The Family Name

    Ryndy Drew (short for Kathryn) is the youngest of four sisters and feels perpetually in the shadow of her three successful sisters; a beauty queen, an atomic scientist, and a cheerleading captain. As her junior year in high school is coming to an end she feels making the senior cheerleading team is her only chance to match up to her sisters. She also sees it as an "in" to the popular crowd and to Brad, her long-time crush.

    Despite her parents certainty that the naturally athletic Ryn wouldn't make the cheer squad, she does in fact become their first choice, beating out 50 other girls including Allyson, a conceited and stuck-up bully who also likes Brad.

    Upon her acceptance as a cheerleader Ryn social rank sores and to her delight Brad starts hanging around her, although Allyson is always near by to drag him away. 

    At a party held by the graduating cheer captain Ryn notices a lone figure sitting off by himself, he's football player Dirk and he quickly and rudely dismisses Ryndy's attempts at friendly conversation leaving her embarrassed and with a deep grudge.

    Ryndy runs into Dirk a few days later when she's at the mall shopping for supplies to make campaign buttons for Brad's student President campaign. Another shopper shoves her in the crowded walkways and she lands face first in-front of Dirk. Despite her open hostility towards him he insists on driving her home as her ankle is hurt from the fall. He apologizes for his rude attitude at the party but becomes rude again when he learns Ryndy is helping Brad.

    As the summer vacation starts Ryndy goes out waterskiing with her best friend Gogo (short for Gloria) in Go's fathers rundown old boat. As Ryndy is out on the water the steering mechanism breaks causing Go to lose control of the boat. It makes a u-turn and crashes headfirst into Ryndy's legs, breaking them terribly. 

    Ryndy wakes up in the hospital with her legs in traction and an estimated recovery of 4 months meaning she wont be able to take on her cheerleading responsibilities when the school year starts. To make matters worse Allyson will be filling in for her. 

    Despite daily visits from her parents and Go, and a personal TV set, Ryndy becomes depressed and restless in the hospital. She receives infrequent visits from school friends including one from Brad who announces he will be hosting a radio show on WCCF, a radio station owned by Allyson's father.

    After two months Ryn is out of tractions and able to move around the hospital in a wheelchair but this makes her more impatient to be up on her feet. 

    Down the hall from her hospital room is a room of little boys, one of them is four-year-old Pieter whom Ryndy takes a liking, feeling a bond with him due to his inability to walk.

    Ryn spends her last month of recover at home where she remains restless and depressed. She's also gained weight from there being "nothing to do but eat and watch tv."

    The day for her casts to be removed finally arrives and Ryn is eager to make her fantasies about gracefully walking into school, all eyes on her, a reality. However once the casts are removed it is quickly learned she has developed osteochondrosis which will require her to stay off her feet for 2 more months. Unable to put off returning to school any longer Ryn returns in a wheelchair. Despite the kindness of her school mates, except Allyson who points out her weight gain, Ryn feels depressed, bitter, and angry. 

    On her first day back Dirk approaches her in the cafeteria to give his condolences on her accident and tells her she's lucky she will be able to walk again someday. This triggers Ryn which causes Dirk to tell her to "stop feeling sorry for herself". Deeply insulted Ryn decides to prove Dirk wrong and begins using the schools swimming pool for physical therapy.

    Gogo, who is on the school swim team, encourages Ryn to do her swimming with the team during practice and luckily for swim team member Nancy, Ryn agrees. It's while Ryn is at their practice that she sees Nancy hit her head on the diving board and makes a quick race across the pool to rescue her, saving her life. Seeing her speed, the swim coach encourages Ryn to join the team. However Ryndy wants to quit swimming all together and only continues on because team member Tom gives her rides to the hospital to visit Pieter after practice.

    Pieter has become very depressed from being in the hospital so long. His parents work full time to pay for his care causing him to be alone on his own for most of the day. Ryndy's has become a source of happiness for Pieter and his awe over her being able to swim despite being in a wheelchair encourages her to keep swimming and join the swim team.

    One day while visiting Pieter Dirk shows up and Ryndy learns they are brothers. It was Pieter's condition that led to Dirk being so rude at the party and his remarks in the cafeteria. 

    Soon Ryndy is back on her feet and makes her walking debut at the Christmas school dance. There she sees Brad dancing with an unfamiliar girl and a forlorn Allyson tells her the girl is the daughter of a television studio owner. It's become clear to both girls that Brad is an opportunist.

