Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
301st out of 2,744 books
—
4,932 voters
Fifteen (First Love #1)
It seems too good to be true. The most popular boy in school has asked Jane out -- and she's never even dated before. Stan is tall and good-looking, friendly and hard-working -- everything Jane ever dreamed of. But is she ready for this?
Suppose her parents won't let her go? What if she's nervous and makes a fool of herself? Maybe he'll think she's too young. If only she kn...more
Suppose her parents won't let her go? What if she's nervous and makes a fool of herself? Maybe he'll think she's too young. If only she kn...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
January 2nd 2007
by HarperCollins
(first published 1956)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
I wish I could go on a date in the 50s, in no small part because Stan Crandall is ever so dreamy. If you haven't met him yet, and you have a weakness for nice boys with a winning grin, you really should swing by to pick him up for your next book date!
Stan is the object of affection in Fifteen, and he has a golden tan, green eyes, brown hair with a dip in it, and a sincere smile. Jane Purdy meets him one summer afternoon when he saves her from a babysitting disaster, and though he asks her out sh...more
Stan is the object of affection in Fifteen, and he has a golden tan, green eyes, brown hair with a dip in it, and a sincere smile. Jane Purdy meets him one summer afternoon when he saves her from a babysitting disaster, and though he asks her out sh...more
70 likes · like · see review
view all 54 comments
Probably my favorite in the 'First Love' series. This was the first romance novel I purchased, and I'm sure I'll still enjoy its sweetness and simplicity for a long time. Even though I'm not into romances like I was when I was a silly 14 year old, I don't think I'll ever get rid of this one. In a world where stories focus on infatuation and how hot and sexy everyone looks, its incredibly refreshing to go back to the way love stories used to be. You won't find smoking hot guys with amazing six pa...more
Aawwwwww. Lovely.
THere are two things I really enjoyed about this book.
First, it's a great slice of life from the mid-fifties, when girls wore dresses and walking five blocks to the movies and stopping by the malt shop was the usual type of date that teenagers had. No hooking up, they don't even kiss for several dates. The parents being worried because she's going out with a boy in a car, shocking!!! The descriptions of the clothes and having to sneak into the closet for a few private minutes o...more
THere are two things I really enjoyed about this book.
First, it's a great slice of life from the mid-fifties, when girls wore dresses and walking five blocks to the movies and stopping by the malt shop was the usual type of date that teenagers had. No hooking up, they don't even kiss for several dates. The parents being worried because she's going out with a boy in a car, shocking!!! The descriptions of the clothes and having to sneak into the closet for a few private minutes o...more
11 likes · like · see review
Easy to read but simple and predictable. There is only one thing going on in the story and it's all about Jane and Stan. There is very little tension and while the idea may have been original when written it is dated today. Jane, Stan and their friends are memorable though. You will most likely be able to substitute someone you know with them while reading. Humor will be lost on the intended reading level, but parents will have a few chuckles with Jane's parents. :)
This book is brilliant and I love everything about it, it is simple and witty, and for a long time what I wanted my life to be like when I was fifteen. This book is probably the one book that has the most sentimental value for me, it's because the first time I ever read this was when it was read aloud to my sister, Michelle and I when I was about nine years old, it was read to us by our cousin Dominique, or D.D to us. She was five years older then me and two years older then my sister and we all...more
2 likes · like · see review
This is a sweet little book written in the fifties, about being fifteen in the fifties, that is probably too dated for a modern fifteen-year-old. Cleary's books about the children of the Klickitat Street neighborhood written in the same period have retained more relevance, and kept their bloom much better.
