Wonder Wheels (1979) by Lee Bennett Hopkins

couldn't find a cover image to steal for this one, so here's my copy

 

You can't get much more late 70's than Wonder Wheels. This book reads like an afterschool special that I could only imagine John Travolta starring in. I'm not well-versed enough in 70's starlets to cast the female lead unfortunately. Maybe one of the former Brady Bunch girls?

 

 



Mick is a good looking seventeen year old guy who lives with his parents in Newark, New Jersey. When he's not working at the local supermarket, Mick spends most of his free time at a skating rink called Wonder Wheels where he is what his friends call "magic on wheels". Mick is looking forward to auditioning for a skate competition being held at the rink. The twelve winners will have an opportunity to show off their skills at a show in a nearby theme park next summer. Mick looks forward to being able to leave his job at Foods-For-You if he wins. Mick talks to his friend J.P. about music for his routine. They discuss a fictional song and how it's not good for the spins Mick wants to do. Mick jokes about skating to Barbara Streisand's People, a song they are all sick of. Ro, Wonder Wheel's organ player, will occasionally play People just to mess with Mick and his friends.

 



 

Mick has begun to feel a sense of disillusionment because he doesn't know many people well in his life. He has a conversation with his father likening life to a carousel.

 

Mick's main competition for the audition is his friend Lisa, who is constantly coming on to him. Mick just doesn't like her enough to date her. While skating around the rink with Lisa one day, Mick sees a girl who does catch his eye. After the song, he goes over to meet her and offer to buy her a Coke. The girl says her name is Kitty, but is rather icy toward Mick. Undeterred, Mick asks if Kitty will skate the next Couples Only with him and she agrees. 

 

The story switches to Kitty's point of view and we get to see her crappy home life. Mom's a mentally abusive nut job, Dad's AWOL, little brother is angry and Grandma's stroke has altered her sense of reality. Kitty's mom freaks out when Mick calls. She tries to talk Kitty into seeing an older boy named Kenneth. Kitty's mother talks up Kenneth, calling him mature and responsible and bragging about the fact that he is about to become a deacon, but the thought of the boy "sent a shiver down Kitty's spine." Foreshadowing.

 

Mick tells his mother that he's really starting to fall for Kitty. Kitty warns Mick not to call her house because her mother is crazy. After weeks of seeing each other at Wonder Wheels, Mick and Kitty finally plan their first date.

 

Ro pulls Mick aside because she has some criticism for him...she thinks he should wear jockey shorts instead of boxers because you can see them sag under his pants. This is not important to the plot, just thought I'd mention it.

 

Kitty and Mick have their date, which entails sitting under a tree talking. Kitty tells Mick all about her home life, but she leaves out any mention of Kenneth. Kitty met Kenneth at a church picnic months ago, but right away he began asserting his authority over her. When Kitty accepted a date from another boy, Kenneth became so enraged that he twisted her arm and threatened to break it if she didn't cancel the date. Kitty avoided Kenneth after that incident and has been trying to completely eliminate him from her life.

 

Kitty can't wait until Wednesday (the next day they planned to meet at Wonder Wheels) to see Mick again, so she surprises him by showing up at Foods-For-You while he's working. "Hey, I wonder if anyone ever told someone something-something important-in the spaghetti section of a supermarket before." Kitty tells Mick she loves him (the "something important") and of course he reciprocates. Kitty somehow managed to get the whole day off from watching her grandmother and Mick invites her to his house for dinner.

 

During dinner, J.P. comes rushing over, excited about a new song he just heard that exists only in the world of Wonder Wheels. The song is called Calliope Girl. Everyone agrees that this is the perfect song for Mick's performance. 

 

A furious Kenneth meets Kitty at her bus stop on her way home from Mick's. Kitty's mother told him what she'd been up to and he demands an explanation. Kitty is frightened but she bravely informs Kenneth that he does not own her. Kenneth begs to differ, and says he'll prove it to her. He grabs Kitty's hand and burns it with his cigarette. Then he throws her out of the car and makes her walk home.

 

Kitty tells her mother about what happened. Incredibly, Kitty's mother rationalizes the attack on her daughter as being typical male behavior. Is it a sign of this woman's mental problems, or were we really that stupid in 1979? Luke raped Laura on General Hospital the same year and everyone went on to ship them. Crazy. At least in this book, the abusive behavior is portrayed as being wrong and not at all romantic. Anyway, Kitty's mother continues to push the relationship. She blames Kenneth's anger on Kitty's spending so much time at the skating rink. She doesn't seem to be giving poor Kitty a choice not to date this guy.  