    Dirk soon approaches Ryn and tells her how much she has done for Pieter. The two are soon on good terms and begin dating. Ryn participates in her first swim competition where she sets a new record, and Pieter is to come home from the hospital.

- The names in this book are awful. Ryndy, Gogo, Pieter...what was Jan Washburn smoking. 

- There's big skips in time which are understandable but also a little jarring. It goes from the Christmas party to the swim competition weeks later and suddenly Dirk and Ryn are dating.

- Ryndy was very annoying at first. She wallows in self pity even before the accident and whines about her sisters being successful while she doesn't try to be successful at anything herself. However she does mellow out later. 

- Ryndy went from wanting to be a cheerleader more than anything, crying herself to sleep every night because her injuries keep her from cheerleading, and then suddenly realizes she actually doesn't want to be a cheerleader like the flip of a switch.

- Interesting enough Ryndy wouldn't have been in traction for 2 months in current times. Modern surgery and methods for broken bones has made traction outdated. It could also lead to increased recovery times. She would have been home much earlier for sure.

    Overall it's alright. The first part was quite boring and I thought about abandoning the book but it picked up after the accident and I read the rest in one sitting after that.

Kim Fashions A Career

     Kim Merriman has just completed her second year of college when her father has a sudden stroke. In order to help him take time to recover Kim leaves school temporarily to get a job. Although she dreams of working as a buyer at department store the only offer she receives is as a stockroom girl. She accepts the job planning to quickly work her way up to the position she wants.

    Kim soon makes friends with her fellow coworkers including Francesca, a beautiful girls who dreams of being a model, and Dave, a night school attendee who is full of wisdom and good advice. Kim is fascinated by the department store and begins learning the ins and outs but despite her devotion to her job she can't help but miss college. Especially when she goes on dates with her sorta-boyfriend Gary who is always caught up in college/fraternity events. 

    Kim only plans on missing a semester of school but when her father decides to open an art gallery instead of going back to work Kim signs on to her job full time. Dave encourages Kim to attend night school but Kim insists she wants to go to "real college", especially since Annette, her rival for Gary's heart, has just transferred to Gary's school.

    Kim, eager to get ahead, propositions Melva Dorn, the fashion buyer, for a position as her assistant. Her boldness pays off and she gets a part time position as her assistant. Kim uses this opportunity to show off her fashion skills and learns some hard lessons about speaking up.

    When Christmas time comes around Kim attends a party at Gary's fraternity. When she learns the party-goers intend to steal Christmas displays from the department stores Kim realizes how much she has outgrown her old crowd and Gary. She decides to enroll in night school and give her heart to Dave.

- Kim is so unlikeable! She is spoiled, snobby, and self centered. She also seems impossible to get along with yet she thinks it's everyone else's fault.

- Kim is shocked anytime a coworker uses their employee discount to buy something for a friend and even refers to Cheri as "committing a crime" when she does it.

- It ended very abruptly. Kim decides to go to night school and realizes she likes Dave on the last pages. I thought the story was building up to Kim actually going to night school where she would do actual personal growth so when it ended without that happening it was very disappointing and made the book feel like a build up to nothing.

(I read this book on Archive.org via their lending library which is where the image comes from.)

Stranger in the House

    Kathleen is a 16-year-old girl whose world gets shook when it is learned that her mother will be returning home after 9 years in a mental health facility. Her mother, Helen, suffered from depression which made her unable to handle the responsibilities of adulthood. After she was institutionalized her father's childhood friend, Alma, came to them as a housekeeper and helped raise Kathleen and her brother Gregory, or Whimpy as he is better known as.

    Kathleen does not want her mother to come home because she likes how her life currently is and she does not want to deal with her mother's mental illness which she assumes is still rampant despite Dr. Lundigan's insistence that she is cured.

    After her arrival Kathleen struggles to treat her mother as a normal person and accept Alma's withdrawal from the family.

    Kathy and her best friend, Margie, begin spending a lot of time with two boys named Bruce and Swede. Bruce has been the target of Kathleen's adoration since they were children so it's hard for her to witness him and Margie take up with each other while she gets tossed to shy and awkward Swede.

    After Dr. Lundigan visits the family Kathleen realizes how little she has done to help her mother and fears that she will be taken back to the hospital or removed from their family permanently. She starts to help her mother adjust to family life and build a bond with her.