I read this at the same time as Lynne Rae Perkins's 'Criss Cross.' It was interesting how much more jaded kids in that book were, written five years ago about being fourteen in the seventies....more
I read this at the same time as Lynne Rae Perkins's 'Criss Cross.' It was interesting how much more jaded kids in that book were, written five years ago about being fourteen in the seventies....more
3 likes · like · see review
Mar 15, 2013
Kit
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Hopeless romantics
Recommended to Kit by:
Sally Draper
Swoon x1000000. I remember reading this book when I was but a wee little tween, salivating through my braces over the dreamy Stan Crandall. The writing style, language and vivid descriptions transported me to the 1950's so that I could experience everything with plain Jane, from falling in like with her first crush to babysitting that monster who trapped flies inside of snapdragons. It is sad that my inept brain can remember odd little details such as these, yet cannot remember the passwords to...more
Another badly dated book by one of my favorite childhood authors. The last 20 pages are the only reason this goes from two to three stars. Like "Sister of the Bride" which I read last, the story was very lacking in any serious drama or plot, other than the drama of a 15-year-old girl and her first boyfriend. I just don't go for cutesy stuff like that, particularly when I can't relate to the main character. It wasn't until those last 20 pages that I stopped wanting to beat the crap out of this wi...more
Very dated novel! I wouldn't suggest it as a "good read" for teenagers today unless they wanted to know what it was like to date back in the 50's. I found the vernacular to be accurate for that time period but difficult to read at times because it was long before my time. If you want a story from the 50's about young love this is your book. It just wasn't a book I cared for.
Kisah klasik lain dari Beverly Cleary. How sweet cinta monyet itu hihih. Lucunya bagaimana Jane sawang sinawang melihat diri sendiri dan Stan dan Julie dan Marcy. Membanding-bandingkan adalah sesuatu yang penting di usia remaja. Sampai akhirnya para remaja menjadi mulai dewasa di saat bisa 'kembali' menjadi diri sendiri: syarat utama untuk menjalin hubungan yang baik, entah percintaan, persahabatan, rumah tangga, dan semuanya. Kenapa kembali? Karena sewaktu mereka kanak-kanak mereka sudah menjad...more
An old favorite. I think I ran across this in my middle school library when I was about fourteen or fifteen and I instantly fell in love with Jane and have never stopped siince. She is so relatable in the way she feels about Stan and her worries that he won't like or or that he does like her but ohmygod, her parents are so embarrassing and the dance is coming up and she assumes he is going to ask her because they've been spending time together but she doesn't want to ask him straight out, she wa...more
I chose this book because I have read Beverly Cleary recently and I thought that I would enjoy another book of hers. The book is about A girl who faces many hardships through her teenage year being 15. A quote I liked was "it was difficult to beleive that such perfect blooms had once been attached to bushes with roots growing in manure". I liked this quote because the true meaning is that something so beautiful could have been not so perfect before. The author's style of writing was written in t...more
My first thought as soon as I finished? "Awww." I thought it was so cute! It puts me back to being 15 and having a crush or a boy that I liked and it was a fun read. I've read the Ramona Quimby books, which definitely differs from Fifteen because Ramona was a younger girl who got into mischief and trouble along her way, and Jane was a teenager focused on love, friends, looks (I.e. the social life). I was definitely able to relate to some of Jane's experiences, such as relying on a best frie...more
What a cute read. It reminds me of the Avalon books I read in junior high where the climactic event was that simple first kiss.
