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The Luckiest Girl (First Love #2)
Falling in Love . . .
Shelly fells as if she's living in a fantasyland. She's spending the school year in southern California, where flowers bloom in November, oranges grow on trees, and lawns are mowed in winter. When the star of the basketball team smiles at her, Shelly feels as if she's been touch by magic. Now she's about to discover the magic of falling in love A bitte
...morePaperback
Published
by HarperCollins
(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 misundersto...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 1...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, surprisingl...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? ...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? ...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 t...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 real...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 real...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
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 fict...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 fict...more
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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 in...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/...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/...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 review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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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.
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!!
Laila Mace
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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!!
The title is familiar and I was a big Beverly Cleary fan as a kid (hell, I'm still a big Beverly Cleary fan right now), so I'm going to say I read this book even though I don't remember a gooddamn thing about it. Only one star to a book that stirs up that kind of (non)memory.
The luckiest girl is a story about teenage dreams,hopes and conflicts that teenage have with their parents about clothes, school and many other things. Shelly realizes what true love is only after she moves for a year away from home to stay at her mother's friend.
Just another cute book from Beverly Cleary which I did enjoy, despite it's cheesiness and predictability, and my only complaint is that the ending was abrupt. It was good at presenting the moral lessons it was trying to get through and entertained me thoroughly. I recommend it for anybody who is willing to shut off their brains for a couple of afternoons to read a simple love story.
I can't rate this, because it would feel taboo to give Beverly Cleary anything less than 3 stars.
I understand that this was written in the 50s, but the main character was so weak and flitty (is that a work?). She annoyed me. Even when I was 10 years old I thought this book was goofy.
I understand that this was written in the 50s, but the main character was so weak and flitty (is that a work?). She annoyed me. Even when I was 10 years old I thought this book was goofy.
Beverly Cleary was always a huge childhood favorite of mine, so I thought this book might give me a little jumpstart on summer reading. It was sweet, wholesome and a fun throwback to simpler times. I guess I'll always be a fan of YA lit!
this book had a lot of detail and it was good but itt didnt stay on one subject like it talked about all of these different things instead of what was supposed to happen so i didnt really like it but i will finished
After you read a really good book, you know the book after is going to be automatically horrible in comparison. So I'm reading this fluffy read so I won't taint any other potentially great book.
*overall cute read.
*overall cute read.
when I saw this at Sarah's it felt like being transported in time by a smell. Even though I don't remember it, I remember the feeling of reading about a relationship between an older boy and a younger girl, an idea I thought was so good, I decided to try it once or twice myself but it just wasn't the same - maybe if he'd have worn that cool green sweater like the guy on the cover I read or maybe if I'd have stood under the right tree. Maybe I shouldn't have been wearing a too tight shirt and may...more
What a sweet read for a teenager in the 1950's. Dating and expected behavior in teenagers seems to have changed in some aspects drastically and in other not at all.
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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.
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