    After Margie and Bruce have a fight he makes a play for Kathy and she realizes she likes the idea of Bruce much more that the actual him, and that Swede is what she wishes Bruce was.

- Kathleen's mother's illness is attributed to her "inability to accept maturity" which means she refuses to give up things she enjoys that are considered for teenagers only such as playing tennis, playing piano, and wearing teen fashions. By these standards I would be institutionalized too. I'm a firm believer that age is just a number when it comes to fashion, hobbies, etc. and I think it's ridiculous and ageist that people, specifically women, are forced to look and act a certain way based on their age, and then demeaned for being "old".

- Also I found it a little frustrating that playing tennis is considered a sign of mental illness yet things like Helen being post-partum when her condition got much worse is never taken into account. It also glosses over Helen struggling with the death of both her parents and just focuses on "she doesn't want to be an adult, she wants to play tennis".

- It never says if Swede is actually from Sweden. Bruce introduces him as being new in town but from where he doesn't say. Kathy asks him if the nickname Swede bothers him and he says no, the same way a man from Texas doesn't mind being called Tex. I always enjoy books that have students from other countries since I grew up in an area with a lot of immigrants and a lot of my friends in school came from other countries. It makes the stories more realistic to me.

- This was made into a TV movie in 1982 called Memories Never Die. I watched the first 15 minutes on YouTube but wasn't really interested. The movie is a bit different, it is from the viewpoint of the mother who returns to her family after the father becomes ill and has to deal with her family and the housekeeper being hostile towards her. It seems much more dramatic than the book.

    Overall it was a nice book. I don't have too much to comment on as it was very similar to other books from the time that focus on a teenage girl. The mental health angle was interesting but kind of ruined by the focus of enjoying tennis being a symptom of mental illness and things like that.

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.

Then Came November

    I've read this book once before and for some reason I just knew I was going to love it, and I did! But for some strange reason I've come to believe I disliked it over the past few years that it's sat on my bookshelf. I remember quite a bit about it and the twist at the end. I'm excited to re-read it knowing about the twist and being able to notice everything leading up to it.

    High school junior Dulcy Rolff doesn't feel like she belongs. Although she wants to fit in with her peers she feels awkward and wordless and as though her friendship is unwanted. For this reason she pulls out a book and reads during any moment people usually use for socializing such as when she arrives to class early or on the school bus, which is where we first find her. 

    She gets on the bus to go home after the school day and as she's surrounded by the chatter of her schoolmates she pulls out her French vocabulary book. Suddenly the boy sitting across the isle from her asks if she is going to the football game that night.

    He is a popular boy named Paul Newson, or Polly as everyone calls him, and Dulcy is sure he must be speaking to her simply to laugh at her expense. His attention makes her blush in embarrassment but her face turns even redder when she drops her book, collides heads with Polly when they both go to grab it, and when she opens it upside down and Polly turns it right side up for her. Feeling humiliated she runs off the bus at the first stop.

    She's almost immediately approached by Elaine Totting, an extremely popular petite blonde who Dulcy only knows in passing. She asks Dulcy what Polly had said to make her blush so much and when Dulcy replies that he asked about the game Elaine assumes Polly was asking her for a date and claims she's suspected Polly has a crush on Dulcy. 

    

    Dulcy immediately corrects her, worried Elaine could have gotten some mistaken idea that popular Polly would ever be interested in someone like her. Elaine invites her over to talk about it but Dulcy declines.

    When she gets home she is greeted by her visiting 90 year old great-grandfather who is sitting barefoot on the front porch. Dulcy is embarrassed by this and rushes inside where she is greeted by King, her large elderly dog who Dulcy absolutely adores. Dulcy voices her embarrassment about her grandfather to her mother who doesn't understand her thought process on the matter. The girl and the dog then go to pick berries in the backyard and frolic together. When Dulcy returns her mother informs her she has a caller on the telephone, it's Elaine.

    Elaine invites Dulcy over for the evening but she declines with the excuse that she doesn't want to walk the distance. Elaine says she can come over instead but, panicked by the thought of the fashionable rich girl seeing her old fashion home and great-grandfather, she quickly says she'll get a ride to Elaine's then hangs up. 