It was nice to read a story about a first crush, self doubt, and simple love. Even though this book was written back in the fifties, I was still able to enjoy it for what it was worth. No sparkly vampire waiting around the corner in a silvery volvo, just a nice boy with a dip hair cut and an innocent girl waiting for his call and looking forward to a date at the movies...more
It was nice to read a story about a first crush, self doubt, and simple love. Even though this book was written back in the fifties, I was still able to enjoy it for what it was worth. No sparkly vampire waiting around the corner in a silvery volvo, just a nice boy with a dip hair cut and an innocent girl waiting for his call and looking forward to a date at the movies...more
3 likes · like · see review
Beverly Cleary has an easily readable novel for anyone wanting to revisit the dating years of their past. It brought me back to the days when going on a date seemed awkward and everything is hyper-sensitive with the upcoming event. Even the smallest change to plans can seem like the sky is falling during the first dating adventrues in our lives. This novel is a fun story with a classic just short of fairy tale ending. I would recommend this to anyone raising a daughter to review what might be go...more
Published in 1956, this must be one of the first young adult novels ever written. There’s not much to it: generic girl teen Jane wants more than anything to have a boyfriend and generic Stan “a really nice boy” makes her dream come true. I remember how hugely dissatisfied I was with this book when I read it at age thirteen. Stan doesn’t hold Jane’s hand until the third-to-the-last page and kisses her for the first time on the last page. Young adult readers today simply don’t realize how rich the...more
This book was my all time favorite book until I reached high school. There is so much affection for this book that just seeing the cover makes me smile. This book was read between 1987-1989, right at the peak of my adolescence. I wish I could remember the exact time that I read this book, but I do remember re-reading this book several times. I remember wishing that the boy that I liked would ask me to go steady and give me his ID bracelet. Unfortunately, I don't think that this book would be as...more
I loved this book. I read this first when I was younger, maybe around twelve. I couldn't really comprehend it much back then, but as I re-read it recently, I understood it and I became a girl who wanted to live in the older days. I wanted to go back to the days when everyone had manners, and people knew the neighbourhood was safe enough that they would not lock their doors.
I found it a really proper romance between Stan and Jane. It was cute, not overly mushy — just the right amount of a little...more
I found it a really proper romance between Stan and Jane. It was cute, not overly mushy — just the right amount of a little...more
I think it is amazing how well Beverly Cleary captures children and adolescence. Fifteen is no exception. It is about 15 year old Jane who wants a boyfriend more than anything. When she meets Stan, she finds one. Jane is insecure and worries constantly about doing the right thing so that Stan will like her, but she finds out that he is just as insecure as she. And, she learns that just being herself is what is most important.
I like that this book tackles common teenage problems and insecurities...more
I like that this book tackles common teenage problems and insecurities...more
All of Bevery Cleary's books are pretty amazing - so full of everyday detail and so true to life at recreating the confusing emotions and small-scale disasters that loom large in a kid's life. Many people are familiar with this in her "Ramona" books for younger kids, but these earlier (1950s) books aimed at young teens are just as good for their age range with the added bonus of containing contemporary details that are now idealized as part of quintessential historical epoch of fresh-faced kids...more
Fifteen is the typical story of a girl wanting to date a boy and the normal anxieties that happen during that process. If you have been a teenager--if you are a teenager--you will understand the emotions of these characters even though they are couched in the language, objects, and values of the 1950s. Cleary, in her usual style, is funny and believable in her depiction of the normal life of a teenage girl. Regardless, the story was hard to stick with because it felt so dated. Overall, this was...more
So when I finished The Group on Monday I thought Gee I wish I wish I wish I had a wonderful YA to read next, but I was in a hurry to get out of the house and didn't have time to loot the other girls' shelves so I just picked up Einstein's Dreams, which is okay-seeming so far. But THEN the very NEXT day I received in the mail from my brilliant magical perfect mother THIS! Like she heard me in a dream from the future and mailed it. And as soon as I'd read the first page I remembered all these bril...more
2 likes · like · see review
I thought that Fifteen gave an accruate discription of how girls in the 50' acted when in can to boys. I also feel that not much has changed since. Girls and boys alike are always wondering when they are going to find their first love and when they are going to have their first kiss or first hand holding experience. I think that Jane was a little immature for her age at the beginning of the novel but towards the end seemed to mature a lot. I found myself at the end of the novel wondering what el...more
A really nice, sweet account of a 15 year old girl and her first romance in high school.Those who criticise it for being "dated" have to remember that it was written to portray the way things were at THAT time, not how some people years later might have preferred.Some people criticise it for being too "detailed", too "slow". Well, you don't need "action" to make a good story.And this allows you to really understand, to get inside the character,and to visualize the story as if you were actually s...more
May 13, 2012
Judy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
teen girls, also their parents
THE SUNDAY FAMILY READ
This was Beverly Cleary's first novel for teens, preceding The Luckiest Girl by two years. I had not read it when I was growing up, but if I had I probably would have loved it. I wasn't a complete girly girl but I certainly was interested in boys!
