is up there's a counter revolution in San Marco and the Marino's go home.

    As you can tell I was pretty burnt out when I got to the end of this book and my summary got real sloppy.

- Annette rushes to the Marinos with Pablo and the cylinder as if she's suddenly safe from the menacing Horton and his henchman once she steps foot in their house. But the Marinos are an elderly couple living in an isolated area. Horton could very easily snatch the cylinder and harm her even if she gets there.

- I think Annette's uncle is dumb to put so much blame on her for the boat accident. Two sixteen year old girls were almost killed because of two immature adult men and he still is angry at Annette.

    This is where I left off in my review. It's been two months since I finished it and I don't really remember any closing thoughts. I decided to keep this book for now, more because it's one of the books I've had for so long and it's a little sentimental but I'll probably try to give it another read in a year or two and see how I feel.