Up in Seth's Room (1979) by Norma Fox Mazer

Norma Fox Mazer was one of my favorite young adult authors. So much so that I've read almost everything she wrote in her career, which sadly ended with her death in 2009. [Also just found out that her husband and writing partner, Harry Mazer, died a couple of days before I posted this.] I first read After the Rain as a teenager and I felt I could relate to that character so much more so than other characters I had read about. Rachel (in After the Rain) was a youngest child like I was at the time with much older siblings (though mine were all halves) and she felt isolated due to her social awkwardness, though this wasn't played to the extreme nor was it the focus of the story.

Up in Seth's Room was the second Norma Fox Mazer book I read. I held off a long time reading another one of her books because I was sure I wouldn't like it as much as After the Rain. But, though the story is kind of silly (about a girl hanging on to her technical virginity), I grew to love Finn, the protagonist of this novel even more than Rachel. Finn is also slightly awkward (like most teenagers), but she doesn't back down from her beliefs or let anyone push her around. So even if you don't agree with her stance on not going all the way sexually, you have to admire her grit and determination.

The book opens with Finn on her way to visit her older sister Maggie, who has been disowned by their parents because she has moved in with her boyfriend without getting married first. Remember when that was a big sin? Me neither, really, but apparently living together before marriage was as much of a deal breaker for some of the older generation back then as a child coming out as gay is today.

Finn is hoping to have a talk with Maggie alone like they used to before Maggie moved out, but Maggie has friends there: her boyfriend, Jim's, brother Seth and a girl named Toby who appears to consider herself Seth's girlfriend, though he doesn't act all that into her. Finn is immediately attracted to Seth, though she considers him "tooo, tooo, too good-looking." Finn gets into an argument with Maggie when they discuss their parents and Seth seems to enjoy watching this for some reason.

That night, Finn goes to a New Year's Eve party with her best friend Vida, who tries to set her up with Jerry, a flirtatious boy from school. Jerry is kind of a creepy guy in training. He makes everything he says sound suggestive. Finn isn't into him, but she's feeling high off the spiked punch, so there are some amusing scenes where she is giggly and in a haze, going along with Jerry's advances.

The next day, Maggie invites Finn to go with her to watch Jim and Seth do the New Year's Polar Bear Jump thing. Jim turns out to be kind of a jerk, criticizing Seth about his jobs and the trouble he's been in with their father. Finn learns that Seth wants to be a farmer someday and the two later bond over a checker game.

In school, Finn builds up her relationship with Seth to Vida, who is disappointed Finn didn't fall for Jerry. A girl called Nancy overhears all this. Nancy's a little weird and not all that believable as a character. She seems to be jealous of Finn and floats around her with silly comments and criticism. After school, Finn sees Seth driving by in Maggie's green Volkswagon and impulsively jumps in front of the car and demands he drive her home. Seth seems really distant and Finn thinks he's trying to remember her name. In reality, he's been applying for jobs and is depressed about being rejected. Embarrassed, Finn stumbles out of the car leaving a bewildered Seth in her wake.

A couple of weeks later Finn is studying at the library, daydreaming about Seth, when, like often happens in a YA book but not in real life, he suddenly appears. Finn learns there's more to Seth than just his good looks. He's looking for something to read. They talk for a while about some book I've never heard of that "everyone knows about" and Finn's mind is reeling adorably...she goes back and forth between being snippy with him to being dazzled by him...when somehow it gets through to her that he's just asked her out to the movies Friday. 

Finn does a lot of extra chores to prepare to ask her mother's permission to go on the movie date. (If she really wanted to go why is she asking? It's pretty obvious the answer will be no.) She ends up asking her mother as they are driving home in the snow from buying her mother platform shoes in the worst possible way, mentioning his age, his being Jim's brother and his status as a high school drop out. The mother swerves the car and we find out Finn is short for "Finnis." Finn goes to the Apple Cafeteria where Seth works to tell him she can't go and for the first time Seth learns that Finn is only fifteen.

I can only assume this is the 80s cover version

Finn gets so upset over the incident that she makes herself sick enough to stay home from school. She is partially miffed that Seth balked at the idea of dating a fifteen year old. Maybe he was worried about the statutory rape charges? Which is a weird thought considering what comes later in the book.

The toilet overflows while Finn's home alone and she calls for Maggie to come fix it (she has a habit of running to Maggie or someone when there's a problem). Maggie and Jim come over and fix the toilet when (surprise surprise) the mother comes home early from work and catches them. At first she acts cold toward the pair, but (as she is the softer of the parents on this issue) she eventually invites them to sit down and eat cheese and crackers.

There's a Fleetwood Forest (Fleetwood Mac?) concert coming up at the Syracuse War Memorial and Vida encourages Finn and Jerry (who is still trying to get into Finn's pants) to go with her and her boyfriend Paul. Jerry can't go because he has a basketball game that night, and Finn's not that disappointed because she is still mooning over Seth. At the concert, it is announced that Fleetwood Forest couldn't make it because of the blizzard that's currently going on.

