The Wishing Year

    In the 1960's Whitman put out a number of stand alone books under the series name A Teen Novel and A Whitman Novel For Girls. It's unclear why there was two different names.

    This is one of the last ones I read and I can't remember anything about it. I vaguely recall a girl being at the beach and then going to a boys house but I really can't remember so this will be like reading a whole new book.

    Cheryl Kramer opens a box of cereal one morning before school and inside finds a wishing ring; a plastic ring you're suppose to make a wish on. Although Cheryl scoffs at "all this junk you get in cereals" she takes it with her to school and decides to make three wishes with it. She wishes to be thinner, to be noticed by her crush, Bill Meyers, and to join a sorority. Like the main character in many books about high school girls in the 1960's, Cheryl believes joining a sorority will change her whole life, bring all her hopes and dreams to reality, and cure all her problems.

    At school she shows the ring to her two best friends and says that once she's done with it she'll pass it around to them to make wishes.

    After school she walks to her grandmothers house for a visit. Her grandmother is very old fashioned and religious. She believes living frugally is important and disapproves of the modernization and continuous growth of their city. 

    Uncle Elmer lives with grandmother and Cheryl is happy to find that he is not home. Cheryl looks down on her uncle because he is an alcoholic. Her family has explained to her that her uncle's drinking is his way to cope with the trauma of surviving the Bataan Death March in WW2 but Cheryl, coldly, does not see that as a valid excuse.

    She heads home late to find neither of her parents there. Dinner preparations have been started but left abandoned. Cherly goes about setting the table and sits down to watch tv to wait but as it grows later and later neither of her parents arrive home and Cheryl finds herself extremely worried and scared. 

    

    Her father finally arrives home to find her in hysterics and the next morning it's explained he had been out the evening with "the boys" unaware that his wife had to drive a pregnant neighbor to the hospital after she went into labor early.

    Later that day Cheryl joins her father on a fishing boat due to the chance of seeing whales. There she meets a friendly and sarcastic boy named Peter who she decides she hates and never wants to see again.

    As sorority rush season starts Cheryl becomes more and more stressed over whether she will receive an invitation to any of the teas and is relieved when she finally gets an invite to the Tri Phi rushing tea thing...or whatever it's called. It's an afternoon tea party for potential new members. It's being held at super rich-girl Patsy Moore's mansion and Cheryl is able to talk her mother into buying her an expensive designer suit to wear to it. 

    Once there she is handed off to Sue, a friendly girl that has the locker next to Cheryl at school. She seems to want to help Cheryl become a member, perhaps only to spite Ethel Barnes. Ethel was one of Cheryl's childhood friends who snubbed her after befriending the popular girls. Ethel is wearing the same suit as Cheryl and clearly not happy about it.

    Even with Sue's help Cheryl struggles to make small talk and feel at ease with the club members until Mrs. Moore takes an interest in her. Cheryl finds Mrs. Moore kind and friendly and helps her relax and make a better impression. Upon leaving Mrs. Moore bids her farewell saying "I look forward to seeing you again" which gives Cheryl the confidence that she'll be accepted.

    The next day is "s-day". The day when the sororities go around to the houses of the girls who have been accepted, give them a special necklace, and then "kidnap" them for a informal initiation ceremony. 

    

    Cheryl anxiously awaits their arrival, eating dinner early, continuously touching up her hair and makeup, and intermittently waiting outside. As the night gets later and no one shows up Cheryl telephones Judy and Alicia, her two best friends, and finds they've both already been picked up by the Tri Phis. Cheryl continues to wait but it becomes clear the girls are not coming and she has not been accepted. She spends the night crying her eyes out and being comforted by her parents who feel helpless to stop her pain.

    School the following day is a mix of overjoyed girls who've been accepted to a sorority or emotional girls who had not made the cut. Cheryl is told by Sue that most of the sorority had wanted to accept her but Ethel Barnes had discouraged them by mentioning Cheryl's uncle is an alcoholic who has been to jail. 

    Cheryl gets a chance to leave school early when many other girls burst into hysterical crying and mother's of the rejected girls are called to take them home. After spending the day running errands with her mom they go to visit Cheryl's 20-year-old cousin Dorothy who is visiting town. 

    Dorothy is beautiful, popular, and belongs to a college sorority. She tells Cheryl that she was rejected from sororities in high school and even in collage at first but the rejection encouraged her to find other interests and activities which helped her become a better person. 

    Her words don't help Cheryl much and she begins isolating herself, spending most her time alone in her room. Her parents are worried and begin considering sending her to another school but Grandmother discourages it. While visiting the family one evening Cheryl overhears her condemning her parents, telling them they've spoiled Cheryl to the point that she can't handle not having things go her way. Grandmother says what Cheryl really needs is a change of attitude and this makes sense to Cheryl who says she is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

    She goes along on an upcoming school outing to the Palisades (This book takes place in Los Angeles, by the way). A cliff has recently had a landslide revealing fossils and the science classes from multiple schools are going to view them, although many kids see it as an excuse for a day at the beach. 

    While there a kid is seen making a dangerous descent from one of the large houses at the top of the cliff. As he gets closer Cheryl feels he looks very familiar and is surprised to find it's Peter from the fishing boat. He recognizes her right away and partners up with her for lunch, much to the surprise of other girls who claim Peter is the son of a wealthy Hollywood director.

    Peter invites her up to his impressive house for a swim and she stays for dinner with him and his mother, his father is currently in Italy for work. Cheryl feels very much at ease with his mother, much like she did with Mrs. Moore. 