 

The next night at Wonder Wheels, Mick makes an innocent remark about Kitty's belonging to him and she becomes upset. She tells Mick she will discuss what's bothering her on Saturday. 

 

On her way home, Kenneth stops her again. This time he's in his car and demands that Kitty get in. He doesn't show any remorse for what happened before. Kitty says she'll talk to him over the phone, but she doesn't "want anymore scenes." He gets out and physically forces her into the car. Kitty hits him with her skate box, which really sends him over the edge. As they drive along away from Kitty's house, it occurs to her that Kenneth treats her much the same way her father treated her mother before he left.

 

Mick talks to his mother about Kitty again. He asks how you know when a relationship is right. His mother tells him he will probably feel this way about lots of girls and it will be different each time. She and Mick plan a party to celebrate his and Lisa's potential win at the auditions. They plan to invite all Mick's friends, including Kitty of course. Then Mick asks his mother's advice on the jockey shorts situation. As Mick and his mother discuss love, parties and underwear, it's really apparent how different his family is from Kitty's.

 

This pleasant conversation is interrupted by J.P., who rushes in the house in a panic, clutching a newspaper. Mick's first reaction is, "Don't tell me another president was shot." J.P hands over the newspaper and Mick reads an article about a "couple" (Kitty and Kenneth) who were found dead in Kenneth's car. The cause of death was determined as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

Mick talks to Kitty's little brother on the phone. Billy tells everything he knows, which only further clouds the picture because he reveals that Kitty hated Kenneth. Mick doesn't understand why she met him Wednesday night if she hated him.

 

Mick decides to attend Kitty's funeral alone. He even gets permission to view her body before the relatives arrive. Mick buys a single yellow rose and places it in Kitty's hands as he bids her a tearful farewell.

 

The day of the audition comes. Lots of people show up, but the Wonder Wheels manager gives Mick and Lisa the royal treatment. They each have their own dressing room and Ro even bought Mick a pair of jockeys (he forgot to get them) as a good luck present. Maybe Mick's underwear was more important to the story than I thought.

 

Mick introduces himself to a nine year old girl, a fellow competitor who is dy-no-mite on wheels. Mick thanks Lisa for helping him in the past few weeks since Kitty's death. Both Lisa and Mick wow the crowd with their routines and are called aside by the judges. Mick, Lisa and the little girl will all be performing at the theme park the next summer in a show called "America On Wheels."

 

Mick waves off congratulations and offers of celebratory pizza dinners. He wants some time alone at Wonder Wheels. Mick lies on the bench where he and Kitty often sat and remembers snippets of things she said to him during their time together.

 

How was this never made into a move? It had all the earmarks of a 70's hit. Death, drama, roller disco. Did it come a little too late, in 1979, when the country was beginning to get a little tired of such things? I would've liked a little more closure and perhaps some information on how Kitty's family dealt with her death, but Wonder Wheels is still a very touching story of first love and tragedy.



Sixth Grade Secrets (1987) by Louis Sachar

 

Laura Sibbie's father made a deal with her when she was four years old. She wouldn't have to get a haircut as long as she never told another lie. Laura, who admires George Washington, is now in sixth grade and has kept up her part of the deal so far. Laura aspires to be the country's first female president. She's sure she'll be president someday, but she's worried that another woman will beat her to it first.

 

Laura and her friends Tiffany and Allison are shopping at a garage sale one day when Laura finds an old baseball cap with the words "Pig City" printed on it. She promptly buys the hat, and the girls have fun guessing what Pig City means. 

 

Laura wears the hat all the time and she and the two others create a secret club called (what else?) Pig City. Laura is president, of course. The club meets in a large shed/clubhouse in Laura's backyard, completely furnished by garage sale purchases. (It seems Laura is a bit spoiled, but prefers vintage items). Laura, Tiffany and Allison each bring something embarrassing to put up as collateral in the event that one of them should squeal about the club. Allison brings a naked baby picture, Tiffany a fake article from a carnival about how ticklish she is, and Laura presents a written declaration of love for their teacher, Mr. Doyle.

 

The girls invite Kristin, a girl with large red glasses, into the club next, but not before Laura narrowly misses having to copy a dictionary page for writing "Pigs Rule" on the blackboard. (Copying dictionary pages is Mr. Doyle's unique form of punishment). Gabriel, a boy who secretly likes Laura, overhears Kristin's invitation to the club and Laura's strange request that she bring an extra pair of underwear. (The underwear is Kristin's insurance that she won't tell about the club). 