    Once at the girls home, which is located in a brand new, expensive apartment building, Elaine sits Dulcy down in her room and then ignores her while she finishes a manicure. She pays attention to her guest long enough to tell her she needs to change her appearance then cuts Dulcys bangs, coats her face in makeup, and advises her on how she should dress, then ignores her for the next half hour.

    By that time the football game is about to end so the girls head over to the field to find out the outcome. Elaine leads them through the crowd and as their school gets the winning points everyone starts hugging in celebration. It's not until he speaks that Dulcy realizes she's hugging Polly. 

    Elaine gets a group together and they all decide to go out to eat. Dulcy doesn't go because it's almost her curfew. With Elaine jumping in someone else's car Dulcy doesn't have a ride home so she plans on walking to the bowling alley where her dad is. Polly stops her and insists it's too long a walk and that he can give her a ride in his car, which is nicknamed the purple pussycat. Before going to the bowling alley he drives around showing Dulcy his cars ability with high speed, quick breaks, and sharp turns, all of which make Dulcy nervous.

    The next morning she wakes up and rushes to her father's building company where she works as a secretary on Saturdays. Her older cousin, known as Young Bill, works there too. Her father had created a job especially for the young engineer graduate but is frustrated with the man for always trying to bring new methods and ways of thinking into his work. 

    Young Bill is married to Fan who Mr. Rolff doesn't like because of Fan's different ways; she likes to style herself simply without any jewelry or hair permanents, she doesn't decorate her house with knick-knacks or photos, and she has tea times and serves dinner at a "scandalously" late hour for a working class family.

    While working Dulcy receives a call from Elaine who is mad at her. Elaine complains about Dulcy and Polly leaving together and that Dulcy hadn't called her this morning to tell her how last night went. Dulcy is confused by this since Elaine and her had barely ever talked before yesterday and now she's acting as tho they're best friends. Although she finds it strange she decided to go along with it because she wants a close female friend, something which she has not had in years. 

    Elaine asks to meet up in town and go shopping. Dulcy knows she should stay and work but when her father and Young Bill go to check on a construction project she decides to take her lunch break early.

    Once Elaine sees Dulcy has a checkbook she goes ham picking out clothes, accessories, and makeup for Dulcy. Although Dulcy knows she needs to save her money for a new winter coat she is too meek to say no to her new friend. Elaine then insists Dulcy needs to be seen in her new clothes asap so arranges plans for that night.

    Dulcy arrives back at the office two hours later to find a handsome young man waiting inside. He's Roger Endicott and he's come to pick up some blueprints for his father. Dulcy finds him shy but friendly and feels very relaxed talking to him.
After dinner Dulcy is picked up by Elaine and Freddy, a short boy who feels like a big man in his fancy car. Freddy wants to go to a drive-in joint but Elaine insists they have to go to Pete's, a malt shop. Once there Elaine orders a bunch of food and has Freddy pay for it before running off to socialize with a bunch of other people there and letting the food be wasted. This, Freddy says, is why he wanted to go to the drive-in and not Pete's.

    Polly shows up and good-naturedly teases Dulcy about being there before pushing Freddy to the side so he can sit next to her. This is when Elaine suddenly makes her return and starts embarrassing Dulcy by implying Dulcy is only there in the hopes of seeing Polly.

    Finding the place crowded Polly and his friend decide to leave and bring the girls with them. Dulcy ends up in the purple pussycat wedged in between Polly and his friend Duke while Elaine, much to her displeasure, has to ride with Freddy. Once on the road Polly and Freddy start to race, making dangerous twists and turns around each other. Dulcy is terrified and fearful for her life but is afraid to tell Polly to stop because she doesn't want him to think she's a drip and thus lose her new friendship with him. 

    He finally does stop when the police start chasing them and he quickly pulls into a side road leaving Freddy to get busted. Dulcy covers her nervousness and the fact that she's about to cry by laughing and saying they should do that again. Polly is impressed with her nerve and that she didn't get scared like other girls would. They go to the drive-in restaurant and when taking Dulcy home Polly makes a move to kiss her but is interrupted when Mr. Rolff steps out on the porch.

    The next morning is Sunday and Dulcy and King follow their usual routine of hiking out into the wilderness where King naps and Dulcy sketches wildlife. After being there for about an hour Roger Endicott shows up. Him and Dulcy had talked about their shared love of the hiking area and discussed possibly seeing each other out there sometime so it's not a surprise but Dulcy is very happy. They walk and talk and enjoy each others company but when they get close to the Rolff home Dulcy ditches him, embarrassed at the thought of him seeing her old fashion home, especially since her eccentric aunt Lavinia just arrived for a stay and has her strange old car parked outside.

