Books: Betty Cavanna
So I remembered this author's name from books I read while growing up, probably somewhere from age 8 to 16. In fact, I can imagine where on the shelves at that time her books were. I couldn't find any Betty Cavanna books in the Montgomery County system, so I went to MARINA, the Maryland state interlibrary loan system. I also did a little bit of web searching beforehand, to make sure I was remembering the name correctly, see some of the titles, etc.
So, long story short, I got three books. Stars in Her Eyes, Boy Next Door, and Almost Like Sisters. I was able to read these quickly for plot -- I don't know if the writing style was good or descriptive or whatever, I just wanted to know what happened to the characters. All three books were written, I think, in the 1950s (one is listed as 1958 in the e-mail, I didn't check the others). The personalities/actions of the teenage girls who are the main characters definitely reflects the age. The latter two in particular are more about girls who are interested in boys.
Anyway, the plots were reasonable, if dated. Boy Next Door in particular was easy to figure out (boy and girl are friends; boy kisses girl; girl loses boy to her sister; girl gets a life; girl helps boy out of dire straits and gets boy back); the others were more stories about girls separating from their parents and becoming adults/their own people. I wouldn't recommend these books, mostly because the 40 years of lapsed time doesn't really translate and isn't interesting in itself. I'm glad I went looking so I know I'm not missing a lot. Apparently Cavanna had a series with a girl detective that was good, but given the length of my "to read" list, I won't be looking them up.
So, long story short, I got three books. Stars in Her Eyes, Boy Next Door, and Almost Like Sisters. I was able to read these quickly for plot -- I don't know if the writing style was good or descriptive or whatever, I just wanted to know what happened to the characters. All three books were written, I think, in the 1950s (one is listed as 1958 in the e-mail, I didn't check the others). The personalities/actions of the teenage girls who are the main characters definitely reflects the age. The latter two in particular are more about girls who are interested in boys.
Anyway, the plots were reasonable, if dated. Boy Next Door in particular was easy to figure out (boy and girl are friends; boy kisses girl; girl loses boy to her sister; girl gets a life; girl helps boy out of dire straits and gets boy back); the others were more stories about girls separating from their parents and becoming adults/their own people. I wouldn't recommend these books, mostly because the 40 years of lapsed time doesn't really translate and isn't interesting in itself. I'm glad I went looking so I know I'm not missing a lot. Apparently Cavanna had a series with a girl detective that was good, but given the length of my "to read" list, I won't be looking them up.