 

Gabriel, hoping to get into Laura's good graces, writes her a letter telling her he knows about Pig City but promises not to tell anyone. Frizzy-haired Sheila, our villain, sits behind Gabriel and witnesses his note writing. Jealous of Laura's hair and Gabriel's crush on her, she changes the note to say that Laura has ugly hair and if she doesn't kiss Gabriel he will tell everyone. Laura reads the altered note and after debating what to do, writes Gabriel back a scathing note saying she will only kiss him to save Pig City. Mr. Doyle intercepts before Gabriel can read it, however, and both he and Laura have to copy dictionary pages for passing notes. In detention, Laura invites Gabriel to her house after dinner. Gabriel is thrilled, not realizing that Laura just wants to get kissing him over with.

 

Pig City invites another girl, Debbie, into the club. Debbie's initiation is to call up a nerdy boy, Howard, and tell him she loves him. Debbie disguises her voice and Laura tape records the whole thing. Debbie says in her normal voice at the end of the recording that she loves Howard and everyone laughs. I can't help but think that some parts of this book are kind of mean.

 

Gabriel is grounded because of his detention at school and isn't allowed to come over to Laura's house. Laura asks him over the phone if he'd like to join Pig City, as long as it meant she wouldn't have to "do anything else." Not understanding the last part, Gabriel quickly agrees. Laura is strangely disappointed that he gave up his demand for her to kiss him.

 

The girls add yet another member to their group, a shy girl named Yolanda. She is forced to choose a boy to write a love letter to. To everyone's surprise, she automatically chooses Jonathan, the most handsome boy in the class.

 

Laura broaches the subject of inviting boys to join Pig City with Tiffany and Allison. She suggests that they each choose one boy. At first the girls are hesitant, but Tiffany eventually chooses Nathan and Allison picks Aaron. Each girl seems to have a crush on their respective choices. As it was her plan all along, Laura names Gabriel as her choice. Tiffany and Allison are shocked because they thought Laura hated Gabriel, but it seems as though Laura is coming around.

 

The girls have trouble coming up with insurance for the boys, but finally settle on having Nathan write a nasty note to Mr. Doyle, making Aaron sing a silly song into a tape recorder, and forcing Gabriel to wear a dress. Nathan and Aaron dutifully perform their tasks and become members.

 

Laura has the dress and camera all ready when Gabriel comes over, but instead of telling him what his insurance really is, she tells him he has to kiss her. Gabriel jumps up, ready to complete his initiation, when Laura mentions the note he supposedly wrote her blackmailing her into kissing him. Gabriel is flabbergasted at this accusation and calls Laura a liar. Fighting words for her. Not having told Gabriel about the dress, Laura yells out in anger, "And you're too ugly to wear a dress!" Gabriel snaps back, "Yeah well, you're too ugly to wear a suit and tie!" Funny stuff.

 

Laura has been continuing to write messages on the blackboard all this time. Mr. Doyle has been keeping count of how many there are so when he catches the culprit they'll know how many dictionary pages are due. Gabriel enjoys watching Laura squirm as he almost tells on her time and again. And even though Gabriel has a reputation for not being a tattletale, Laura is frightened that he will tell about Pig City. One day Laura's daily message is changed to Pigs Stink. Everyone is a suspect, including Mr. Doyle. 

 

Yolanda tells her best friend Karen about Pig City and her love note to Jonathan is delivered to him in retaliation. Yolanda is devastated at first, but the citizens of Pig City later spy her and Jonathan walking together holding hands.

 

Tiffany tells Laura that she and Nathan kissed and Laura gets all bent out of shape because she's prettier than Tiffany and hasn't kissed a boy yet. Laura cheers up when she receives another phone call. This time the caller disguises their voice and says, "Monkey Town will turn Pig City into bacon and eggs!" Laura seems to be the kind of person who thrives on drama, so this kind of declaration is exciting for her. 

 

As you've probably guessed, Gabriel formed a rival club called Monkey Town with the leftover kids who weren't invited to join Pig City. This includes Howard, Karen, Yolanda, Jonathan, and even Sheila. Monkey Town writes a "Monkeys Rule" type message on the blackboard, which Laura changes to "Monkeys are Mustard"...they're yellow, they're cowards, get it? Each Pig City member finds a hard boiled egg in their desk. The monkeys sing a song about how they are the best and Pig City is nothing but bacon and eggs. More shenanigans ensue, culminating in Pig City turning every Monkey Town member's desk upside down and writing (upside down) "Monkeys Kiss Donkeys" on the board.