    The day helps lifts Cheryl's spirits but as spring break arrives and all the sororities head to the cost to spend the vacation in rented cabins Cheryl again feels sad. But soon she gets an invitation from Peters mother inviting her along with them to their "desert hideaway" in Palm Springs. 

    She is very excited about this because she will be taking the bus there alone. Her fathers worries over how dangerous the Los Angeles bus depo is which intrigues and excites Cheryl all the more. 

    Once in Palm Springs Cheryl is picked up by Peter in a jeep and he drives crazily over the sand dunes and out into the desert where Cheryl finds their desert hideaway truly is a desert hideaway, it's a stone house that has been built among boulders and hard to recognize unless close. 

    After the excitement of the L.A. bus depo fades Cheryl feels glum thinking about other girls enjoying a beach vacation with friends and boys while she's in the desert with Peter who she has no romantic feelings towards whatsoever. However within the next 4 days her feeling about the location change and she finds herself enjoying the beauty of nature and simple fun of their days, partly with the help of Peter's mother who tells her to "make the most of everyday as it comes" which Cheryl finds deep meaning in.

    Once back at school Cheryl appreciates her vacation all the more once Judy and Alicia tell her the pledges had been brought along on the beach vacation to act as servants and maids for the sorority members. Both of them express that they are sick of being treated like dirt by the sorority and would quit if it wouldn't raise a fuss.

    Still in a good mood Cheryl decides to try waking up to watch the sunrise the way they did in the desert and finds this gives her plenty of time the next morning to look presentable for school, something she never normally makes time for. 

    She remains in a good mood until later at school when she sees Ethel Barnes and Bill Meyers hanging all over each other and finds out they began going steady over spring break. She's so upset she runs out of school.

    Her broken heart soon mends when she gets busy helping her mother, who is a model, put on a weekly charm school class for disadvantaged junior high girls. Cheryl sees there are people whose lives are much harder than hers and she makes an effort to be a good example for them which includes being responsible over her appearance. 

    Her mother makes plans for the girls to have a fashion show at a local department store and while there with her mother to pick out the outfits for the show, Cheryl runs into Bill Meyers who is working as a stock boy. She is completely at ease talking to him now that he's not single and available and he finds her amusing and nice to talk to. 

    After the fashion show comes a charm school dance and Cheryl worries about who she can bring as a date that would be a good example for the girls. She doesn't think Peter would make a good example. 

    A few days later he shows up outside of her school in a flashy new car he had received for his recent birthday. He shouts for Cheryl to come join him in celebrating and she gleefully jumps into the car in front of the shocked Ethel Barnes. They have dinner at the county club then run out of gas on a long stretch of road and walk miles in the dark. Cheryl has fun recounting the evening to her friends but insists that Peter doesn't "send her". 

    The next day she goes back to the department store to pick up decorations for the dance and sees Bill Meyers who walks up, says he wants a girl like her and not Ethel, then they begin kissing.

    This ending to the book is very abrupt and very strange. The evening with Peter is less than a page long and the end scene with Bill Meyers is only a few paragraphs and comes out of no where. It's very strange and rushed. Maybe there was more but the book was too long and the end got severely condensed? I have no idea, I'm just confused.

- When Mr. Kramer is described as being younger than most fathers it says Cheryl's friends practice flirting with him which is disturbing.

- When Cheryl accidentally speaks her thoughts out loud to herself she covers her embarrassment by pretending she was talking to a guy passing on the street. That's a pretty confident move in my opinion.

- Cheryl's father is taking her and her friends to the rushing tea but he completely has no regard for whether he gets them there on time and drops them off an hour late. I thought that was incredibly rude.

- Winifred E. Wise was something of a feminist so I'm surprised to see that Cheryl losing weight through starving from depression is portrayed as a good thing.

- The teenage spring breakers are called "Easter bunnies" in this book and also in Wise's other book, Minnow Vail. This makes me assume that's what Wise, who lived on the California coast, and the locals called them in real life.

    I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I do like Wise's writing but I felt like a lot of nothing happens in the book, there's chapters where Cheryl is just at school or at home keeping busy and doing nothing worth noting. I actually liked that because it's different than most books. 

    I felt like Peter could have been in it more and Bill definitely could have. He's the love interest but only appears 4 times and only speaks to Cheryl twice, both times briefly. Even Feeny Chase isn't mentioned enough, Cheryl says she'll be seeing more of her but then she's never mentioned again. 

    Although I enjoyed this book I would say it lacks substance. Also the cover is not from a scene in the book which always irks me but worse than that it isn't of characters in the book either.

Lucy and the Madcap Mystery

    Lucy is a widowed mother of Jerry and Chris. She lives with her best friend Viv who is the mother of Sherman. Lucy comes home one day to find the rest of the household in the basement trying to stop some leaking pipes. Lucy announces she has ticket for the military air show tomorrow and says they're all going camping at the lake that night to be there for the show. Viv worries about leaving with the pipes leaking but Lucy turns the hot water heater off and says it'll be fine that way.

    They gather in the car to start on their 60 mile journey but before they're out of town Lucy's accountant stops her at a light and hands her $500, a debt that had just been paid back to her late husband. Viv worries about them carrying the money on them but Lucy insists it's fine. 

    Once they get closer to the lake and military base they are stopped and asked to pull over so some military vehicles can pass. One of them is a truck pulling a trailer with a missile on it. Lucy, thinking the missile is wobbling, pulls behind it to warn the driver but ends up following into the air force base. 

    

    They're immediately accosted by soldiers who bring Lucy in for questioning. Once in the office of Major Casey she explains her story and throws her invitations to the air show on his desk. Alarms soon start going off, signals of a surprise practice drill. So Lucy's harmless trespassing is overlooked and she handed her invitation and told to be on her way.