Finn goes to look for her friends who've gotten away from her, when, in a slightly too convenient coincidence (there are thousands of people at the concert), she runs into Seth. Finn is still pissed at Seth for some reason and he apologizes even though he really didn't do anything wrong (yet). Finn uses a payphone to call her mother to come pick her up and Seth asks to stay with her until she arrives.

Seth tells Finn that he admires her fierce attitude and how well she puts up a fight - which is something he won't like so much later in the book. He talks a bit about his father and how he won't fight no matter how mad he gets. Finn and Seth have their first kiss right as Finn's mother pulls up and Finn thinks to herself that she's in love.

Finn's parents once again forbid her to see Seth and hang up the phone when Seth tries to call but Finn decides she's not going to listen. We also hear again about how Finn has vowed not to have intercourse until she's older. She's learned in a Family Life class at school that sex isn't just intercourse, but that there are other things that can be done...she reasons that her mother waited to have sex and her parents have a good marriage.

Finn skips school to visit Seth at his job, which irritates his boss. They also meet at the movie theater, with Finn using Vida as her alibi. Jerry comes to Finn's house unexpectedly and tries to force her to date him again. Maggie tries to get on her mother's good side by refusing to help Finn see Seth. She dismisses Finn's feelings as being a mere crush and unimportant. Once again we are reminded of the agony of being fifteen and not having anyone take you seriously.

Finn and Seth sneak off to the Historical Society to be alone, and here is where we come to the main conflict of the story. Seth wants Finn to take off her shirt in the secluded room, but she is uncomfortable doing so. Seth is visibly frustrated with only seeing Finn in the Apple a few times a week, although Finn is satisfied with the intensity of the relationship. Seth broaches the topic of sex quite bluntly, and Finn makes her decision on the subject very clear. "Girls always say no at first," he says. Finn retorts, "I'm not 'girls'! I'm me."

Another day the pair sneak in Jim's and Maggie's apartment where some slightly R rated stuff occurs. Jim comes in (what was the point of them going there if he didn't) and reprimands Seth for quitting his job and bringing an underage girl into the apartment. Seth storms off, and when Finn goes after him he tells her to "bug off." It's hilarious, because she reacts just as strongly as if he'd said "fuck off."

A couple of days pass before they get together again and Seth reveals that he has a new job at a potato chip factory and has rented the attic room that inspired the title of the book. They go to the room and right away Seth is wanting Finn to get in the bed with him. She is hesitant, but finally gives in. She jerks him off in the bed (Mazer uses more eloquent prose) and is very contented with this level of intimacy.

Finn gets home from Seth's hours later than she was supposed to, and her angry parents are waiting for her.  They grill her about where she was and she admits readily that she was with Seth. Her father flies off the handle and hits her in the face. Finn wonders if her father is going to start beating her to keep her from seeing Seth. There was no indication before that the father was violent, and you might think the book is flying off into a different direction, but it actually goes together with what happens later in the book. "It was the most horrible thing in the world to force someone else with physical strength." Finn tells her father that even if he hits her again, she won't be kept from Seth. Finn runs into Maggie in town and they make amends, although Maggie warns her that Seth isn't as nice as he seems at first.

Finn makes up with her parents. It's not an unrealistic scene, it's just kind of unbelievable that they would change their minds about Seth just because Finn cries and tells them she loves them. But they do relent, and Finn goes to visit Seth. That's where things get ugly. The two have their clothes off and are kissing when Seth becomes too forceful and nearly rapes her. When Finn doesn't give in, Seth resorts to emotional abuse, calling the intimate moment they shared before as "shoot[ing] off into the wall." Finn has to fight her way out of the room and runs off.

So I read some reviews on Good Reads and a lot of people really hate this book because of this scene and the fact that (spoilers) she eventually takes him back. I totally understand that. When I was a tween in the early 90s I was a big General Hospital and Luke and Laura fan. I already wrote about this, but in 1979 Luke rapes Laura at the campus disco and that's how their relationship began. When I found out about the rape (it had aired a few months before I was born so I didn't know about it), I immediately stopped shipping Luke and Laura. It just seemed ludicrous to me that someone would marry their rapist and that audiences would go along with that. Yet I don't hate the character of Seth. Maybe it's because I had already grown to like him or because I feel he learned something by the end of the book. Maybe it's also because Mazer makes Finn's near rape look like a bad, ugly thing, while Laura's rape on GH was slightly romanticized. From the same month and year that Up in Seth's Room was first published, check it out:

Luke's declaration of love for Laura just before raping her seems to me like some sort of sick fantasy or twisted way of thinking the writers had. Seth's actions were definitely not motivated by love, and that's made clear. As Finn flees Seth's attic room, she sees everything she thought was beautiful before as ugly. She smells cat pee on the stairs and has noticed that Seth's feet are ugly.

Finn spends the next week or so brooding and being depressed over the situation. Then she goes to visit Seth as he is leaving work at the potato chip factory. It turns out Seth has felt the same way and has written to some friends about a farming job in Vermont. He apologizes to Finn because he had "came on like gangbusters." But then he does partially blame Finn for his actions because she was naked in his bed and let him do other stuff to her. They fight some more and decide to continue on with the relationship.