 

I like this cover too, even though it is a newer one.



 

Monkey Town gets back at them by spraying them with Laura's mother's sprinkler while they are having a meeting in the clubhouse. This event causes Laura to uncharacteristically admit it's time for Pig City to surrender. However, Laura has no intention of surrendering. Her plan is to divide and conquer the citizens of Monkey Town. She starts by sending a fake letter of surrender to Jonathan. She feigns surprise that Jonathan isn't the president of Monkey Town when he tells her it's actually Gabriel (Laura already knows this). She builds Jonathan's ego by telling him it's ridiculous that Gabriel is president instead of him and that he should form his own club.

 

When this gets back to Gabriel, he isn't fooled and calls Laura a liar again. Laura's plan does seem to work on Jonathan, who leaves Pig City to form a club called Eagle's Nest. Poor Howard is ousted from Monkey Town for being unable to choose which side he is loyal to.

 

Sheila becomes obsessed with cutting off Laura's hair. This is thanks in part to the new Pig City song, which Kristin wrote. (To the tune of Yankee Doodle: "Laura Sibbie went to class, Her hair was long and pretty, Stuck a feather in her cap, And called it Pig City.") The other members of Monkey Town think Sheila is taking this too far and Gabriel says the hair cutting idea "isn't nice."

 

Pig City comes over to Gabriel's house and Laura shows him the original note she received in the beginning of the book to prove she isn't a liar. This solves nothing, as Gabriel is sure she is the one who changed the message. Then Pig City clobbers Gabriel with two large jars of mustard.

 

Gabriel skips school one day and sneaks into Laura's clubhouse to steal the box with all the embarrassing things in it that were collected for collateral for the club. Gabriel makes Laura eat a raw egg in order to get the treasures back.

 

Mr. Doyle tricks Laura into admitting that she was the one writing the messages on the blackboard throughout the story. He pretends he suspects the class goody-goody, Linzy, of writing the messages and Laura feels guilty and admits that she was the one doing it. She must copy seventeen dictionary pages before she is allowed to graduate. All of Pig City is aghast at Mr. Doyle's clever but questionable method. They compare Laura's nobleness to George Washington and MLK and they all promise to copy her dictionary pages for her.

 

That is until Gabriel breaks his word and brings Pig City's treasure box to school and shows everyone. Aaron's song is blared from Gabriel's stereo, Kristin's panties are thrown around, and everyone tries to tickle Tiffany. They immediately turn on Laura. She feels awful and calls herself Richard Nixon. Mr. Doyle collects the items and calls each student up to his desk in turn. He is so flattered by Laura's declaration of love that he offers to drop her dictionary page count down to seven. Laura refuses, stating that she doesn't love Mr. Doyle anymore.

 

Sheila gets Howard to get Gabriel's signature on a piece of paper. She follows Laura home from school and hides behind a brick wall Laura is sitting on. Sheila whacks off Laura's long hair and leaves a note with Gabriel's signature with a note saying "Pigs are bald."

 

Sheila and Howard laughingly tell Gabriel what happened. Sheila even brings up Gabriel's first note to Laura and tells him how she reworded it. Though most of the plot twists in this book are extremely clever, this part seems a little convenient. Anyway, Gabriel punches both Howard and Sheila.

 

Laura's parents take her to an expensive beauty salon where she gets a fancy perm. The description of Laura's new hairstyle sounds very 80's and not very flattering, though I think we are supposed to think it is pretty. Laura isn't impressed with it either. She goes through an emotional transformation of sorts, realizing that all her games and silliness were just as bad as telling lies. "George Washington wouldn't have made someone give him her underpants!"

 

Gabriel comes over with flowers to apologize to Laura and explain everything that had happened. All the kids except Sheila and Howard have a dictionary page copying party and complete Laura's seventeen pages. Laura and Gabriel finally get together. On the last day of sixth grade, Mr. Doyle gives Laura the Pig City salute. 

 

Laura is such a strong, unforgettable character and Gabriel is a worthy match for her. This book has so many laugh out loud moments and is a fun, fast read as everyone tries to outsmart each other. The characters might have been a little more fleshed out, but with such a large cast of characters that might have been too confusing. Louis Sachar is also the author of the Sideways Stories From Wayside School books, and the same whacky humor he used in them is prevalent in this book. 



