Yesterday, on at the Absolute Write Water Cooler, someone posted a question about whether or not kids still ready Beverly Cleary. My daughter's read all the Ramona books (and maybe one or two of the Henry Huggins books) and I certainly read most of them (not her more recent ones, but pretty much all the earlier ones, as far as I know.) And as I was writing my response, I remembered that I loved her young adult books as well. I had Fifteen, Jean and Johnny, and The Luckiest Girl as well as her children's books.
So in a fit of nostalgia I went to Amazon and found Kindle versions of those three books and last night, curled up with a bit of my childhood. :D It's so funny that despite the fact that they are a little dated (the original pub dates are 1959 for Fifteen and Jean and Johnny, and 1958 for The Luckiest Girl) they are still great books. I read Fifteen and Jean and Johnny last night, and will read the last one today, but it says something about an author when you can ready their books fifty years (fifty years!!!) after their original release and still enjoy them. Like I said, they're a little dated - the language is a bit more formal and the clothing is different and it's really funny to read about a 15-year old girl waiting for her mother to get off the phone because she's tying up the line. Especially in this day and age where call-waiting exists and everyone has a cell phone and text, and all. In Fifteen, Stan Crandall buys a Model-A Ford to fix up for his first car. A Model-A.
photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Could you imagine a YA novel today where the hero picks up the heroine in a Model-A? But despite the datedness, the story held up and I loved reading it last night as much as I did nearly 30 years (EEEK!!) ago.
I may end up raiding my daughter's Ramona series when I'm finished. And who knows? Judy Blume may be next.
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