    The group heads to the lake and sets up camp. While they're getting a fire ready for dinner a boy of about 19 appears. He's Dan Burr and explains that he lives on a farm on the other side of the lake and had hitchhiker a ride to the air force so he could enlist. However the base was closed and in total chaos, presumably because of the drill, so now he was trying to find a nearby motel for the night. 

    The moms are hesitant about him but Lucy decides he's nice enough an invites him to stay for supper. He leaves after in search of the motel and everyone goes to sleep, Lucy clutching her purse with the money. Around 5am Lucy awakes to a noise and steps out of the tent soon followed by her daughter, Chris. The girls hear the stealthy footsteps of two men and being worrying. 

    They wake Viv and plan to run to the car where the boys are sleeping and make a quick getaway. While doing this Lucy drops her purse and as she stops to grab it a flashlight is shined on her and she's told to not move. She immediately makes a run for the woods followed by the men followed by Viv. 

    The men end up running off a small cliff into the lake and Lucy tells Viv to go back to the kids and meet her at the highway. When Viv gets to the car Chris is behind the wheel and the horn is honking incessantly. Chris says it won't stop and that the car, being stuck in sand, won't move. They put some firewood under the tires and make a wild trip down the dirt road leading to the highway. 

    Seeing someone run out onto the road they swerve wildly before stopping. Viv gets out to see Dan Burr. He said he heard the horn and came to see what the trouble was. He reaches under the hood and gets the noise to stop before Viv pulls him into the car and continues their hasty drive down the road. 

    Soon the car breaks down. Dan manages to get it running but not well. When they finally hit the highway cars are backed up. The air force has a road block set up and is checking every car going by which makes Viv suspect they're looking for Lucy.

    The story quickly switched over to the the air force officers Lucy had met. They claim Lucy had taken a piece of top secret information with her and are scouring the area for her with no luck.

    Then it switches back the Viv and the children. With no sign of Lucy on the highway they begin to head towards the nearest town to find a policeman. The car, barely running at all, moves along slowly among the heavy traffic heading towards the town which is having a parade. 

    A bus passes them and to everyone's surprise Lucy is on it. Dan tries to coax the car to go fast but soon the bus is out of sight. When they arrive in town they walk towards the parade looking for an officer when they see Lucy riding atop a float. Furious, Viv sends the kids to go get breakfast while she stays along the float.

    After Lucy had told Viv to meet her at the highway she ran off along the lake and hid in a boathouse until the 2 men passed. She then worked her way through the woods and to the highway. She worried she may have missed the group but just as she's about to walk back to the campsite they pass her without noticing. She decides to hitch a ride but soon a bus comes and she jumps aboard being forced to ride it all the way to town. 

    While waiting for her family by the parade route she notices a man staring at her then forcing his way through the crowd. Clutching her purse tightly she tries to get away through the crowd then decides to jump on the float where she knows she'll be safe and her family can spot her. 

    As the float arrives at the end of the parade route she is met by the three judges who had her a gift box and say she's won. She then see the float owner angrily coming towards her and hears a police whistle so she makes a run for it and comes across the pursuer. She runs from him and ends up coming across Viv and her next door neighbor, Harry, who happens to be there because he is in the Air Force Reserve. Feeling safe with Harry there they march their way back to the car where the kids are.

    The group goes back to the campsite to get their things. The car is running very roughly and Dan

spends hours working on it as a storm rolls in. 

    Harry goes to the air force base where he is marched into the office because of his acquaintance with Lucy. He says the group is at the camp sight and he is brought out with Major Casey and General Kelso to find her.

    The car starts working and just as the group is leaving the men show up. Thinking they're prowlers the group makes a fast and wild drive home. Once there Lucy's accountant shows up saying the FBI came to question him about her and she's apparently in trouble. 

    Soon the three military men arrive explain that Lucy had taken something important out of the office. She insists she didn't but they don't believe her. Then an FBI agent shows up and they begin arguing about who gets to take her in. Then the hot water heater explodes.

    Lucy runs for the kitchen, and Kelso chases her slipping in the water and falling. Lucy grabs her purse and pulls out the air show invitation, opening it and seeing a strip of paper with a coded message stuck to the flap. This is the important missing item, it had got stuck to the envelope when she threw it on the desk. She gives it to Kelso and then the military men and the FBI agent mop up the kitchen and cellar and repair the broken pipes. The story ends a week later with Lucy and Vic about to go out on dates with 2 of the men.

- Viv's immediate worry that Lucy unknowingly took something from the base without realizing it is unfounded and kind of a give away.

- The cover is inaccurate as its not from any scene in the book. Maybe its from when they go back to the campsite a week later

- When they run from the prowler the first time Lucy is wearing her robe but then it changes to a jacket later with no explanation.

- I thought the temporary loss of the invitations was unnecessary.

    This book was hard to summarize because of the non linear timeline, switch between characters, and slapstick comedy. It was pretty good, entertaining and a quick read. It's based on The Lucy Show which I haven't seen but I have seen I Love Lucy a lot and the characters of Lucy and Viv are interchangeable with Lucy and Ethel.

When Debbie Dared

    Debbie Robyne is a Junior in high school who has been scrimping and saving her money to buy a bracelet. The bracelet is a requirement of the new social club established by the new, wealthy student Carlotta Ermine. 

    Carlotta created the exclusive club for the 6 best looking Senior girls with the exception of Debbie. Unbeknownst to Debbie she has been invited to join simply because she is especially skilled in the French language and Carlotta is struggling not to fail her French class.