Afternoon of the Elves (1989) by Janet Taylor Lisle

 

Sara-Kate is the tough-talking older girl who lives in the run down house behind Hillary's. Hillary is shocked when Sara-Kate extends an invitation to play in her trash-strewn backyard. She is even more surprised when Sara-Kate shows her the tiny elf village that exists in one part of the yard. Hillary's parents don't approve of their daughter playing with a girl from such a shabby background and her other friends are sure that Sara-Kate, who has a reputation for bad behavior, is creating the village herself. But as more features are added to the elf colony (a swimming pool, a Ferris wheel), Hillary feels compelled to keep visiting.

 

The girls slowly begin to develop a friendship, though it is based entirely on the supposed existence of the elves. Sara-Kate doesn't mention anything about herself or her family and never invites Hillary into her house. Hillary notices little things about Sara-Kate's life that don't add up, however, like how she doesn't seem to own a jacket on the coldest days and the fact that she is forced to run errands for her mother that are usually reserved for grown ups. Hillary catches a glimpse of Sara-Kate's mother in a window once, and the image of the pale, thin woman's face frightens her.

 

Hillary's mother hints that she'd like Hillary to spend less time in Sara-Kate's yard. Hillary complies with this, and it's not long after that Sara-Kate seems to disappear. She's absent from school and isn't in her usual spot by the elf village when Hillary comes over. The elves' homes and playground fall apart in the absence of the girls' constant attention.

 

Sara-Kate's house seems unoccupied and Hillary works up the courage to go inside. She is astounded by how bare and trashy the inside of the house is. She continues her perusal of the house by going upstairs because in her childish mind, the elves abandoned their outdoor colony and came to live in Sara-Kate's house. The house appears to be shut down with the electricity and heat turned off, and Hillary can't imagine a person living in this condition. But in an upstairs room, expecting to catch an elf, Hillary instead walks in on Sara-Kate sitting in a rocking chair holding her mother. Sara-Kate threatens Hillary's life, commanding that she tell no one what she has seen.

 

Out of a misguided sense of loyalty, Hillary honors this request. Two weeks pass by and Sara-Kate is seen only once, by Hillary's father as he's driving home late one night. The night Hillary's father tells her about this incident, she sneaks out and sees Sara-Kate tinkering with the elf village. The girl claims she was away and has temporarily come home.

 

Hillary begins imagining that Sara-Kate is one of the elves herself. One day Sara-Kate asks Hillary to find some money without telling anyone and to buy some food for her ill mother because they are out of everything. Hillary steals money from her mother and sneaks off to the grocery store. When she comes back, she and Sara-Kate dine on baloney sandwiches and Sara-Kate confesses what the reader has probably already guessed - that she basically runs the household because her mother is sick and often not in her right mind.

 

Suddenly, Hillary's mother arrives at Sara-Kate's door looking for her daughter. She sees the horrible condition of the living room and demands to meet Sara-Kate's mother. Like any responsible adult, she turns the matter over to the authorities. As the weeks go by, gossip about Sara-Kate and her mother swirls through the neighborhood, only fueled by the not-always-accurate local news reports of the story. Hillary's mother questions whether Sara-Kate really cared about Hillary or if it was a friendship of convenience for her. This issue is never really resolved and we don't find out the full story about what happened to Sara-Kate.

 

This is not only a story about a girl who is being neglected, but is also about a child's loss of innocence. As the book reaches its conclusion, Hillary must let go of her childish fantasies and realize that what she had seen as magic was in reality a very ugly situation.

Thirteen Ways To Sink a Sub (1982) by Jamie Gilson

 

A fourth grade class places a boys-against-girls bet to see which group can be the first to make their substitute teacher cry. The story is told in the point of view of Hobie, one of the kids in the class. As Hobie, his best friend Nick, and two girls in the class, Molly and Lisa, are giving a creative report on China, Mr. Star, their regular teacher falls ill with the flu. The principal stays with them for the rest of the day, but the class is overjoyed to learn that the next day they will have a substitute teacher. Mr. Star hasn't been absent all year, and with a sub the class can act up and do what they want all day.