Maggie has a party to celebrate the year she and Jim have known each other and Finn and Seth have another talk there. This time he opens up a bit more and seems more genuine about his regret of his treatment of Finn. Seth concludes that "there are other things to do that'll make us both feel good."

The final chapter skips ahead a couple of months. Seth comes to pick up Finn from school and takes her to a field on the edge of town. He explains that he's come to say goodbye because he's leaving a month earlier than planned to go work on the farm in Vermont. Finn is predictably upset with this news, even though she knew he was leaving eventually. After a while they take off all their clothes and do something or other...the book uses some corny prose here and doesn't exactly explain what's going on (sorry kids), and Seth drops Finn home and drives off. Before doing so, Finn acknowledges that she'll have other boyfriends...just not for a long time. (So we know she won't turn into a slut like Vida). But...they totally get back together eventually...at least in my head canon.  

Further Book Notes 

• Finn's favorite singer is Joni Mitchell. The song Carey is quoted quite often. I actually started listening to Joni's music because of this book. 
• Mazer could be very good with realistic dialogue, but then she comes out with background characters now and then who speak in ways no one would, especially a teenage boy. A boy Finn talks to at the New Year's Eve party smokes a pipe and tells her she's "looking charming." At a later party a guy tells her she has a "smashing laugh."
• This was Norma Fox Mazer's response to the Judy Blume novel of a few years before, Forever, in which an eighteen year old girl loses her virginity and then abruptly dumps the guy at the end of the book. Mazer believed that teens should be free to explore their sexuality but that penetration should wait for later years after the adolescent hormones and emotions have died down. Finn is a little younger than Katherine, the protagonist of Forever, so I would agree that it would be best to wait. But teens tend to have tunnel vision when it comes to the future...would Finn really have held out so strongly against Seth? And would his leaving have been any harder had they had actual penis-in-vagina sex?  
• The ending seems a bit tacked on and rushed, as if Mazer didn't want to end with them together and the reason why wasn't really important. And what about their compromised version of sex. It was uncertain in the next-to-last paragraph if it was going to work out, and the final chapter never really answers that. Also, it's going to be pretty awkward for Seth and Finn if Maggie and Jim stay together and get married. They'll be in-laws and have to see each other at Thanksgiving and stuff. The book never really goes into that either. 
• Norma Fox Mazer slipped in her old characters into some of her newer books at times, but as far as I know, she never did that for any character in this book, though with the ending the way it was it would've been nice to see what happened.
• Finn and Vida have a long-standing argument about sex, with Finn being on the side of waiting until she is older. A smart decision, I agree, but again I wonder if her view as a teenager in love would be all that realistic. She and her family don't appear to be religious, this was before the AIDS epidemic (although there was still VD), after free love and easily attainable birth control, and Finn appears to be well-adjusted and affectionate. I just have my doubts that she would have resisted Seth so strongly. It's almost as if the message is that girls don't really want sex and just have to battle against guys who are obsessed with it. Though the bottom line is that no one should be made to do anything they don't want to do, and I think that was communicated successfully in this book.

What's the Matter With the Dobsons? (1980) by Hila Colman

I became interested in this book after reading about it on Awful Library Books. (Apparently, I *love* awful books). The Dobsons are a family divided. Mr. Dobson openly favors younger daughter Lisa, who is a goody-goody suck up. Thirteen year old Amanda is left out in the cold. Mrs. Dobson comes off much better than her husband. Rather than seeming to favor Amanda, she is merely compensating for the lack of attention the older girl receives from her father.

The book opens with Amanda hopefully presenting a dollhouse she has made to her father, who is an architect. Instead of encouraging his child, Mr. Dobson picks apart every little thing he finds wrong with the house. Mr. Dobson later invites Amanda to come with him for his working vacation weekend in Boston and when she does not immediately accept, he turns around and invites Lisa instead...(Mrs. Dobson later admits that she doesn't think her husband even considered taking her, which is kind of creepy). Lisa meets a boy while in Boston and when Mr. Dobson balks at the idea of her dating (which is kind of understandable...she's 11), his wife accuses him of being *jealous* of the boy(!) 

Meanwhile, Amanda has a crush on a boy she hears likes her back but thinks she is stuck up. Poor Amanda has the idea that men just don't like her because of her complex resulting from her creepy father. Amanda has a school dance coming up where she'll get the chance to hang out with Randy, her crush. Her parents are going out the same evening and Lisa doesn't want to be left alone, although she had no problem wandering the streets of Boston by herself. The dad makes the ludicrous suggestion that Amanda stay home from her dance to stay with Lisa, though she had made the plans long in advance.

my copy of the book

 Here's where my loyalties in the book begin to shift a bit. Amanda wants to come home from the party early so she gets in a car with Randy, who doesn't have a license. A cop pulls over the underage boy and takes the kids to the police station. Amanda and her mother think Amanda shouldn't be punished for her poor choice and when the father grounds her for the next Saturday, Amanda acts disrespectful and hides out in her room. Lisa sneaks her up some food.