    Debbie has had to save for the bracelet since her family is on a tight budget. Her father has been given the opportunity to buy into the hardware store where he works with the payments being taken out of his paychecks a little at a time.

    After saving enough from her lunch money she goes to buy the bracelet. On the way she passes the Belmont house where her crush, Alec, lives. He's outside mowing the lawn and Debbie is sad when he doesn't notice her pass by. Once she purchases her bracelet she is convinced it will be a good luck symbol and daydreams about the sparkle of it catching Alec's eye and them meeting. However he's no longer outside when she walks home.

    The next day at school while standing in the hall Alec approaches her noticing her bracelet. He asks if it means she's in Carlotta's club. He's delivering a note to Carlotta and asks if Debbie can take it to her. She is too nervous to speak so he walks into the classroom to deliver it himself. 

    Debbie, entranced by his acknowledgement of her, ends up getting knocked to the ground by the door when Alec walks out of the classroom. He immediately picks her up and asks if she's ok. Debbie takes advantage of the fact that Alec is the son of a doctor and an aspiring surgeon himself and pretends to be minorly injured to have him help her to class and into her seat. 

    Carlotta, who sits infront of her, is shocked as she is interested in Alec, even though she's dating his good friend Carl, but has found it impossible to get a formal introduction to him as Alec tends to avoid parties.

    Carlotta is throwing a dinner party for the club and their boyfriends. Debbie is told her date is to be a surprise and she convinces herself its Alec. Although Alec is there he is the date of another girl and her date is actually Ring Putnam, a shy boy Debbie sees at the jewelry store when she buys her bracelet. 

    Ring is no longer so shy and he's very upfront about liking Debbie. He asks to drive her home and to take her to the movies on Saturday. Debbie is quite disappointed, although she thinks Ring is very nice she doesn't have a romantic interest in him.

    During the party Carlotta is rather catty. She makes remarks about Debbie's dress not being new and calls another girl in the club fat. She also makes a big fuss about a boy in California calling her as a graduation present, thinking that he should have given her jewelry instead. 

    

    This is first time Debbie begins looking at Carlotta as she actually is. Up until this point, and to a lesser degree after this point, Debbie sees Carlotta as some kind of goddess who's feet she has been privileged to sit at.

    The next morning while having breakfast with her parents Debbie learns that her mother has a desire for a mirror in the window of an antique shop. Because of the family's current finances her mother has had to go without purchasing anything non-essential and she's done it without complaining. 

    Debbie decides that she has to find a way to get the mirror for her mother so she goes to the antique shop after school. While there she meets a little 3 year old Italian boy named Gino. He is the grandson of the shop owner, Mr. Fieldson. He was originally suppose to come visit with his mother but she couldn't leave at the last moment so she sent him on the journey alone with just an address pinned to his jacket. Yes, a mother sent her three year old child to another country alone. 

    On his first day there he fell down the porch steps and broke his leg. The cast is now off but he has to stay off the leg so his time is spent laying on the couch in the dark livingroom of the apartment attached to the shop. Debbie is instantly smitten with him and feels awful that he's not getting the fresh air and sunlight he needs.

    Debbie works out an agreement with Mr. Fieldson that she will spend three hours after every school day until summer vacation starts with Gino, taking him out for walks and to play and in return will be payed with the mirror. Mr. Fieldson accepts the offer and Debbie begins to lug the heavy mirror home. 

    Exhausted and in pain from the weight she becomes sweaty and disheveled. That's when Alec makes an appearance in his car and offers her a ride home. She is thrilled when he ends up taking the long way. They talk about their love of writing and poetry and then Debbie tells him about Gino. He suggests taking her and the boy to his grandfathers farm sometime so Gino can ride a horse and get lots of exercise. 

    Debbie is thrilled through out the whole ride but it's ruined at the end when he calls her an innocent after she claims making fishing flies is as hard as setting a broken bone.

    When she arrives home with the mirror there's a bit of commotion. Her mom is ecstatic and deeply touched but dad is furious and insists that Debbie will have to return the mirror and cancel the deal. He claims it's because Debbie isn't mature enough to babysit but it seems more that's he's upset Debbie was able to get her mother the coveted mirror when he couldn't. Debbie and Aunt Em end up convincing him to let her go ahead with the deal.

    Debbie is excited to share the news of her job with Carlotta however she's not at school for the first half of the day and neither is Grace, another girl in the club. 

    Halfway through lunch Carlotta appears saying she has thrilling news and tries to dangle it for the other girls however they quickly tell her to spill it or shut up. 

    Carlotta then says that she was at the airport seeing Grace off. Grace is on her way to watch her military cadet boyfriend graduate and then they're getting married immediately afterwards in the school chapel. The girls begin discussing Grace missing their graduation when Carlotta says there's more to the story but its a secret. The rest of the club members tell her if it's a secret then she needs to keep it a secret but she quickly blurts out that Grace wasn't going to graduate anyways because she was failing Math and French. 

    Debbie feels terrible for Grace and remarks that if she had known she could have helped her with her French work the same way she helps Carlotta. This harmless comment infuriates Carlotta who stands up, knocking a chair backwards, spilling a glass, and begins banging her hands on the table. The whole cafeteria begins to stare at her and the other girls all basically tell her to sit down and stop making a fool of herself. 

    Carlotta begins yelling at Debbie, accusing her of being good at French just to shame her and desperately waiting for a moment to bring Carlotta down. The scene is quickly broken up by Ring Putnam who walks up and asks Debbie if he can give her a ride after school. This leads the girls to talk about Ring and Carlotta sits back down and regains her composure.