 

 

The next morning at their lockers, Hobie and his classmates come up with a plan. Molly, the quintessential mean girl of the group, comes up with the idea of it being a boys against girls competition. The kids have trouble coming up with a prize for the winners until Nick says that the losing group should have to fetch the "pit balls" from a disgusting stairwell (the "spit pit") that everyone spits and throws trash in. Pit balls are balls during a game of kick ball that land in the spit pit.

 

 

The sub turns out to be Miss Svetlana Ivanovitch, a young, naïve woman who makes the mistake of confessing to the children that this is her first substitute teaching job. The girls start off right away with the old switching names routine. This causes the whole class to laugh, but Miss Ivanovitch isn't close to tears yet.

 

 

Hobie and some other boys lie to get out of class so they can plan their next strategy. When they come back, they find the entire class searching for Jenny's phantom contact lens. Not to be outdone, the boys tell Miss Ivanovitch that Marshall, an African American student wearing a San Francisco souvenir shirt, is Japanese. The story is that he only knows a few words of English and spends all his time folding origami (which Marshall is genuinely talented at) and dreaming of Japan. Molly keeps score of the game on the blackboard and while she is at it, changes the sub's name to something less flattering. Hobie worries to himself that they are all going to be in a lot of trouble when this is over.

 

 

Recess time. Both groups use this time to discuss their next moves, while Miss Ivanovitch decides to try to start fresh. The girls gather under the slide to talk while the boys struggle to come up with ideas across the playground. When it's time to go inside, the girls (all except one) throw a snowball at Miss Ivanovitch when her back is turned. The teacher retaliates, however, by gathering up some snow and pitching it perfectly against the slide. Once inside, Miss Ivanovitch changes her tone. She had been speaking to the kids as though they were kindergarteners, but now she has realized that fourth graders are a bit more clever and conniving than she gave them credit for. She acknowledges the morning's shenanigans and asks that a truce be declared. The kids all stare at her blankly, except for Aretha, who smiles back. Nick announces that it's time for music class. Miss Ivanovitch wisely checks the schedule first. While the class is at music, she watches wistfully how they behave under the supervision of the firm but fun music teacher.

 

 







 The kids keep up their game. Miss Ivanovitch even gets into it and adds "Sub-two points" to Molly's scoreboard. During gym one of the boys accidentally injures Miss Ivanovitch while square dancing, but even this doesn't break her. RX left the classroom sink running all during gym class so that when the class returns, the room is flooded. It is during the cleaning up of this flood that Miss Ivanovitch laughs so hard that she cries. It is vaguely stated that the boys won the game since it was one of their antics that pushed her over the edge, but everyone (except maybe Molly) is sick of the game by that point. Eyeing the flood damage, the principal reluctantly asks Miss Ivanovitch to return the next day as Mr. Star is still sick. It seems that Molly will also be home with the flu, so Miss Ivanovitch anticipates a better day.

 

There are several sequels to this book dealing with the same group of kids. This author really knows how kids think and talk. Sometimes it feels like you are sitting in on a classroom when reading these books.









Lizzie Lies a Lot (1976) by Elizabeth Levy

 

Nine year old Lizzie is what her grandmother calls a born liar. She lies to get out of trouble, to make herself seem more important, to entertain people, and just for the hell of it.

 

 

 

As the story begins, Lizzie is taking verbal slings and arrows from her grandmother, Nana, an unpleasant old woman who lives with Lizzie and her parents. Nana never has a kind word to say to Lizzie and is constantly harping on her appearance ("she's not the prettiest girl in the world") and the things she does to get into trouble. To compensate for this, Lizzie tells a lie to her mother that she has been chosen as the star role in a dance assembly at school.

 

 

Lizzie and her friend Sara find a stray cat while playing at an abandoned construction site. Lizzie and Sara take the cat to Lizzie's house to plead her case about possibly staying. Nana has a fit and banishes the cat outside. To convince Sara that her mother will take the cat in, Lizzie tells her an elaborate story about how when her mother was a child, she had a kitten whom a crazy relative murdered in front of her. By the way, Lizzie's mother volunteers several afternoons a week at a hospital, and it seems maybe the author is saying that this is one of Lizzie's problems that have lead her to become a pathological liar. 

 

 

Lizzie's mother arrives home (from work - poor Lizzie), declares that she hates cats and has no idea what Sara is talking about when she mentions the traumatic childhood incident. Lizzie successfully interjects herself into the conversation and sways the subject away from her lie. Lizzie's father gets home and gently agrees with his wife and mother-in-law. No cat for Lizzie. The next day, she makes up a lie about her parents loving the cat but wicked Nana ruining the scenario by refusing to offer the creature a home. Lizzie has told so many lies that she must avoid Sara to keep her from finding her out.