    The next day at school Dulcy finds herself being snubbed by Elaine and has no idea why. Finally Dulcy sits next to her in class and Elaine refuses to talk until she sees Polly sitting on Dulcys other side. She begins being flirty with Polly over how mean he was to leave her with Freddy the other night. After class starts Dulcy continues to try and sort things out with Elaine but the teacher hears her talking and moves her to the front of the class. 

    Polly takes her seat next to the blonde and Dulcy feels terribly left out. Her mind preoccupied she gives a completely wrong answer to the teachers question, then accidentally trips the teacher from her long legs sticking out under her desk. Her teacher then kicks her out of the class with a written note which Dulcy drops and while picking it up knocks her books off her desk. All this has the class laughing and Dulcy is horrifically embarrassed, not only that this happened but that it happened in front of Polly and Elaine. 

    Too embarrassed to face her peers in the next class Dulcy stands by the front doors debating on leaving early when Elaine comes up to her saying her "act" in class was great and that Polly thought she was hilarious. Dulcy, happy to have her friend talking to her again, says she's gonna skip class and go buy a new winter coat and Elaine decides to join her. 

    Once again Elaine picks out her items for her and decides on an impractical red tweed coat which doesn't go with the new clothes Dulcy has already bought. The coat also cost $100 which is far out of Dulcy's price range. Not having the money does not stop Elaine though, she simply has a credit account opened at the store for Dulcy and tells her to hide the bill when it comes.

    Back at home Dulcy finds herself in trouble. Her teacher has called and said Dulcy had been acting up. Then when Aunt Lavinia disapproves of Dulcys new coat the girl loses control of her emotions and runs off upstairs where she cries herself to sleep. Upon waking hours later she finds a tray of food outside and, although she doesn't know who left it there, it makes her feel as though someone in the house is sympathetic towards her.

    At school the next day Elaine does Dulcy's makeup to look as though she's been crying then they go to the teacher, then principle with a story of how getting kicked out of class had caused Dulcy to breakdown in tears and become too ashamed to finish out the school day so Elaine had walked her home. 

    This story is accepted and the girls get off scot free for skipping classes the previous day.
Elaine mentions that the Old Home Week dance is coming up and since Polly will clearly ask her to it Dulcy will need to buy a formal dress. But not just a formal dress, she will also need to buy lots more clothes, Elaine insists. Dulcy reminds Elaine that she doesn't have anymore money after the shopping they've already done but Elaine tells Dulcy to keep opening up credit accounts at various stores.

    As the week goes on Dulcy begins to find herself feeling more confident and as though she's beginning to fit in and feel accepted. As the next football game arrives Polly invites Dulcy to go with him. Before she has recovered from the shock of him asking, Elaine announces that the two girls would love to go with him thus inviting herself along. 

    Elaine takes Dulcy's bus home after school where they plan to get picked up for the game and then have a sleep over. Elaine charms the family with the exception of great-grandpa who pretends to be hard of hearing and loudly makes insults about the girl.

    When Polly and his friends arrive they start giving Aunt Lavinia's antique car a look over and Polly's about to take it for a drive when Dulcy makes it clear her aunt will flip if he does. Elaine then hops into the purple pussycat front seat with Polly and cuddles up with him. Dulcy is shocked and confused by this. Her mind becomes lost in thought which causes her to absentmindedly laugh at something that wasn't a joke and the others begin to look at her strangely. 

    After the game they spend two hours with their peers at food establishments until a policeman tells them they need to be getting home. The cop follows Polly until after he's dropped off two boys. Once the police car is out of sight Dulcy tries impressing Polly by saying she thought he would have tried to out race the cop. Him and Elaine both admonish Dulcy for this which embarrasses her. 

    Once they pull up to the Rolff house Polly asks when Dulcy can fix it so that the boys can sneak Aunt Lavinia's car out for a joy ride. Dulcy tries to give excuses for why she can't but when Elaine says Dulcy doesn't have the nerve she agrees to do it next Saturday. 

    As the girls are falling asleep in Dulcy's bed Elaine gives Dulcy more advise on how to hook Polly. She tells her to act bold and sophisticated, to copy movie actresses, and say outrageous things.

