A classic coming-of-age love story from beloved Newbery Medal winner Beverly Cleary. Sixteen-year-old Shelley Latham longs for her junior year of high school to be different from the stifling sameness of the years before. When she is sent from Oregon to California to stay with friends of the family for the school year, she gets her wish. Right away, Shelley’s pretty looks and “Northern” ways endear her to her new classmates, including Hartley, the student body president. Meanwhile, Shelley sets her heart on star basketball player Philip—and when he asks her out, everything seems perfect. Shelley truly is the luckiest girl…but is it Philip or Hartley whom she really loves?
Featured Series
1 primary book2 released booksFirst Love is a 3-book series with 1 primary work first released in 1956 with contributions by Beverly Cleary.
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This was a sweet 1950s high school romance, very G-rated and reminiscent of the Deep Valley books (but even slighter). It was fascinating to read following Cleary's memoirs, as one can see the experiences in her own life that she reworked - going to stay with another family to attend school in California, being unsure how to deal with a boy who pursued but bored her, difficulties in her relationship with her mother. However, Cleary's life was much darker and sadder than this cheerful, sunny book, in which difficulties are quickly overcome and the protagonist ends up feeling like “the luckiest girl” just for having had a chance to love and be loved. She is not a particularly deep or complex character, but her small trials and successes are very human and still relevant even though so much has changed. I think I would have enjoyed this book as a teenager and I'm sorry I never encountered it till now.
