We will return with new reviews the week of March 6, 2017!
In the meantime, check out out new Name That Book! feature, where you can share dimly-remembered details of juvenile and YA book and ask for help in locating an actual title and author!
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Lost Classics of Teen Lit: 1939-1989 
Great idea on the lost books! Back in the 50s there were several novels written by Rosamond du Jardin about a girl named Tobey Heydon and then her younger sister Midge. I read them from my junior high school library in the early 70s. I spent a long time as an adult trying in vain to remember the names of the books, the characters, or the authors. I think I finally found reference to them on a blog, and then was able to buy them online. I didn’t enjoy rereading them as much as I expected to, but it would annoyed me to never find out! So thanks for this public service đ .
The last book on the list about a girl named Emily sounds a lot like Emily’s Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary. đ
Molly, there isn’t a place to comment on the Name that Book page — or at least, it’s not showing up for me.
Thanks for the heads up, I have no idea why it didn’t automatically add the comment feature. I added a form at the top of the page, will see if I can figure out how to fiX it when I return!
Have enabled comments on the Name That Book! page and added a few requested I received in my inbox. Thanks for your patience everyone! đ
Yes, number 6 is Emily’s Runaway Imagination. She baked the pies for some kind of gathering, not a contest.
Number 3 could be Girls and Sex, by Dr. Wardell B. Pomeroy.
Number 5 might be The Grounding of Group 6, by Julian F. Thompson.
Oh, gee; I would love to find and reread a book involving a girl named “Amy” who was growing up poor and had a pink rubber ball (called “SpalDEENS” in this part of the world!) that was somehow rubber-stamped with a cat and the neighborhood nasty girl bully stole the ball.
This might or might not be part of a story that involved whoever the protagonist was finding a favorite teacher using an “RFD” address.
This is definitely Amy Moves In by Marilyn Sachs. The ball actually belongs to sweet shy Rosa (who has an accent so all the other girls hate her). Amy finds the ball and likes it and wants to keep it–Rosa sees it and politely says “that is actually mine.” Then all the other girls lie and say they’ve seen Amy with it and it’s hers. It leads to a real conscience of crisis for Amy, who actually does like Rosa but doesn’t know how to be her friend when her other friends dislike her,
Oh, YEAH! (I’m sorry; I don’t mean to shout, but there are no italics!) Now I remember; thanks for the memory.
I can’t wait to read this again, and the others. I understand it’s a trilogy.
Ibikenyc: That was Amy Moves In, by Marilyn Sachs, first in a trilogy about Amy and Laura Stern, which led into other books about their classmates in 1930s Brooklyn. However, the ball with the cat picture belonged to another girl, and Amy was the one who took it. Amy was capable of Mean Girl shenanigans at times.
Oh, my goodness!
đ
DECADES of longing to know! Thank you SO MUCH!
And yes, it WAS Amy who took the ball!
A TRILOGY?
I’m going straight to Biblio!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
MWAH!
You’re welcome!
Veronica Ganz was the mean girl.
Thank you! It’s coming back to me now.
(Girl Witch? Baby Witch?)
Witch Baby for the Francesca Lia Block character.
Ah!
It looks like a sweet and lovely book; maybe I’ll check it out, too.
In Amy Moves In, Amy’s frenemy Cynthia is actually the mean girl, I do’t think Veronica appears until the third book, Amy and Laura.
Yes, “Amy Moves In”, which I have in my basement right now, along with the sequels “Laura’s Luck” (Amy and her sister Laura go to summer camp) and “Amy and Laura” (they come back from camp, start a new school year, and do some growing up đ . ) . Definitely worth reading all three! Then there are some spin-offs about Veronica Ganz (the neighborhood bully), but I didn’t like those as much. We’ve discussed these books on this site under “Veronica Ganz.”
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. I can’t wait to re-read the one I know and read for the first time the ones I don’t!
I still reread these periodically đ . But I won’t share any spoilers!
Otay!
Thanks! đ
The RFD address was a different book, which I’m not familiar with.
I had a feeling it wasn’t part of Amy’s story. Oh, well. Thanks for the thought!