The next Saturday, Amanda predictably sneaks out to her St. Patrick's Day party, arguing hilariously that she may never be invited to a St. Patrick's Day party again...(seriously, is this kind of thing that endears teens to these kinds of characters? I was not a typical teen). She is found out, her father loses her temper and (as typically happens in these kinds of books) he slaps her.

The parents argue some more and the father moves out, promising Lisa that they would talk about her coming to stay with him, which sounds like a mistake to me. Lisa does go stay with Mark (the father) at his hotel room while Amanda stays back with their mother. Amanda admits to a friend that sometimes she picks fights on purpose with her father just to see if she can win. This doesn't sound altogether like realistic dialogue, because what kid would do that and then admit to it? Amanda visits her father one night when Lisa isn't around and he tells her that he is so hard on her because she has an analytical mind while Lisa has an intuitive mind or some such nonsense. It still sounds like Lisa comes out the winner. 

Mark's mother gets married towards the end of the book and he and Kate (the kids' mother) get back together during the reception held at their house. Each parent does something to provide an example of how they have changed during the book in dealing with their respective favorite child. 

Further Book Notes

• Rather than casting Lisa (the less relatable girl) as the villain, Colman alternates between Lisa and Amanda's points of view. She also less successfully tries out the parents points of view.
• Amanda (13) and Lisa (11) are only two years apart, yet Mr. Dobson acts as if Amanda is nearly grown and should be able to withstand his criticism while Lisa is a little kid who doesn't know any better. This is why studies show that the oldest child in the family is generally the smartest...more is expected of him/her. This coming from someone who was a youngest child until age seventeen, so don't kill the messenger.

Lack of Updates

Been busy with a new job so I haven't had time to update this page. It's also hard to be motivated to do so when other, newer blogs just like this one get more comments than I do views, but that's what it's like any time I try to write a blog. [insert violin music and balloons for my pity party] I encourage you to look at the blogs I've linked to at the right. Hopefully soon I will find time to read a good, nostalgic 70s or 80s juvenile fiction novel. Getting lost in the plot of such books helps me to escape the larger problems of real life. Thanks for viewing this blog and hope to make another, real post for you (or myself to look at later when I'm bored) soon.

It's About Time (1984) by Bernal C. Payne, Jr

 

Thanks to the popular Back To the Future movies, there was no shortage of time travel fantasy books in the 80s. This book's plot, where a pair of siblings travel back in time to the 50s and meet their parents as teenagers, is actually even closer to the first movie than other copycat books coat tailing on Back To the Future's popularity. However, since the first movie came out in 1985 and this book was first published in 1984, could the screenwriter actually have been inspired by this little known YA book? Judge for yourself.

The protagonist, sixteen year old Chris Davenport, begins the story by telling us all about his family. What they look like, his parents' occupations, how his father's parents died in a car accident when Chris was a baby and the fact that his parents met as teenagers. His reports are conversational in tone, as if we are there to see everything. 

Chris tells of how he and his sister Gail were rummaging around through their parents' old stuff in the attic on Christmas Eve 1983. They read their mother's old diary entry for the day when she had her first date with their father on Christmas Eve 1955. The two had bumped into each other while shopping and George (the father) invited Liz (the mother) to his family's home that night to decorate their Christmas tree.

Gail says how she wishes she knew more about their meeting and she can't just ask her parents about it because this wouldn't be much of a book that way. Chris tells her about an article he read in which a psychic was able to visit her dead husband by staring at an old photo of him and going back in time. So the two stare very hard at the Christmas Eve 1955 photo of their parents and wish themselves into the past.

Chris and Gail find themselves in their attic in 1955. In a too-good-to-be-true coincidence, the 1955 owners are in Florida on vacation. The twosome marvel at their retro surroundings and debate the merits of panicking (Chris) or going on to watch their parents' meeting (Gail). They decide to go exploring in the neighborhood. They look at the current newspaper and find that they've missed their wished-for date by only one day. It is December 23, 1955. They buy some burgers and fries with their modern money (wouldn't the money have a 1980s date on it?) for only a dollar and two cents.

Next the kids head over to the high school, where they see their teenage father, who went by the name Sonny, showing off in his red hot rod. A girl named Becky gets in the car with them, and they realize it is Gail's future English teacher. They overhear another girl call their father a fathead and turn to see that she is their mother. Liz drives off with another guy, whom Chris and Gail are also familiar with. It's a young version of their good family doctor friend who delivered Chris and Gail, Dr. John Bennett.

what Sonny's 1930 Plymouth hot rod might have looked like

It's a stereotypical 1950s afternoon. Everyone heads to the same hamburger joint after school. Sonny is heckled by two tough guys who want to drag race with him. One of them asks, "You callin' me chicken, Sonny boy?" when Sonny insults him and turns him down. Eventually Sonny and Wild Bill do race, and goody-goody Liz is the only one to not come out and congratulate Sonny when he wins. 

