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110th out of 333 books
—
909 voters
The Luckiest Girl (First Love #2)
Shelley Latham can't wait to get to San Sebastian, where flowers bloom in November, oranges grow on the trees, and the sun shines almost every day. And once she's there, things get even better. In no time, she catches the attention of two boys: one, a good-looking basketball star, the other, an interesting, fun boy who likes journalism. Shelley feels like the luckiest girl...more
Paperback, 268 pages
Published
July 29th 2003
by Harper Teen
(first published 1958)
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As a young girl in the 1980s, I read this book and loved it. My mother was similar to Shelley's in many ways, and I absolutely identified with her, especially with things like the yellow slicker. I remember I desperately wanted to get a coat from a secondhand store like several of the girls in my class, and my mother was horrified. I know now that she was just sad because she had dreamed for me to never need anything secondhand and it was bewildering to her that I'd choose it---just as later it...more
This was my top favorite novel when I was a teenager. I don't even remember how many times I read it; at least once a year and every year it meant something different to me as I went through boy friends and heart breaks. I can still recall my mental picture of the pink raincoat with the velvet collar. I don't think my library copy had the dust jacket with the original picture on it.
I identified so completely with Shelley being bored with her boyfriend, feeling misunderstood by her mother, making...more
I had to read a Beverly Cleary book! I remember reading all of them in junior high (we had no middle schools). These stories of white girls and boys in "perfect" relationships could not help but attract a pre- or teenage girl. In this book, the child says "Mother"; mother stays home and provides for her family's needs' the parents wonder how they are going to handle the teen years of their children; there are rarely single children. Furthermore, in this particular book, the 16 yr. old girl goes...more
Owh aku suka buku ini! Setelah membaca kisah William Kamkwamba lalu membaca ini. Ada kesamaan antara William dan Shelley. Keduanya sangat positif! Walaupun William tidak bisa bersekolah tapi tidak terpuruk begitu saja. Dia tetap berusaha untuk belajar, bagaimanapun caranya. Shelley dengan segala kemudahan yang dia dapatkan tidak jadi takabur. Dia menikmati semua yang dia dapatkan tapi juga tidak tanpa perjuangan. Jika dia gagal dia berusaha keras untuk memperbaiki diri. Shelley adalah model bagi...more
The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary (yes, of Ramona-fame), is the absolutely adorable tale of sixteen-year-old Shelley, a young Oregonian who spends a year in California with friends of her family. Normally, I would approach any "adorable" YA novel with hesitation--sixteen-year-olds are so rarely cute. But Shelley is an incredibly endearing character--sweet, but not saccharine; inquisitive, but not naive. This makes her journey in California, and her trials in early dating, surprisingly readable...more
Be sure to read past the first few pages - it gets quite a bit richer, as Shelley learns more about school, families, communities, herself, and, yes, love. Of course it's slightly dated, with the inherent gender=related expectations of the 50s, but still valuable, and heart-warming to boot. I liked it even better than Fifteen.
I do wish the poet, Jonas Hornbustle, and his most-known work, Buffalo Bones, were real. Do any of you know if, perhaps, Cleary was inspired by a true work?
I especially lik...more
I do wish the poet, Jonas Hornbustle, and his most-known work, Buffalo Bones, were real. Do any of you know if, perhaps, Cleary was inspired by a true work?
I especially lik...more
Shelly Latham is the “luckiest girl” and protagonist of this book. She is tired of her boring life in Oregon, her predictable boyfriend Jack and her mother who won’t let her grow up. She is very excited when she gets the opportunity to spend her junior year in Sebastian, California when friends of the family invite her to their home. At first, the Michie family is much more fun than her own family and Shelly finds CA to be everything she hoped her. She even starts dating Philip, the star of the...more
This book is about a girl named Shelley. Shelley is counting down the days untill she finally can go to San Sebastian. When she arrives, she feels like the luckies girl on earth. She gets attention from guys, and she "falls in love with a specific. Everything seems to be going great with Shelley until...
