When Sara Smiled

    Sara is driving down a country rode scouting areas for her junior class picnic when she spots a beautiful horse in a nearby pasture and stops to pet it. Seeing no one around she decides to hop on and go for a ride. Suddenly a dog runs up and Sara soon hears a man yelling at her from an approaching distance. Startled, the horse knocks Sara off and she falls into the soft grass unharmed.

    As she lays there the man approaches, still bellowing at her, and she sees that he's not a man but a boy of her age. She closes her eyes because she is nervous about getting into trouble but also because she knows she won't be able to talk to him. Sara is shy but to such an extent that she becomes physically unable to speak to those she's not comfortable around.

    The boy continues to yell and accuses her of pretending to be unconscious to make him carry her. He then threatens to take her car the way she took his horse. When he acts on this threat Sara jumps up in shock and indignation. She tries to get the horse to chase after him but Marmalade, her name for the horse, refuses to move. 

    The boy then comes back with a basket and tells her to come over and have some cookies and soda with him. Confused, Sara joins him and they sit in the car to eat. He introduces himself as Bart Hoffman and attempts to make conversation. Sara is able to say her name is Sara Thorne but not much else. Bart begins speaking in a soft voice which makes Sara assume he thinks her to be mentally disabled. This causes her to laugh and, thinking she's laughing at him, Bart tells her off before storming away.

    On Monday morning Sara is having breakfast with Donna, her youthful sixty-something grandmother. Donna lives with Sara and Sara's mother in a third floor apartment. Sara's father is no longer living and the small family struggles financially.

    Angie, Sara's best friend, arrives to walk to school together and she tells Sara she was at a party on Saturday night and Bart Hoffman, who is friends with Angie's boyfriend Hank, was there. He said he had met Sara and called her "odd". When her friend Liz hears about the incident with the horse and boy she suggests Sara should practice talking to the horse, pretending it's a person.

    Sara and Angie drive over to the pasture together. Sara wants to ride Marmalade again and Angie wants to meet the attractive Bart Hoffman. The boy and girl are instantly flirtatious and take Sara's car for a ride while Sara rides the horse. After awhile she remembers the plan of practicing talking with Marmalade. She sits down against a fence and drowsily closes her eyes while talking.

    Mr. Hoffman comes along and thinks Sara must have a head injury so picks her up. When she starts struggling he's sure she's looney and forceably carries her into his car. Bart and Angie show back up then and explain the situation thus saving Sara from being rushed to the hospital by Bart's dad.

    Sara arrives home that night to a tense atmosphere among her mother and grandmother. Donna sits her down and tells her she is getting married and will be moving back to Kentucky. Sara is heartsick at the thought of her grandmother leaving but also completely mortified about the marriage, claiming Donna is too old to get married. Her departure will mean that Sara will have to take over household responsibilities which will ruin her plans to get a summer job and earn money for college.

    The junior picnic arrives and takes place at the river on the Hoffman's land. Angie goes off with Bart but when Liz snags him away Angie gets into a terrible attitude and takes it out on Hank. When Sara sneaks off to ride Marmalade Hank follows and quickly spreads the story around school of Sara talking to a horse. This causes the boys to tease her and the girls to bully her.

    The wedding day arrives for Donna and Mr. Hugh Jones. Don, as he asks Sara to call him, is a wealthy man and long time friend to Donna who Mrs. Thorne grew up around. Sara likes him immensely after meeting him and once Angie insists getting married in your 60s is romantic Sara no longer feels so embarrassed about it.

    One afternoon while Sara walks home from the grocery store she stops at the drugstore for a drink. Bart's there and he asks her to sit down and have a bite to eat with him. He's understanding of Sara's shyness and offers to do the talking. Sara enjoys this impromptu date but feels sadden by the fact that Angie or Liz would be in her place if it was them who happened to walk into the drug store.

    On Friday Sara and Angie are walking to school when a senior boy named Roge Spencer approaches them. He's interested in Sara and is trying to get an introduction but Sara wants nothing to do with him because he had teased her about the horse incident. The girls shake him and Hank pulls up. Angie accepts his offer for a ride to school but Sara, still mad at him, declines. Roge then catches up with her and the two walk to school together. Roge knows she's shy and doesn't pressure her to make conversation which Sara appreciates.