Chris and Gail then become curious to see their father's parents, the ones who died in an accident when they were babies. They walk to their father's old house and make up an excuse to talk to their grandparents, becoming emotional when they have to leave. 

Thinking about how worried their parents must be in 1983, the kids try to make it back to their own time. For some reason, the 1955 picture and Liz's diary time traveled with them - so there are two copies of Liz's diary in 1955? - but then they realize that they need a modern picture to get back to modern times. Luckily, like all teenage boys, Chris happens to have a current picture of his parents in his wallet. Unluckily, no amount of staring at the photograph spurs any time traveling. Chris decides that they just aren't ready mentally to return to their own time yet. The two decide to watch some television and try to sleep.

Next day, the two head down to the shopping center where their parents ran into each other and began dating. They see Sonny and Liz headed towards each other and Gail (why does the girl always have to screw things up?) accidentally runs into Sonny instead. Thus the conflict of the story is established. Were Chris and Gail ever born? They decide they must stay in 1955 and try to get their parents together some other way.

Predictably, Sonny goes off with Becky and Liz with John. After some spying, Chris and Gail find the whole gang down at the ice skating pond. Chris comes up with the idea of wrapping scarves around their faces so no one will remember their 1955 meeting with them in 1983. Which seems pretty conceited. I mean, who remembers some random kids they met a couple of times twenty eight years ago?

Gail meets Sonny's younger sister, her aunt Alice, and pumps her for information regarding Sonny, Liz and their respective dates. The author throws in a mild incest joke when Alice suggests that Sonny might ask Gail on a date. Gail declines. We do find out that Sonny is no more of a fan of Liz's than she is of him. Chris decides to get out on the ice and try to knock the two of them together. This maneuver doesn't spark a friendship, as Liz totally blames Sonny for the incident because he was showing off on the ice. Sonny accuses Liz and John of skating like senior citizens. Still, amid the argument there is an obvious spark between the two of them. 

Gail then says that they need God's help in this matter (it's not really a Christian novel) and they head toward their church. There's a different priest there than the one they're used to in the 80s, Father Dooley. While praying, Chris and Gail begin to disappear, which causes Gail to faint. Gail's fainting catches Father Dooley's attention and they privately tell him the whole story.

At first Father Dooley thinks they are pulling a practical joke on him, possibly orchestrated by Sonny. Not even the 1983 Polaroid budges his stance. Then Chris shows him his digital watch with built-in calculator that he purchased at Target. Father Dooley begins asking a lot of questions about the future. He is flabbergasted that Ronald Reagan is president in 1983 and horrified to realize that he himself is long dead. The priest is still set on the whole thing being an elaborate prank, causing Gail to wail that their 1983 priest would have believed them. Father Dooley is in shock, because Father Ryan has just landed a job in the parish and no one knew about him yet. He tells the kids to come back the next day. Chris decides that their parents' must have been thinking negative thoughts about each other to cause their disappearing act, and changed their mind to bring them back again. (And Chris is always right, if you haven't noticed. He's a boy.)

Back at the house, the kids notice that both their mom's diary and the 1955 photo have gone blank. They attend mass the next day and notice Sonny and Liz casting furtive glances at each other all during the service. They meet up with Father Dooley again, who gives them another round of questions about the world of 1983. Finally he admits that he believes their story and agrees to help them.

Father Dooley's plan is to invite both Sonny and Liz to participate in putting on a Christmas charity dinner for some old folks. Other teenagers join the group, including Chris and Gail (so that Chris can continue narrating the story). One girl openly flirts with Sonny, but he mostly ignores her. Liz snips at Sonny about his hot rod. When it's time to load the food in the vehicles, Father Dooley's car breaks down, throwing a wrench in the plan to force Sonny and Liz to carpool together alone. Chris and Gail tag along with them, again so that Chris can continue to tell his point of view of the story.

Sonny and Liz argue and Sonny misses a stop sign and gets pulled over by a cop. For some reason, Liz abruptly has a change of heart and explains that she was browbeating Sonny at the time of the incident. The cop lets him off and Sonny and Liz warm to each other. 

Everyone arrives at the nursing home in good spirits, but then Becky shows up to spoil things. Becky quickly assesses the situation and decides she doesn't stand much of a chance. She tells everyone how Sonny will not be graduating this year because he is flunking too many classes. This is actually good news for Chris and Gail, as their mother is a grade below their father and will have him to herself, without Becky, for a year. Becky finally storms out and slinks down on a chair in despair, making sure that Sonny can see her.

Liz offers to tutor Sonny (whom she calls George) in his problem subjects. She also admits to liking him. Before Sonny can respond, a woman from the nursing home comes up and begs Liz to play for them on the piano. Just when it looks like Chris and Gail are out of the woods, they spy Sonny leaving with Becky. When Liz sees this, she begins beating out angry songs...but then Sonny comes back alone in his father's car. It turned out he didn't want to take finicky Liz home in his hot rod for fear of another verbal spanking. 