 

 

However, one day Sara's mother has something to do (those darn modern mothers!) and drops Sara at Lizzie's house for the day. The girls play an imaginative game of cowgirls, but find they need some rope to tie up a pretend captive. Lizzie gets some clothesline, lying to Nana that her mother specifically said she could play with it. Sara ties Lizzie up too tightly and can't get the rope undone. Lizzie tells her she must go to another room to get the sharp scissors, and just for kicks, makes up a lie that Nana was the kitten killer from years past. Sara returns with the scissors and before she can get Lizzie untangled, Nana walks in. Nana overreacts as usual, acting as though something kinky had been going on.

 

 

Fed up with the lies, Sara shuns Lizzie the next day at school. Lizzie is so upset that she comes home and confesses that the dance assembly she'd been practicing for for weeks was all a big lie. Her clueless (working) parents are stunned. Nana is quietly accepting of the situation. She acts contrite for calling Lizzie a born liar. Lizzie is so out of sorts that her "Adam's apple bumps up and down her throat". This is a story about a girl, right? Lizzie's parents promise to help her try to stop lying. The book ends with Sara and Lizzie going back to the construction site to look for the cat. They never find her, but they become friends again.









What's For Lunch, Charley? (1961) by Margaret Hodges

 

Charley is an earnest little boy living with his parents in New York City.

 

the pencil line illustrations in this book make it hard to get a good picture

 

Every day Charley passes the elegant King Charles Hotel and the fancy shops that surround it. When Charley complains about the lunch his busy working mother packs for his school day, his father jokes that Charley should have lunch at the hotel.



 

 

When Charley gets to school he sees that a new student, Rosabelle Ruggles, has joined the class. Dazzled by Rosabelle's curly hair and pink nail polish, he forgets about the girl he used to like, friendly but plain Jane Lane, and immediately develops a crush on Rosabelle. There is no cafeteria in Charley's school, so the students either go home for lunch or eat at their desks. Rosabelle has an unusually delicious lunch - fried chicken, tomato soup, fruit salad and chocolate cake. Charley watches with wonder as she unwraps each item.

 



 

On his way home from school Charley stops to talk to the King Charles's affable doorman, Mr. Murphy. Inspired by Mr. Murphy's kindness, Charley decides to stop in at the King Charles candy shop to buy a valentine...for someone. The candy shop clerk allows Charley to buy one piece of candy for a quarter.

 



 

Because the candy shop lady was so nice, Charley has the confidence to go inside the men's shop next door and ask about the hatchet he saw in the window. The hatchet turns out to be the young employee's old Boy Scout hatchet. Charley and the young man bond over the fact that Charley is a Cub Scout. Feeling really bold now, Charley decides to visit the lady's shop next door...

 

"Excuse me," he said, very politely and very clearly. "I would like to look at your beaver."

 

Wait...WHAT? We were reading this sweet little story and now we're talking about looking at beavers? Sorry, couldn't resist. He's talking about a stuffed beaver in the window of the shop. The beaver is so old and worn out that it can't be used for show anymore and the shopkeepers agree to give him to Charley as soon as they change the window display for spring.

 

 

The next day starts off badly for Charley. He plays in the sink and makes himself late for school.

 

 

To add to his troubles, Charley has forgotten his lunch box. He sits in agony as his classmates take out their food and begin to eat. He notices that Rosabelle has the same large lunch she had the day before. Charley watches wistfully as Rosabelle eats, but Rosabelle doesn't look at him or offer him anything. Jane volunteers part of her lunch, but Charley refuses, having decided to eat at the King Charles Hotel.

 

 

Charley meets Mr. Murphy outside the hotel and tells him he will pay for his lunch with a silver dollar his father gave him. Mr. Murphy tells Mrs. Ruggles, the dining room hostess, to let him take care of the bill. Once again, the King Charles Hotel staff exhibits extraordinary hospitality as Mrs. Ruggles kindly takes Charley's order of chicken, tomato soup, fruit salad and chocolate cake. Charley isn't able to finish his lunch and is stunned when the waitress brings him the bill and he finds out the meal cost more than three dollars. Luckily, his father walks in just then on a business lunch and agrees to pay the bill. Before he leaves, Charley finds out that Mrs. Ruggles is Rosabelle's mother.