I can connect Shelley to alot of girls in middle school. They feel like they are the center od attention and they have everything in the world... untill they realize what really matters in life...more
I can connect Shelley to alot of girls in middle school. They feel like they are the center od attention and they have everything in the world... untill they realize what really matters in life...more
3.5 stars. Cute! It was really funny to read a "contemporary" book from the 1950s though! I was like, "Ummm... what's a slicker?" My husband said it was a raincoat. Haha! I felt like I should have read the book with a dictionary next to me! It was cute to see what a teenage/high school romance would have been like 50 years ago though! :)
It was cute, clean, and cheesy, but in a good way. I thought it had a nice "message" about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Daughters are trying t...more
It was cute, clean, and cheesy, but in a good way. I thought it had a nice "message" about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Daughters are trying t...more
This book is amazing, It captures the essence of perfection and brings me the greatest happiness every time I read it (which has been like four times). I first read this book when I was nine years old and going through the process of moving to the United States from my hometown in Chile, South America. All my books where up in boxes and I had NOTHING to read, so in desperation I resorted to reading my fifteen year old cousins books (My family and I where staying my Aunt and Uncle at the time) an...more
Shelley Latham, 16, spends her junior year with her mother's former college roommate and her family. Mavis and Tom Michie and kids, Katie and Luke are welcoming and quirky. She loves their easy-going, laid back California lifestyle. But, mostly she's happy to spend the year with a bigger family and a change of scenery. She's leaving Jack behind, but it's ok since Jack's presence is becoming usual and ordinary.
Shelley has no trouble making friends and she seems to be doing well in all her classe...more
Shelley has no trouble making friends and she seems to be doing well in all her classe...more
My sis-in-law recommended 4 books to me by Beverly Cleary written in the late 1950's as fun, good and clean. The ones she wants her daughter to read when she is a preteen/teen. This one is my favorite, it even made me cry, although I enjoyed all of them. Part of what I enjoyed was seeing how things have changed since the late 1950's (such as every girl knowing how to sew...most of the books contain at least some sewing) and how many things have stayed the same (the emotions and experiences of be...more
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
“I guess that’s what growing up is. Saying good-by to a lot of things. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it isn’t. But it is all right.”
The Luckiest Girl follows the life of Shelley Latham, a girl who would leave her parents in Oregon to live with the Michies in sunny California. Everything about the place was magical—the colorful flowers, the trees bearing fruits, and the river that had almost dried up. Everyone was nice to her, perhaps with the exception of biology tea...more
“I guess that’s what growing up is. Saying good-by to a lot of things. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it isn’t. But it is all right.”
The Luckiest Girl follows the life of Shelley Latham, a girl who would leave her parents in Oregon to live with the Michies in sunny California. Everything about the place was magical—the colorful flowers, the trees bearing fruits, and the river that had almost dried up. Everyone was nice to her, perhaps with the exception of biology tea...more
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This book was really fun! Just like
Fifteen
, at first I thought it seemed a little silly, with Shelley's boys-are-everything mindset. However, I quickly fell into the grove of the story and found it to be a very effortless, enjoyable read.
Shelley's mom annoyed me a bit, but I could see her perspective once or twice—like when she wanted her daughter to have nice things because, growing up during the Depression, she wasn't able to have them herself. There are some interesting observations made i...more
Shelley's mom annoyed me a bit, but I could see her perspective once or twice—like when she wanted her daughter to have nice things because, growing up during the Depression, she wasn't able to have them herself. There are some interesting observations made i...more
I read this book over and over as a young girl, and when I saw it had been reissued, I had to snag a copy to see how it holds up. And the answer is--it holds up wonderfully. The attitudes and customs might be out-of-date--girls wearing cotton dresses to school, waiting for boys to ask them out, etc.--but the underlying authenticity of the story still resonates. I was amazed as I read it, how many times the author hit on a feeling or situation that was an exact echo of how I remember feeling as a...more
I'm a big fan of realism. I love a good, gritty novel that doesn't pull punches about the reality of life, and the harsher the lesson learned, the more invested I get.
But there must still be a little idealism in my cynical, little heart yet (probably nestled next to the part of me that loves puppies and babies and lolcats) because I absolutely loved The Luckiest Girl.
I grew up on Beverly Cleary, and I love the Ramona books. I had no idea that Cleary wrote young adult fiction as well, and I was i...more
But there must still be a little idealism in my cynical, little heart yet (probably nestled next to the part of me that loves puppies and babies and lolcats) because I absolutely loved The Luckiest Girl.