Chris and Gail say goodbye to Father Dooley. They go back to the house, having decided it was time to go back to 1983. Before they leave, they notice that the 1955 photograph is no longer blank. It is a picture of teenage Sonny and Liz standing in front of a mantel with a winking Father Dooley. When they arrive home, they find that no time had passed.

Further Book Notes:

• The Davenports are a little too perfect to be believable. Chris raves about how good-looking his middle aged parents are, cares about his family history and never fights with his sister.
• Seriously, they never fight. It almost feels incestuous, especially when Chris narrates stuff like, "She slid her big green eyes over in my direction." I dunno. Just sounds unnatural to me. 
• The way in which Chris and Gail time travel is pretty lame. Wishing on a picture? No time machines or magic portals? No mad scientists or deLoreans? It's too easy. Even Christopher Reeve in Somewhere in Time had to try several times before his astral projection worked.
• The author (and not coincidentally, Chris) seems fascinated with classic cars. There are pages of descriptions of the cars that were driven in 1955, many from the 30s and 40s.
• Chris is sure that none of the teenagers in 1955 have ever even heard of or care about drugs. That sounds like how most of us look at the past through rose-colored glasses most of the time. Though I can't imagine anyone in 2015 claiming that no one in 1987 did drugs, so maybe it's true. The author does seem to have a keen understanding of the time period.
• Not only are the 1950s idealized, but the 1980s are made out to seem a lot more dangerous than they were. "These people could walk outside at night without any fear of being mugged before they got to the end of the block." Somehow I made it from 1980 to the present day without ever being mugged. I'm also sure there was plenty of crime back in the 1950s, just as there has been since the beginning of time.
• Gail is only one year younger than Chris, and it comes off kind of sexist that she seems so much less intelligent and more dependent than he does. (Getting in the way of their parents' meeting, fainting, looking to Chris to come up with all the ideas, etc.) 
• The dialogue throughout the book is fairly realistic-sounding without going over the top with it, e.g. there's no "Sit on it!" or "Hot dog, daddio!" every other line just to show how endearing the 50s were.  
• Teenage Liz is rather unlikable. She is described as thinking she is above everyone else and takes every opportunity to cut Sonny down. When she and Sonny finally get together, you get the feeling she will keep his balls stored in her purse and that he will have to change quite a bit to keep her. Of what little we get to see of 1983 Liz, there is nothing to show that she still has this personality or what happened to change it. 
• While doing a little research on the book, I found a post by someone claiming to have had Bernal C. Payne, Jr as their fifth grade teacher. (The back book flap does say that he was a teacher.) The person said that Mr. Payne was convinced that Steven Spielberg had ripped him off with BTTF and had looked into a lawsuit that apparently never went anywhere. Though the similarities are not as compelling as Margaret Peterson Haddix's Running Out of Time and the movie The Village (now THAT was a disgustingly obvious rip-off), I guess I could see where he might have had a case.  
• The author didn't write any more books of this nature. It's too bad, too. I know I snarked on this novel a little, but it really was a fun, fast read. How about a sequel featuring Chris's children (assuming he didn't marry Gail) and what they think of the 80s? Or maybe 1983 Chris and Gail could time travel to 2015?

The Secret Summer of L.E.B. (1974) by Barbara Brooks Wallace

 

Lizabeth Bracken is quiet and introspective and thoughtful. She is also a follower. It is her good fortune to fall in with the V.I.Gs and Bs (Very Important Girls and Boys), the cool group of sixth graders at her school. The V.I.Gs and Bs are very much like you would expect them to be, always acting above the more socially challenged of their peers. The gang has decided to put on a 1920s themed musical act for the school's annual variety show. All the students are supposed to participate and everyone wonders what class outcast C.D. (Creepy Douglas) could possibly contribute.

discovering the house

Meanwhile, Lizabeth is disappointed that her family will not be visiting her grandfather's old summer house over the upcoming summer vacation. Lizabeth loves anything retro and was looking forward to basking in turn of the century nostalgia in the old house. While fuming over this turn of events on her way home from school, Lizabeth comes across a vacant Victorian era house. Following a squirrel she sees outside the house, Lizabeth eventually breaks in and surveys the dusty furnished rooms. She decides to fix up the house on her own and keep it as her secret. There is no one she can tell about her new discovery who would appreciate it as much as she does. Certainly not her best friend Sharon from the V.I.G.s. Sharon had laughed when Lizabeth mentioned the summer house.

Lizabeth goes to Woolworth's, a staple for 1970s book characters, and buys cleaning equipment, an ugly neon picture, and some fabric samples. She sneaks back into the house and finds...C.D., the boy in her class whom everyone hates. C.D. immediately acts apologetic for his presence in the house, though he has every bit of right to be there as Lizabeth, which is none. We learn that C.D., like most bullied kids who don't go on to blow up the school, is pretty awesome. He is kind and considerate to Lizabeth, who gives him very little reason to be so. Lizabeth doesn't want a thing to do with C.D. and makes this clear through her actions. Eventually, though, Lizabeth relents and they go exploring the house together. Lizabeth worries about facing C.D. at school the next day.