 

 

Charley catches up with his friend Wally, who saw him eating lunch at the hotel. They talk about Rosabelle and conclude that maybe she'll start talking to them when she's not so new. In the meantime, Charley is going to give his valentine to the more accessible Jane Lane because of all the nice things people did for him in this book, her offering to share her lunch was the nicest.













Class Pictures (1980) by Marilyn Sachs

 

In this short novel, Pat looks back on her friendship with a girl named Lolly by going through their class pictures.

 

these are just some unrelated pics I got from Google to spice up the post

When they meet in kindergarten, Lolly arrives new to school and the class popular girl Pat bites her cheek. When Pat later takes up for Lolly after she wets her pants, their friendship begins.

 

 

In first grade Pat saves Lolly's birthday party when the other kids refuse to come by telling them that anyone not at Lolly's party won't be invited to hers. At the time, Lolly was overweight and a big crier, so she wasn't the most popular student in the class. Pat lives with her single waitress mother, two little brothers and cranky grandmother, who weren't planning on throwing Pat a party in the first place. They do scrape together a party, and although it isn't as grand as Lolly's had been, the kids have a good time.

 

 

In second grade, Pat's and Lolly's class differences come to surface. Lolly's fussy, overprotective mother tries to encourage Lolly to play with girls from their own neighborhood, although these kids dislike Lolly. What's more, Lolly's mother inadvertently opens a can of worms when she tells Pat, during a conversation about genetics, that her father had to have brown hair and eyes like she does. It turns out that the blonde-haired man Pat thought was her father (who died in a car accident) was really her stepfather - her mother confesses she had been married before.

 

 

The third grade chapter is mostly filler, with Pat and Lolly looking at Grandma's old pictures and making paper dolls.

 

 

Fourth grade finds Pat in the gifted class, separated from Lolly. Being placed in the special class brings a newfound respect from Lolly's mother, but Pat is miserable and complains so much she's assigned to a regular class the next year.

 

 

In the fifth grade, Pat and Lolly endure chicken pox together and exchange valentines. Pat is still one of the most popular kids in the class, receiving 26 valentines to Lolly's five.

 

 

In sixth grade, the class has a picnic to commemorate the end of elementary school, Grandma starts dating a widower friend, and Pat says goodbye to a favorite teacher (who affectionately calls her "ugly duckling"). Pat's mother seems tired all the time now, but she makes it to Pat's graduation at the last minute.

 

 

In seventh grade, Grandma gets married (although she still calls her husband "Mr. Nagel") and Pat feels left out and finds it difficult to adjust to her absence. Her favorite teacher from elementary school, Mr. Evans, lets her conduct science experiments in his basement which definitely sounds a little iffy to twenty first century ears. Pat feels there is something different about Lolly this year and it isn't until she looks at their class picture that she realizes it is that she has become beautiful.

 

 





The world shifts in eighth grade, with Lolly becoming the popular one. She is the hit of every party and even convinces the shop teacher to allow Pat to take his class using her feminine charms. Pat can't help but feel a little jealous, especially when the boy she likes shows an interest in Lolly.

 

the president's class picture. can you find him?

When Pat is in ninth grade, her mother goes nuts and says some hateful things to her. Pat finds out that her mother lied about being married to her birth father and that she actually has no idea who he is. Lolly's family invites Pat on their ski trip, also renting ski equipment for her since her mother couldn't afford it. Pat and Lolly get into a deep discussion and both admit they have been jealous of each other at times.

 

 

In tenth grade, Pat continues to suffer the pains of being the less attractive friend. On a double date Lolly sets up for the two of them, both boys hang all over Lolly and ignore Pat.

 

 

Junior year, Pat wins an award for one of her experiments and Lolly leads an environmental club. Pat has guilt-ridden daydreams about Mr. Evan's wife dropping dead so she can have him to herself, all the while beginning her first romance with a boy her own age.

 

 

Senior year, Pat gets in trouble at an Anti-Nuke protest Lolly has orchestrated but is not allowed to attend. Pat and her boyfriend break up before prom, which upsets her mother. Pat finally confesses her love to Mr. Evans (whom she still calls Mr. Evans).

 

Mr. Evans later sends Pat a postcard signed "love, Jason" which probably isn't a good idea, and Pat tells Lolly about her feelings for him. Pat is going away to college and Lolly is moving out on her own with a roommate. Pat frets that the new girl will replace her as Lolly's best friend. The girls decide that things may change, but sometimes change has to happen for things to get better.