    After school Debbie heads to the antique shop for her first day taking care of Gino. She's already exhausted from the drama at school and taking care of Gino adds more exhaustion. Although the agreement was for her to take Gino on strolls Mr. Fieldson asks her to also bathe and clothe him. 

    Fieldson has just gotten a letter from his daughter saying her husband has become sick with tuberculosis leaving him unable to work and now she has to take a job and support him, meaning she wont be joining Gino anytime soon. 

    Debbie begrudgingly bathes the boy then takes him in the backyard and pushes him around in his stroller. By the time she gets home she's ready to drop but knows if she shows her father how tired she is he'll insist she quit. Debbie manages to make it through the evening but she ends up so tired and sleeping so deeply that she doesn't realize a storm has come up and rain is flooding through her open bedroom windows completely drenching the curtains and the wood floor. 

    Her father uses this an an excuse to try and make her lose her job. He asks her if she was too irresponsibly to close her window or if she was too worn out from the job to notice it was raining and says "...a girl irresponsible enough to let rain practically swamp her room is not fit to take care of a three-year-old boy." he also tells Debbie she will have to wash her curtains and fix the floor herself. Debbie has to talk her way into keeping the job yet again.

    The next day Alec takes Debbie and Gino to his grandfather's farm where they spend a lovely time horseback riding and snacking in the big farm kitchen. Gino begins walking himself around the kitchen and from that point is constantly on his feet, no longer needing to stay off his weak leg, which means Debbie has to constantly be on alert and chasing after him.

    One day when she's about to take Gino out Mr. Fieldson asks her to stay in and watch the shop while he runs an errand. He instructs Debbie to help customers and encourages her to attempt to make some sales. Not long after he leave a man comes in looking for a wedding present. Debbie takes him around the shop while trying to hold the hand of the struggling Gino. She must let go of his hand when she has to open a glass cabinet in which Mr. Fieldson keeps his most valuable antiques. As she's bringing them out to show the customer she realizes Gino is gone. She looks around the shop then runs out in panic to see Gino trying to cross the street in front of a bus. She makes a diving grab for him almost getting herself run over. 

    By then police officers and onlookers have gathered. The two are assisted back to the shop by a friendly cop who shoos away people who have gathered inside out of curiosity. Then Debbie shoos away the cops, worried the sight of their cars outside will worry Mr. Fieldson. 

    

    Soon after they leave the shop owner arrives and starts screaming at Debbie about one of his most valuable antiques being stolen. She then realizes one of the onlookers must have stolen something from the unlocked cabinet. She stands up for herself saying the theft is unfortunate but that Mr. Fieldson has been a bit scammy by having Debbie do extra work, like minding the shop, when it wasn't in their agreement, that she already has her hands full with Gino, and that Debbie would obviously always put Gino's well being first. Debbie leaves for the day fully expecting to be fired the next.

    The next morning she arrives at the breakfast table to her parents looking serious. They hand her the paper and she sees a picture of herself in the action of grabbing Gino with the bus three inches from her. For some reason her parents consider her dangerous act very responsible and tell her they will be taking care of her water stained floor and curtains for her. 

    

    At school she is greeted to friends and students praising her for her heroic act. Debbie heads to her first class in the hopes that this topic of conversation will help smooth over the damage done to her and Carlotta's friendship but when she arrives to the classroom, which is empty except for Carlotta, the girl goes off in a rage. 

    She screams at Debbie saying she brought disgrace to the club because now a picture of her touching an unimportant child has been seen by so many people. It's really hard to translate the intent behind Carlotta's words by direct quote. Pretty much Carlotta is saying Gino is worthless because he's not from a rich family, just the grandson of a shop owner, and indicates that touching the child, even to save his life, is disgusting and shameful. 

    Debbie immediately responds by saying she is resigning from the club, that she has zero desire to be friends with anyone who has such twisted values. Carlotta then calls Debbie a nobody and says she was only in the club so Carlotta could force her into doing her French homework. 

    Until this point neither had realized that Alec is standing in the door way. He intercedes and tells Debbie how proud he is of her and that he's been bragging all around school that they're friends. Touched by his help she asks him to dinner for the next day, a special dinner her family is having to meet her aunt's fiance. He agrees but unenthusiastically and she immediately regrets it. 

    Upon arriving at the antique shop after school she finds it crowded with customers due to the publicity from the newspaper. Mr. Fieldson apologizes for yelling at Debbie and says he and Gino rely on her too much for her to go so he offers her a paying full time position for the summer; mornings in the shop and afternoons with Gino. Debbie is thrilled.

    The dinner party goes well with Alec having a wonderful time and him and her uncle-to-be fitting in perfectly with the family. The next day, Saturday, Alec drives her to work and Mr. Fieldson announces a man came into the shop and paid for the "stolen" antique saying Debbie was just about to sell it to him when she ran out of the shop after Gino. In the excitement he put it in his pocket and forgot to pay. 

    As a reward for making an expensive sale he gives her the day off and she goes to the fair with Alec. They spend the day flirting and holding hands. In what he thinks is a romantic gesture he takes her on the Farris Wheel not knowing she has a severe fear of heights. When the wheel gets stuck with them on the top he comforts her and she makes an effort to conquer her fear. 

    Getting off the Farris Wheel it begins to rain and they run back to his car where, once inside, he tells Debbie he wants her to be his girl.