    During the school day Hank approaches Sara in the hall and apologizes. He claims he didn't know people would tease her about the horse incident and says he took some great photos of her riding Marmalade. He says he'll give her some copies but when he asks her to show them around to people Sara feels he's up to something and tries to walk away. He grabs her by the hands and this is when Angie shows up and accuses them of being romantically involved behind her back and she breaks off her friendship with Sara.

    On the weekend Sara goes to Bart's to visit Marmalade but finds Bart and a beautiful girl already riding him. The girl is Lottie, Bart's cousin, and Sara instantly feels inferior to her. She drives off in the car and pulls off to the side of the rode to cry over her loss of Donna, Angie, and now Marmalade.

    When she tries to continue home the car won't start. A sinister man in a shiny black car stops and offers her a ride which she hesitantly accepts. The man believes Sara is a mute and claims he's only offering her a ride because his beloved little sister is a mute too.

    At her direction he drops her off on a street in town just before a traffic light. When he stops at the red light he is immediately bombarded by policeman; the sinister stranger robbed a bank earlier that day and only stopped in town during his getaway because of Sara.

    Sara goes to Angie's after school and begs to be friends again. Angie finally relents and informs Sara that Hank had submitted the pictures of her to the schools magazine along with an article about her talking to a horse to overcome her shyness. Sara is horrified and fears the bullying she will receive once the magazine comes out.

    To try and turn the situation around Hank throws a party in Sara's honor and reads his article out loud. The article talks about Sara kindly and affectionately and both it and she are raved about. She is happy and enjoying her time until Liz pulls her aside. 

    Liz is furious that Sara is getting so much attention and tells her she is through being her friend unless Sara turns the attention over to her. Sara stresses about this until the next morning when a young man calls asking to interview her. She has Liz come over and lets her handle the interview thus putting Liz in the spotlight.

    Summer vacation arrives and with the advice of Angie and Liz Sara decides to earn money by working as a sort of caterer helping women host luncheons. She makes a good amount of money doing this which she saves for college. When Donna invites her to visit her in Kentucky Sara declines saying she needs to keep working to earn money. This prompts Donna and Don to offer to pay for Sara's college. Once she gets news of this she runs over to Bart's to tell him and he asks her to date him.

- When Donna breaks the news that she's getting married Mrs. Thorne is standing in the living room and takes off her skirt and blouse...in the living room...for some reason. I found it really strange. Maybe if she took off her belt and untucked her shirt it would show exhaustion from the news but to undress like that is weird.

- Everyone makes fun of Sara for talking to the horse during the picnic but she didn't even say anything weird, just called to him and said like "hello beautiful boy, lets go for a ride". Like the kind of stuff you would say to a pet.

- Sara's mother is described as "plump" then "slim" a few chapters later.

- I have a hard time believing Angie would get so mad seeing Hank grabbing, not holding but grabbing, Sara's hands. Also Angie is constantly dating other guys, so what if Hank sees another girl. Not to mention Angie solely gets mad at Sara and not Hank.

- Liz is a TERRIBLE friend.

- It doesn't make sense that Sara can't have a job. If she can go to school and take care of the household then why can't she have a job once school is out?

- Once Donna leaves and Sara has to take over the cooking she learns to love it. She learns how to make Haap to Ghuy, a supposed Chinese dish but then that becomes all she makes. Once she starts catering her first client is Mrs. Hoffman and she wants to make a cheese soufflé for a luncheon but Sara says no, lets make Haap to Ghuy instead. It's a little hard to believe she can have a catering service with only one recipe.
    Anyways I looked up Haap to Ghuy and found a surprising lack of search results. Only four results came up; three old newspapers and one book which simple says "Haap to Ghuy: fried chicken with pork and walnuts". Two of the newspapers were locked behind a paywall but the third was free and had a recipe so if anyone wishes to make Haap to Ghuy like Sara then here you go. Also this newspaper is from the 1970's and the other two were from the 1960's so I'm guessing this is simply an old trendy recipe and not a Chinese classic as the book makes out.

Source: The Sentinel

Overall this book is alright. I couldn't help but compare it to Kathleen Robinsons other book When Debbie Dared and I'm afraid it doesn't live up to that marvelous book. I thought I would feel a connection to Sara since I've struggled with similar shyness/selective mutism but I didn't at all. I think the premise of Sara and her mother living in an apartment and struggling financially is interesting and different. I also liked that Sara did not feel any shame about it.

    I do have to say that I don't think the writing was all that great and since I've read other books by this author I can't help but feel Kathleen was not using her full potential.

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.