She need not have worried, though. C.D. goes out of his way to avoid Lizabeth so she won't have to decide whether to continue ignoring him or not. This shows that, like most bullied kids, C.D. also has very little self-esteem. This leads me to wondering about what makes some kids outcasts. With some it's little more than a lack of hygiene. Others are too shy, too loud, have something physically or mentally that sets them apart. But most are awesome, though they don't realize it. Okay, back to the book.

Lizabeth finally slips C.D. a note, signed Nutsy the squirrel, asking him to come back to the house, which he hasn't done since his run-in with her. The next time Lizabeth comes to the house, C.D. is there. He tells her she can call him Loren, which is his middle name. Lizabeth says this is a good name, but I think if this had been a modern book, Loren/Lauren for a boy would sound too feminine and be another reason to make fun of him. Loren and Lizabeth agree to fix up the upstairs living room (so the younger neighborhood kids won't see in the window and interfere). Loren suggests that Lizabeth keep their friendship a secret so she won't become a target of the other kids, and she reluctantly agrees.    

ready for the performance

The VIGs, also known as The Pop-Pop Girls, put on their homemade flapper dresses to perform in the school variety show. (Would 1970s kids really have been into this stuff?) Before they go on stage, the VIBs make fun of Loren, who is acting as stage crew, one taking a wet paintbrush to the back of his sweatshirt. You probably already saw something like this happening. And predictably, Lizabeth says nothing to defend him.  

At the house, Lizabeth asks to meet Loren's grandmother, whom he has lived with since his parents died in an accident. Loren complies, but acts strangely. Mimi, Loren's grandmother, turns out to be a super perceptive person and soon wheedles out of Loren that he is keeping a secret from Lizabeth. He confesses that his Mimi actually owns the house and that he didn't want to tell Lizabeth because he knew she wouldn't come back to a house owned by Creepy Douglas. She quickly forgives him and they resume decorating the room.

kids egging Loren's house

In an unfortunate coincidence, Loren's birthday falls on the same day at Sharon's, Lizabeth's snooty friend from the V.I.G.s. Lizabeth chooses to spend the day with Sharon fixing up her basement for Sharon's birthday party and plans to celebrate Loren's birthday the next day. During Sharon's party, the kids decide to take an outing and egg Loren's house. Lizabeth balks at the idea, but doesn't reveal her friendship with the boy. Sharon insists that Lizabeth come along, though Lizabeth gets lucky when they run out of eggs so she never has to throw one.

Loren doesn't show up at the house the next day. Lizabeth assumes it's because he's mad about the eggs, but actually Mimi has had a stroke. Lizabeth tells Sharon, who has been coming to Lizabeth's apartment pool to swim, that she'll be babysitting all day every day so that she can spend more time with Loren until Mimi gets better. Loren reveals that he and Mimi will be moving to his aunt's and uncle's apartment in New York because Mimi needs constant care. Lizabeth is devastated at this news, and Loren seems way too upset to be leaving a place where all his peers treat him like crap. When Sharon calls, having found out Lizabeth hasn't been babysitting, Lizabeth hurts Sharon by saying they were never best friends in the first place.

Lizabeth and Sharon

Loren and Lizabeth have a going away party in the house. Lizabeth confesses that she and Sharon have fought because of her friendship with Loren. Loren encourages Lizabeth to make up with Sharon, but not to tell her about him for fear the other kids will gang up on her.  Loren explains how he became "Creepy Douglas." His parents died when he was in the fourth grade and a well meaning teacher gave him extra attention, which made the other kids jealous. Three boys started bullying Loren on a daily basis and when they found out he never fights back, the other kids joined in on the tormenting.  

At Loren's urging, Lizabeth goes immediately over to Sharon's house while he waits at the house. Sharon accepts Lizabeth's apology and confesses that she only laughed about the summer house because she lives in an old house and doesn't consider it anything special. Sharon tells Lizabeth that she envies her for several reasons. Right when Lizabeth is about to leave to go back to Loren, she invites Sharon to come with her and meet him.

And so the story ends. Sad for Lizabeth, because she lost a great friendship and is stuck with a sub-par one she isn't that excited about. But happy for Loren, whom it is assumed will fare better at his new school in New York.

The Amazing Bone (1976) by William Steig

I probably won't be featuring many picture books like this. For one, I enjoy the books for older children better and for two, I just don't have the capabilities to do the pictures justice. Nevertheless, I found a box of old books that I forgot I had (in addition to the 200+ other old children's books already in my possession), so I figured why not take a trip down preschool memory lane?

Pearl, a seemingly adolescent pig, dawdles on her way home from school, dreaming about what occupation she might have some day.

While resting in the woods and reflecting on how wonderful life is, Pearl suddenly hears a voice talking to her. It turns out to be coming from a bone on the ground. The bone can imitate any sound. When Pearl questions how this can be, the bone delivers the line I most remember from this book: "I don't know. I didn't make the world."