- So I'm not very good at writing summaries and have a hard time getting all the plot points in there. Two things I left out were

1. Debbie's fear of heights. It's introduced in the form of a recurring nightmare over a childhood experience where her and her parents were spending the night in a 12th floor apartment. Six year old Debbie awoke in the middle of the night to look out the window and saw what looked like a giant surrounding black pit. Later when at the farm Alec insists on Debbie riding a horse and after he has put her on one she begins to panic and scream. At the time he thinks it's a fear of horses not heights so doesn't realize the Farris Wheel ride is a bad idea.

2. Debbie's best friend Cynthia. Her and Cynthia had been close until Carlotta invited Debbie into the club. Debbie tries to get Cynthia invited too but Carlotta insists they're limiting it to 6 members. The majority of Cynthia life is devoted to taking care of her invalid mother alone. Through out the book Cynthia calls Debbie trying to make plans to talk or see her. On the day of Carlotta's first outburst at Debbie she ended up walking to school with Cynthia when Ring stopped and offered them a ride. Seeing Cynthia clearly has a crush on Ring she decides to play matchmaker and try and get them together and invites them over for dinner then begs off early leaving them alone together. Ring calls Cynthia an "atomic redhead" twice which I thought was pretty cute.

- When Alec talks to Debbie for the first time she's so nervous and shocked that she can't reply. He keeps talking and asking her questions but she just stands there staring at him until he walks away. I wouldn't have a problem with this except for the fact that this was what Kathleen Robinsons last book, When Sara Smiled, was all about; a girl who is too nervous to say a single word to a boy. I found it annoying she was reusing such a huge storyline in another book.

- Meow is spelled miaow

- When Debbie is carrying the mirror home all sweaty and grimy she sees Alec and hopes desperately he won't notice her and it appears he's not going to but then in her panic she awkwardly yells out "Hi!". This cracked me up.

- Alec says his hands are too big to put together fishing flies but he plans on being a surgeon, hmm.

- You can tell Debbie's dad is thrilled when the rain incident happens because he has an excuse to try and make Debbie quit her job. It's actually creepy how he is so eager to see her fail so he can force her to quit thus making her mother give up a prized possession and leave a little child to weeks and weeks of sitting alone in a drabby little room. Debbie's "job" is so completely selfless that's it's weird he wants to take it away from her causing her to beg to keep it. And I really think it's simply because he is jealous he didn't get her mother the mirror.

- There's no way Debbie's parents, especially her father, wouldn't think her losing a child then having to grab him from in front of a bus is responsible. He thinks her being tired after a day of school and work is irresponsible so there's no way he wouldn't be salivating over this excuse to make her quit her job.

- There's a scene at the beginning of the dinner party where Debbie's dad comes into the house carrying a handful of fresh, and dripping, watercress he had just picked from the garden and starts offering it to the guests. His wife is super embarrassed by this but Alec and Uncle B aren't and take some and all the men are just standing in the living room happily munching on watercress while talking. I found it a really amusing scene.

- Through out the book Debbie worries Alec's casual attitude around her indicates he only sees her as a friend and not a romantic option. To me it appears more as though they're a couple that's been together for awhile so are good friends and super comfortable around each other.

- I also have to mention that Carlotta did not get away with being so awful. It's clear the other members of the club are getting sick and tired of her on the day of the lunchroom outburst. One says "we're not your slaves, Carlotta, though we've all spoiled you--bewitched by your beauty, huh? Which, perhaps I dare remind you, is only skin deep." I assume the girls are only putting up with her because there's only a week left before they graduate. Her boyfriend Carl also ends up breaking up with her when she tries complaining to him about Debbie being a "nursemaid" and the photo of her saving Gino.

    Overall I think this book is good. Debbie's a nice person and it's very satisfying seeing that rewarded by her attaining her biggest desire, Alec.

Janet Lennon and the Angels

    This is the second Janet Lennon book I've read and I remember being hesitant to get it because the title sounded so strange. I've read it once and I remember really liking some parts of it but getting bored quite a bit too.

    Janet has been invited by her Aunt Bee to spend the summer on an old family ranch. Aunt Bee is actually a distant cousin of Mrs. Lennon and she doesn't have any close family. She's been visiting the Lennons for a week and has taken a liking to Janet, something which Janet finds irritating as Aunt Bee seems to always be at her heels. 

    Bee has recently inherited her uncles twenty acre farm in Texas which was her childhood home, and she asks Janet to go with her there for the summer. Janet doesn't like the idea of spending 3 months with her 50 year old aunt at her heels but with no good excuse to say no she accepts. Aunt Bee buys a car and the two soon set out on the long drive from California to Texas. 

    Janet worries about the two of them, a young girl and older woman, being alone but aunt Bee soon proves how tough she is when at a dinner a bum tries pushing her to give him a ride. She nonchalantly threatens him with her steak knife in a way that sends him retreating in fear.

    When they arrive at the ranch the place is terribly run down to the point that Janet gets tears of disappointment. When the two make an exam of the place they walk into the bedroom to see a man jump out of bed, kick out a window, and jump out and run for it. Bee tries making light of the situation but both are shaken. Was the man a simple transient or was Bee's mention of a local penitentiary indicative of something?

    They pull the furniture, which is broken and filthy, into the yard and burn it, then board up the broken window and head to town to buy furniture, groceries, and cleaning supplies. When they arrive home Janet is pretty sure the board across the broken window looks different but decided against telling Bee as she can't be completely sure. 

    As the two are cleaning Janet notices a door in the kitchen. Aunt Bee tells her it's to the basement and she opens it to hear scurrying below. Bee says it's rats and Janet, feeling uneasy, stuffs a chair under the doorknob just for a sense of security. However she wakes up that night to the sound of footsteps below the floor and someone trying to open the basement door from the inside. Janet is terrified and regrets having put the chair under the knob. She doesn't want to wake Aunt Bee as she worried her tough Aunt will face the stranger head on. So she creeps out of bed, moves the chair and opens the door to the back yard then rushes back to her room and locks her door. She soon hears the stranger leave and looks out the window to see a small man in a suit and hat hurrying away.