    The next morning Dulcy is up early to go to the office with her father. Elaine is equally annoyed at her options of waking up early to get a ride home or sleeping in and being in the house without Dulcy. She chooses the former but takes her time getting ready which infuriates Mr. Rolff. 

    On the way to the office he sends Dulcy into the post office to get the mail where she is surprised to find a bill for her coat has already been sent out. She decides she must buy her formal dress for the dance then begin making small payments towards the debt. 

    At work Young Bill invited her to dinner with him and Fan that night. At their house Dulcy enjoys how different the environment is to her home. They sit down to tea for an hour where they mostly relax in comfortable silence. While helping Fan prepare dinner Dulcy opens up to her about her recent social life and Fan gently gives the girl advice to be herself.

    When Dulcy arrives home she finds Elaine had called. She calls her back while young Bill speaks with Mr. Rolff. Elaine is excited to tell Dulcy her plan for Saturday; she is going to give Dulcy sleeping pills to feed to King so that Dulcy can sneak out her window undetected to go on the joyride. Dulcy doesn't like the idea but says she'll think about it.

    Her call ends as Young Bill storms out of the house. He had suggested that Mr. Rolff should expand the business so that he himself would have more work to do and feel less like the man was giving him charity. With this suggestion rejected young Bill quits.

    Monday after school Dulcy goes to buy her formal dress for the dance. She decides not to bring Elaine with her because she wants to pick it out for herself but once there she feels unsure. She ends up settling on a mature, black, single strap dress which adds $79 more dollars to her store debt. She tries to sneak the dress into her room but is spotted by Aunt Lavinia who, along with Dulcys mother, are scandalized by Dulcys purchase. Mrs. Rolff declared Dulcy will not be allowed to wear the dress out of the house. Dulcy is upset and the three have words before Dulcy runs upstairs in tears. Her relationship with her family continues to be strained and she starts spending the majority of her time outside with King.

    Over the following week there is a noticeable change in Dulcy at school, her mood is unstable. Elaine tells Dulcy more of her plans for Saturday; Dulcy will have an early date then after returning home she will sneak out her window for the joyride. 

    After making a scene in class which makes Polly laugh she asks him for that early date on Saturday. He accepts and says he'll bring someone for Elaine too. At the principals office Dulcy is told to look in the mirror then write a 500 word essay on what she sees. Dulcy finds this an upsetting task and wants to go wash her makeup off but Elaine and Polly's praise for her actions in class keep her attached to her new ways.

    After school she goes to Young Bill and Fans house, mostly in the hope to anger her parents. There she notices the effects Bill's unemployment is having on the family. Back at home Dulcy announces her visit hoping it'll make her parents mad but when it doesn't she makes up a lie about Young Bill starting his own rival building company which gets the effect she wanted.

    On Saturday night Polly picks Dulcy up and stops on the side or the road to kiss her. They pick up Elaine and Duke and go to the drive-in movie where Elaine makes up excuses to first get Polly and Dulcy to move apart and then she crawls into the front seat between them. Dulcy starts catching on then and, possibly after all the emotion strain with her family and school problems, breaks and spends the night in a fit of hysterical laughter and acting loopy. They take her home and she sneaks Aunt Lavinia's car keys from her purse then goes to get a scrap of meat to put the sleeping pills in for King.

    Great-grandpa catches her in the kitchen and assumes she's looking for a snack. When she quickly retreats he assumes he scared her off. In her room she gives King the sleeping pills then scurries out her window while Polly and Duke silently push the ancient car down the street. Once they're all in the stolen care Polly takes off for the countryside at high speeds. When a cow appears in the road he makes a quick turn to the side which causes the car go on two wheels before crashing back down. All shaken they solemnly get the car back into the driveway.

    Dulcy is concerned when she sees a light on in her room and upon re-entering the window she sees grandpa in the room. Feeling bad about her leaving the kitchen without eating he was bringing her a snack to leave outside her door, as he had previously done, when he heard King's strange breathing. He tells Dulcy he thinks King is passing. Horrified, Ducly confesses what she's done and wakes her father. They rush King to the vet where he is given a stimulant and the family is told it's a waiting game from there.