 

The bone explains that he used to belong to a witch until she accidentally dropped him. The bone is happy to have "young and lively" Pearl come along to rescue him from his loneliness. Their happiness is short-lived, however, because three masked muggers come along, demanding Pearl's purse in which she has placed the bone. Yeah, they're pointing guns and knives at her in a book for three year olds. Oh the 70s. The bone makes a sound like a lion and the three robbers flee the scene.

As Pearl and the bone laugh off this incident, a fox comes along. He examines Pearl and decides she is just what he wants...for his dinner, that is. The bone makes more scary noises but the fox is not so easily frightened. The fox steals the bone and leads Pearl back to his house. Pearl pitifully asks for the bone back...until she has to die. The fox is annoyed at himself for being so soft-hearted, but relents. The fox proclaims that he can't help but be evil, for he didn't make the world. Don't worry, this little catch phrase is not really repeated over and over like in most books for little children.

Pearl is locked in a room and begins to mourn her short life, about to be relinquished. "I was just beginning to live. I don't want it to end." I think I need a drink. The bone makes comforting but not very helpful remarks. Pearl can hear the fox sharpening knives in the kitchen, preparing for her murder. Man, I don't remember this book being this violent and depressing. 

Right at the point where this begins to look more like an episode of Dateline NBC than a Reading Rainbow book, the bone randomly shouts out some nonsense words, causing the fox to shrink to the size of a mouse. The bone guesses that he must have picked up some magic from living with the witch. Pearl reunites with her parents and keeps the bone from then on. Don't daydream, kids.

 

Just Between Us (1980) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

 

I had a more detailed recap of this book about half written when it disappeared from my computer. What follows is what I best remember writing. 

I don't know if anyone is reading and appreciating this little blog, but I just moved and don't have internet access yet, so I've been doing a lot of reading. Here is my first post in quite a while.

Cass has a problem, other than being rather unfortunate-looking according to the cover. She doesn't know how to keep a secret. She doesn't even know when not to tell something private unless the teller specifically tells her not to. The story opens with Cass's best friend Jenny angry at Cass for telling the class loudmouth, Laura, about Jenny's new training bra. Cass confides in her new friend Robin that she desperately needs to change.

Cass's mother, a psychology student, decides to try some behavior modification on Cass to include in her term paper. She will tell Cass a variety of information each morning. One piece of information will be a secret that Cass will need to keep, and she'll have to use her own power of discernment to decide what is the secret. For each secret kept, Cass earns a dollar.

Robin decides to take a chance and prove how much she trusts Cass and her desire to become a better secret-keeper. Robin tells Cass her deepest, darkest secret: Robin's mother was married before and Robin is the result of her mother's first marriage. Kind of a disappointing secret, but I guess it was a bigger deal in 1980. Cass vows to keep this secret forever.

Cass struggles through her mother's experiment. One day she tries simply not talking to avoid spilling secrets. She finally resorts to coughing violently whenever she is about to reveal something she shouldn't. 

Jenny grows more and more jealous of Cass and Robin's friendship. Jenny is dealing with her parents' nasty divorce, and the ordeal has made her act out in ways that have cost her friends. Jenny tells the girls that her mother says they are low on money because her father has a new girlfriend with expensive tastes. Jenny wants to have a party and get a new bike for her birthday, but her mother insists that because of her father, this cannot be. Robin suggests that Jenny call her father and talk it over with him. Jenny follows Robins advice and ends up losing her temper and angering her father. Looking for an excuse to be mad at Robin, Jenny vows to seek revenge.

Coincidentally, the class is having a lesson on genetics. Jenny notes that Robin and her parents look nothing alike and begins to put two and two together. Jenny tells Cass that she has a plan to get back at Robin by telling everyone in school that Robin is adopted. Again, this might not seem like a big deal, but I grew up in the 80s with an adopted brother and he did get picked on now and then for it. He was told to tell people that he was hand-chosen by his parents while the parents had to take what they could get with a biological child. Anyway, Cass can't warn Robin about Jenny's plan because it is a *secret.* Cass's mother takes Cass to her behavioral psychology class and Cass gives a talk about the experiment. Still, all she can think about are her problems with her friends.

Jenny becomes borderline possessive of Cass, constantly calling and demanding to know where she is. Finally Cass threatens to tell Laura that Jenny is a bed-wetter if she goes through with her plan. Jenny breaks down in tears, admitting that she doesn't want to be mean anymore. Cass applies her mother's behavior therapy on both Jenny and Robin (Robin throws her clothes around). If Jenny and Robin improve with their respective problems, Cass promises to take them all out for hamburgers and sodas with her reward money. Jenny slips up a few times but in the end she succeeds and the girls enjoy a ridiculous amount of food and drink for only ten dollars.

This book was a little different in that Cass was not a bright, precocious character like her YA heroine counterparts. Frankly, she seemed a little slow at times, which was a refreshing change of pace. Things might have been wrapped up a little too neatly in the end, but I liked how the writer explored Jenny's motivation for her behavior and didn't just treat her as a bad friend to be thrown away.