    The next morning she tells Aunt Bee who is disappointed with Janet's actions. Bee says she would have preferred to get the sheriff out there to grab the stranger instead of letting him free. The two head down into the basement and see bricks removed from one wall. Bee acts nonchalant over it but Janet thinks something might have been hidden in the basement and Aunt Bee is keeping it secret.

    Aunt Bee purchases more thing for the home including windows with locks and a revolver. After more cleaning she takes a nap and Janet uses the time to explore the surrounding area. Seeing a path leading into the wild she follows it and comes to a ranch owned by the Angel family. Seeing kids her own age Janet stops to introduce herself and ends up causing their hogs to stampede, break a fence, and escape. Janet helps round them up, making friends with the Angels in the process.

    Aguilermo and Aurelia are 15 year old twins who speak semi-fluent English, as does their little sister, Maria. Mr. and Mrs. Angel only speak Spanish and although all conversation between them and Janet has to be translated through the twins, they still get along wonderfully.

    When some of the Angel's goats jump the fence and go onto the neighboring property, which belongs to a judge, Janet has to go rescue them as the landowner has forbidden the Angels from going onto the land. Janet runs into a ranch hand chasing the goats and he explains he's been directed to shoot any goat or hog that wanders on his land from the Angels. Janet is appalled by this. 

    The twins then explain that their father had bought the hogs before he could afford to buy a fence and then later bought goats before an appropriate fence for the hogs had been bought. So the animals wandered around and caused damage to the judges land. After repeated times he took them to court and they were fined to pay for the damages. The Angels find this unfair because the judge has more land then them and they think he should share it. The judge has also denied Mr. Angle's application for citizenship.

    Janet marches into the Judges office the next day and demands to know why he is bullying the Angles. The judge explains that he had been patient at first about the wandering animals and had talked to Mr. Angel, who he thinks is a good man, about it yet nothing was ever done to fix the problem and the animals were using up all his grazing land that the judge needed for his own cattle. 

    He explains that after the third time he had given the Angels 6 months to get a fence erected before taking them to court. The Judge then explains that Mr. Angel's citizenship was denied because he still had an unresolved legal case open because he had not yet finished putting up a fence and because he had made no effort to know any English or US law which had resulted in the legal problems over the fence.

    Now that Janet understands the situation she tells the twins that their father will be granted citizenship if he finishes his fence and learns a little bit of English but Aguilermo is still hesitant, feeling that his father should be allowed to ignore laws that they were allowed to ignore in Mexico which prompts Janet to ask why did they come to America if they want things the same as in Mexico.

    Janet, the twins, and Maria explore an abandoned schoolhouse which gives them an idea; Janet will teach the twins everything Mr. Angel will need to know for his citizenship interview so they can teach it to their father and in return they will teach Janet more advanced Spanish. This is agreed upon by everyone, including Mr. Angel, and they start adding their lessons into their days of carefree playing.

    One day while rolling down hills inside a truck tire Janet is bounced off course and crashes into a makeshift shack made of scavenged items. Before she can extract herself from the tire the male occupant of the shack runs away. Amid the shambles Janet see two apricot cans exactly like the two that had been stolen from aunt Bee's groceries the night before. Because of the previous experiences with a prowler Janet feels shaken and worried but as Aguilermo points out "he's more afraid of you then you are of him".

    They keep up with their lessons, always in the old schoolhouse which becomes their home base as it's located in-between the friend's houses. As a thank you to Janet Mr. Angel gives her a bulldog pup from a litter they had bred to sell. His name is Toughie and he is overflowing with energy which keeps him active day and night. In an effort to spend his energy Janet takes him for long walks and usually ends up in the schoolhouse where she practices her Spanish while Toughie runs around chasing rabbits. 

    On their recent trip there Toughie gets a hold of the schools bell pull and sets off one long ring from the large bell, a signal among Janet and her friends to come to the school house immediately. Soon Aguilermo shows up out of breathe and Janet has to explain it was Toughie who accidentally summoned him. They hang the rope pull over the coatroom door then each head to their own homes.

    On the way Janet hears a distant siren and when she comes into view of the house she sees Aunt Bee waving to her frantically. Once there Bee explains that it's the penitentiary siren and it indicates trouble. She has them get inside, even Toughie who she had previously banished outside permanently, and has all the doors and windows locked. On the radio they hear that there has been an escape and three armed and dangerous men are on the loose.

    In the middle of that night Toughie gets restless and makes a fuss wanting out so Janet lets him outside where he lays down against the screen door. While trying to fall back asleep Janet hears him start to emit a low and menacing growl and becomes fearful. She looks out the window but sees nothing in the moonless night. Not until he stops is she able to fall back asleep.

    She stays inside for the next three days until an announcement comes that two of the prisoners were captured and the third was spotted 100 miles away. Free to go back outside Janet takes Toughie for a walk and goes to the old schoolhouse. Inside she notices the rope has been dislodged from the coatroom door but doesn't care to place it back up at the moment. As she's standing at the blackboard working on her Spanish she senses someone in the room. Thinking it's Aguilermo trying to scare her she jumps around yelling "Boo!" just to come face to face with a disheveled man in a prison uniform. 