    Luckily King pulls through and upon returning home with him Aunt Lavinia says a boy had stopped by to check if Dulcy was alright. Dulcy, sure it was Polly, is touched by this thoughtful action and calls him up to thank him. However once on the phone Polly rudely accuses Dulcy of trying to pin the car damage on him, says he wasn't with her last night, and that he has "witnesses" to back him up if she tries saying he was. Dulcy is confused by his actions.

    On Monday Polly and Elaine are both late for class, acting strangely, and seeming to avoid her. In the girls bathroom a girl tells Dulcy that Polly asked Elaine to the Old Home Week dance. This is when Dulcy fully accepts the fact that Elaine had been using her to get to Polly. 

    Elaine had liked Polly but he wouldn't notice her so she attached herself to Dulcy, who Polly did like. She then worked to turn Dulcy into the exact opposite of what she was while Elaine took on Dulcy's original characteristic thus stealing Polly for herself. She confronts Elaine in the women's lounge and Elaine emotionally admits to her treachery before running away.

    After school Dulcy returns her formal dress and then heads home where she finds everyone gone. Her mother then calls saying Young Bills house caught on fire causing Fan to go into early labor. She is at the hospital with her, Mr. Rolff is at work, and Aunt Lavinia and Grandfather have left. It's Dulcys responsibility to run the house for the next few days while her mother stays with Fan. Dulcy also has to prepare the house for all the guest who are going to come to see the new baby and to help rebuild the fire damaged home.

    Dulcy is so busy she doesn't have time to cry over her social life. Grandpa also comes back with an orphaned dachshund puppy and requests Dulcy take care of it. King immediately adopts the puppy. Soon Aunt Lavinia returns and with her she brings a formal dress that had been a part of her mother's wedding trousseau. It's of gorgeous yellow material and Dulcy feels more beautiful in it than she did the black dress. 

    While she is trying it on there is an arrival at the front door and Aunt Lavinia says it's the young man who had come calling before. Dulcy knows it couldn't possibly be Polly and finds it's Roger Endicott. They arrange a movie date for that night and it's clear he will be taking her to the Old Home Week dance. Dulcy realizes she happier being herself and better enjoys the company of a boy she doesn't have to change herself for.

- The ages of Mr. And Mrs. Rolff are not mentioned but I would assume they are older since Dulcy's sisters are fifteen years her senior. It's unfortunate that this wasn't mentioned more as a reason for their lack of understanding of the social customs of Dulcy's peers.

- It's kind of ridiculous that the teacher would call Dulcy's parents and say she's misbehaving when all that happened is she gave a wrong answer and accidentally dropped her books. The teacher tripped over Dulcy's feet but that's not Dulcy's fault, she's long legged and when sitting in the front row there's really no where for them to go. I speak from experience.

- While spending the night at Dulcy's it's revealed Elaine has a nighttime routine where she cleanses her face and uses all types if creams for her face, eyes, elbows and knees, etc. She says it's to prevent wrinkles. I actually was surprised the first time I read this because I didn't know wrinkles were something you prevented early, I thought you could only treat then when they inevitably came. So I looked it up and actually ended up adopting a nightly skincare regiment with lots of moisturizing. I bet Nan Gilbert never thought someone would be getting advice from her book 50 years later.

    Elaine also says she does exercises for 10 minutes twice a day. Dulcy finds this and the skincare ridiculous and Elaine is suppose to appear pitiful because she spends so much time on her appearance but by 2020 we all know Elaine is taking care of her physical health which is smart. 

- The Totting's treatment of their previous dog is horrifying. Elaine claims her mother would give it sleeping pills so it wouldn't bark during the day and she got rid of it when moving upon finding out the town did not have a Kennel Club for her to socialize in.

    I think out of all the Whitman Novels for Girls this one is the most relatable and realistic. Dulcy is not some rare beauty that happens to be shy, neither is she the sister of the most popular girl in school, or any of those clichés. She's just a normal awkward girl who some boy happens to like. To be honest maybe I am biased since Dulcy and my seventeen-year-old self had a large amount of uncanny similarities right down to the elderly golden-fur dog and dachshund puppy, I however was never dumb enough to steal a car.

    I feel like this book does leave me with some questions; does Elaine still want to be friends with Dulcy, what new opportunities will Dulcy being on the year book staff bring, when will she have paid off the debt for her coat, what becomes of Elaine and Polly's relationship, how does the Old Home Week dance go, was Aunt Lavinias car badly damaged, will Polly fall for Dulcy again when she goes back to being her true self, and so many more.

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.

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.