Jane Purdy is 15 and a high school sophomore. She has never been on a date with a boy she likes; only some boring boy named George, a friend of the family.
" 'Today I'm going to meet a boy,' Jane Purdy told herself, as she walked u...more
This was Beverly Cleary's first novel for teens, preceding The Luckiest Girl by two years. I had not read it when I was growing up, but if I had I probably would have loved it. I wasn't a complete girly girl but I certainly was interested in boys!
Jane Purdy is 15 and a high school sophomore. She has never been on a date with a boy she likes; only some boring boy named George, a friend of the family.
" 'Today I'm going to meet a boy,' Jane Purdy told herself, as she walked u...more
2 likes · like · see review
When we went to the library today, I saw this book and had to check it out. It's such a short and easy book that I finished it after dinner. Fifteen by Beverly Cleary was one of my favorite books when I was in jr. high. I've read this book so many times. Even though it was written in 1956 and life was so different then, I could totally relate to the main character, Jane. The way Jane thinks, the things she worries about, and her insecurities were just like mine when I was a teenager. It brought...more
I can't believe this book still exist. The last time since I found and read this book from my elementary school library was about
8-9 years ago. Woaaaah. That's long. Heh. This book is indeed my first ever book that I read that has romance in it and I totally loved it. I mean, come onnnnn. I was like 9 or 10 years old back then? ;) So, when I read this book it was like a 'big wow' to me being a dumbo when it comes to romance back then. This was really a breakthrough for me because I used to read...more
8-9 years ago. Woaaaah. That's long. Heh. This book is indeed my first ever book that I read that has romance in it and I totally loved it. I mean, come onnnnn. I was like 9 or 10 years old back then? ;) So, when I read this book it was like a 'big wow' to me being a dumbo when it comes to romance back then. This was really a breakthrough for me because I used to read...more
It all starts with: "Today I'm going to meet a boy."
Found this book at a used book store and couldn't resist another read. Deliciously dated, but that Stan Crandall is still a real catch as far as teenage boys go. He calls when he says he will, except when his appendix bursts.
I have a soft spot for vintage teen fiction. Who wants to start a teen book club?
In closing, from p. 172: "Maybe she had, in her usual way, done all the wrong things, but everything had turned out all right. Maybe that w...more
Found this book at a used book store and couldn't resist another read. Deliciously dated, but that Stan Crandall is still a real catch as far as teenage boys go. He calls when he says he will, except when his appendix bursts.
I have a soft spot for vintage teen fiction. Who wants to start a teen book club?
In closing, from p. 172: "Maybe she had, in her usual way, done all the wrong things, but everything had turned out all right. Maybe that w...more
I thought this book was really cute. What a drastically different time they lived in. The way the kids talked to each other and to their parents was very refreshing. Jane Purdy is a sweet girl and even though the language was practically alien compared to how kids talk today I think most girls at her age have many of the same feelings she described in the book. The shyness and nervousness about boys, the embarrassment of parents and the self consciousness she spoke of are all very normal no matt...more
May 21, 2012
Jeannette
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childhood-favourites
Fifteen, a novel written by Beverly Cleary, is a story that expresses the joys and confusion of young, first love. It is about Jane, a fifteen-year-old girl growing up in the fifties, who falls for Stan, an older boy that can drive. Jane’s character is developed throughout the novel, as she finds love for the first time while ultimately digging deep and finding acceptance within herself.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still relevant? Boys' POV? | 9 | 21 | Sep 22, 2012 03:10pm |
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
More about Beverly Cleary...
Beverly Cleary was born Beverly At...more
Share This Book
2 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“She means well, but she always manages to do the wrong thing. She has a real talent for it.”
—
17 people liked it
“The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else--grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