    He begins asking her questions; who is she, why is she there, is anyone else meeting her there. She announces she must leave but is stopped and soon another man appears up the ladder from the school's basements; the man who she had seen jump out the house window, run away from the house after leaving the basement, and run away from the shack after she crashed into it.

    The men start discussing the situation; Jamie is an escaped convict and Pop is his father who has helped him break out of jail. Pop was staying in Aunt Bees empty house looking for a large amount of money it is rumored her uncle had hid in it. He had to leave when the girls showed up and without any money he hasn't been able to get clothes for Jamie so they can make an escape. 

    They've decided Bee must know where the money is and Jamie, who is in charge, orders Pop to go to the house, grab Bee, and force the money from her. Pop insists he has to bring Janet with him to show Bee he means business but it's understood by all three that he wants Janet to come because if she is left alone with Jamie he will, without a doubt, kill her. 

    Jamie agrees that she should go along but instructs Pop to either bring them back to the schoolhouse or kill them once he has the money. Once outside Pop becomes more evil, keeping a gun in Janet's back and marching her back to the house. Aunt Bee is lounging outside and is quickly ordered in. They go in the house and in calmness and with total composure Bee asks what he wants and informs him she hasn't found any hidden money. She offers him $50 cash from her purse to leave them alone but he forces them in the basement to continue looking behind the bricks. 

    Bee makes an attempt to wrestle the gun away from him but it narrowly shoots her in the face. Once all the bricks have been removed and no money is found Pop begins up the stairs with the gun still on them and Janet believes their time has come. He instead instructs them back up and asks Bee where the money is which is when she reveals it's in a bank in New York as no one would be dumb enough to leave it in an abandoned house. 

    For a moment Pop weakens saying he doesn't want to kill anyone and he just wanted his son out of prison. Seeing Bees gun on the kitchen shelf and the car keys hanging on the wall give him strength and he declares Jamie will have to do his own killing thus marching the girls back to the schoolhouse. 

    Once there Pop is sent to go purchase clothes for Jamie with Bees $50 then after nightfall they'll kill the women. While they sit waiting for Pop's arrival Toughie comes bursting in and immediately jumps at the rope causing the bell to give out one long ring; the help signal. 

    After being informed someone would now be coming Jamie drags Bee into the bell tower and has Janet stand at the blackboard and shoo away Aguilermo, who is approaching. Janet tells him nothing is wrong and to leave her alone while writing "No hable Vd. espanol! hombre, pistola, en salon, Trae Vd. policia.". Aguilermo acts snubbed and leaves. 

    Waiting for the police or Pop, whoever gets there first, Janet is horrified to see little Maria walk in. Soon police sirens are heard and scores of policemen show up telling Jamie to "let the Lennon girl go". He tells the police to do as he says or he'll kill Janet and instructs them to have a police car on and ready for him to make a hasty escape in. He then plans to exit the schoolhouse with Maria in front of him and Janet behind but Maria won't cooperate. 

    When he forcibly picks her up she bites his ear which causes him to throw her to the floor and just as he's about to beat her with the grip of his gun Janet throws herself at his back knocking him over and causing his gun to go flying right to the feet of Aguilermo who has snuck in through the basement window. 

    Aguilermo grabs the gun but Jamie is quick to pull Bee's revolver from his pocket and aim it at Janet. Aguilermo is forced to drop the gun under threat of Janet being shot but just as he does that Bee jumps down from the bell tower right onto Jamie and the second gun goes flying from his hand. Janet grabs it and runs outside to call the police in.

    Once Jamie is taken away its reveled that upon Aguilermo leaving the schoolhouse Aunt Bee had slipped her legs through the bell tower railing to signal to him that she was up there. He ran home and, with his father, went to the police station. At the store across the street aunt Bee's car was parked and knowing she's in the bell tower things didn't add up.

    That night Janet asks her aunt how she is always so calm in dangerous situations to which Bee informs her she's been a policewoman for the last 20 years. Janet simply never thought to question her assumption that her aunt was a secretary. The book ends with Mr. Angel receiving citizenship and all of them having a fiesta.

- One part of this book that I had remembered is when Janet takes a bath in a wooden tub in the kitchen. It's filled with pails of cold water and heated with a tea kettle. I thought this was so fun and old fashion. Same with the way they store foods that need refrigeration in the well.

- An effort is made to not have the Angels be Mexican stereotypes but unfortunately they still are. It's explicitly stated that the stereotype of the "lazy Mexican" are false and also noted that the Angels are not crop workers or illegal immigrants. However their struggles with the English language and minimal education is solely because they're Mexican and not explained as them being new to the country or something. Janet is, in fact, impressed when she see Mr. Angel do basic math or read a Mexican newspaper.

- The twins tells Janet some Mexican folklore that they were told from their parents. This is used to show that the Angels are super smart, the same way that reading a newspaper and doing basic math is used to show the Angels are very smart. Honestly this is kind of offensive. Would Janet considered an American super smart because they can read and do math? I doubt it. 

- I think the setting of this is really fun. The trio spends their days playing in the wilds and old school house. It seems isolated and like their own little world.

- I loved the revel of Aunt Bee being a policewoman. She is so clam and tough throughout the book. It fits perfectly.

- I really don't like that the last time we see Toughie he is being kicked by Jamie before running out of the school house. Was he ok? Did Janet take him home to California after the summer? I wanna know!

    Overall it was ok. The problem I have with this book is that at first it' all about the prowler and seems suspenseful and a mystery but then it completely changes to being about the Angels and Mr. Angel's refusal to learn English. Then it switches back to mystery and suspense just to try and switch back to Mr. Angel for the last few pages. I really didn't like that because it was like two different stories and it switched whenever I already got invested in one.