I grew up on Beverly Cleary, and I love the Ramona books. I had no idea that Cleary wrote young adult fiction as well, and I was i...more
Shelley is spending the school year in California with an old school friend of her mother's and everything is different: family life, new school, and different boys. But, during this school year, Shelley will be the one to make the biggest change. She will learn the difference between infatuation and real love. Yes, she will be swept away by the popular boy with the amazing eyes who makes her the envy of every girl. But, she will learn about the true joy of meeting someone who shares your intere...more
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This one is a 16 year old girl who moves to southern California for her junior year of high school - living with mom's old college roommate and her family. There is first love and a whole lot of growing up and "aha" moments for our young heroine.
It's B.C. - so it's good. Just not terribly exciting or memorable. I love how these books, while very much from another time still are valid. I also like that she writes about nice girls. Not perfect- but girls who want to be good/nice/decent even if th...more
It's B.C. - so it's good. Just not terribly exciting or memorable. I love how these books, while very much from another time still are valid. I also like that she writes about nice girls. Not perfect- but girls who want to be good/nice/decent even if th...more
It was a bit boring. In some parts of the book I felt like I was being spoken to as a 5 year old. The author used simple vocabulary throughout the book which made me wonder why it was in the teen section. It was just another version of Beverly Cleary's books Ramona and Beezus. Some of the descriptions in the book were quite good though. I liked the way that the author described the clothes that the charactors were wearing and what they looked like.
Every summer I would check this book out from the library and re-read it. The crinkle of the library binding, the picture of Shelley in her pink raincoat on the cover, all told me that it was summer and that someday my girlish dreams of falling in love might come true.
Well, flash-forward a few years, kids, and wrinkles later, and I still love this book. Beverly Cleary can do almost no wrong, in my opinion.
Well, flash-forward a few years, kids, and wrinkles later, and I still love this book. Beverly Cleary can do almost no wrong, in my opinion.
This was my favorite book when I was twelve. I had my childhood copy for many years and it disappeared. A few years back I bought a new copy. I decided to read it to see what kind of stories I liked growing up. What shaped me. It's a cute book, although I think it's more for an eight or nine year old. Back in the old days twelve years old were not as worldly as twelve year old girls now.
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Aug 12, 2010
amelia
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
25-cent-laundromat-read
Wow - did you know Beverly Cleary wrote young adult novels? I was very excited to find this and thought it was pretty great. I am, admittedly, a sucker for '50s/'60s teenage stories, but I found this surprisingly less sexist and dated than I had anticipated. Silly certainly, but also an interesting glimpse into teenage girlhood (as interpreted by an adult) in 1958.
This is a cute story of a girl growing up in the 50s. she decides to spend half of her senior year in sunny California with the family of her mother's college roommate. She adjusts quickly to her new life and dating becomes the focus. This book is fun to read as it shows how girls of the time were perceived in society and how dating is different from today.
Well, I read this book in seventh grade, but all I can remember is that I loved it. I had forgotten about the book along with Fifteen by Beverly Cleary which I had read back to back, but then I remembered the exact placement of the book on the bookshelf in the school library from two years ago, so I did my research. I definitely plan to read this again and soon buy it so I can relive it
I LOVE THIS BOOK! I can't emphasize that enough!!! It's such an incredibly written story. It's got a great plot driven by a unique teen character. I love the way it's written, I can't really describe how it is, but it is different. It's really captivating and gave me something I felt I could relate to as a teenage girl.
I loved Beverly Cleary as a young girl, and I re-read this one as a mother of 6 children, with a daughter nearing her teens. This book reminded me of some things I felt as a teenager, and I hope I can remember them when my daughter goes through it! A great book for learning to get along as mother and daughter!!
Jun 08, 2010
Zofie Vedas
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Tards
Recommended to Zofie by:
My mom
One word summarizes this book: Derp. That's about it. Absolutely horrible, I despised all the characters especially the main one (I can't even remember her name!). I wanted them all to die painful agonizing deaths. The storyline was dull and predictable. Take a word of advise and stay away from this crap!!
My favorite of all the "first love stories from my mom's generation" that I read as a pre-teen in the late 70s. Even then, i wondered why life couldn't be like that. I did agree with Shelly though, the pink raincoat sounded awful. And what's with the horrible cover picture on this edition?
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Beverly Cleary (born April 12, 1916) is the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ("Beezus"), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse.
Beverly Cleary was born Beverly At...more
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