Thirteen

Kobie Roberts #3

by Candice F. Ransom

Just thirteen, best friends Kobie and Gretchen are having too good a summer vacation to worry about Madame Zaza's warning of "dark days ahead." There are boys to watch, lipsticks to try, record albums to hear. And a lifelong friendship to keep them busy. But when school begins, Gretchen starts making big changes. Suddenly she has the right looks, the right clothes, and all the right new friends. While Gretchen moves on, Kobie is stuck with her dream of being an artist and her favorite Top 40 songs to get her through eighth grade. Can Kobie survive the year if it means sharing Gretchen?

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

See also Candice Ransom

Ransom has published more than 150 books for children, and she is amazed every day that she's able to do this as her life's work. It's no small thing to discover at an early age (ten!) what one is meant to do, and then pursue that dream. For her, the best part of writing for children is that she can move between writing board books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade novels, nonfiction, and biography. She is excited to move into picture book nonfiction with BONES IN THE WHITE HOUSE: THOMAS JEFFERSON'S MAMMOTH (Doubleday, 2020).

AMANDA PANDA QUITS KINDERGARTEN and the sequel AMANDA PANDA AND THE BIGGER, BETTER BIRTHDAY (Doubleday) are her first picture books with animal characters! She is proud of her easy readers featuring a brother and sister having fun throughout the year: PUMPKIN DAY, APPLE PICKING DAY, SNOW DAY, and GARDEN DAY. Look for more titles in this Level 1 series written in bouncy rhyme, plus the popular TOOTH FAIRY'S NIGHT (all Random House).

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer makes me super nostalgic.
I don’t know how it happens but all of a sudden I am drawn to the music, the books and the movies of my youth. Usually, I will visit my childhood home over summer vacation and pick out titles from the over crammed book shelf in my old room. Three books I brought home with me last year were Thirteen, Fourteen And Holding and Fifteen At Last. All of these revolve around Kobie (Katie, in my Norwegian translated versions) and her life in junior and high school, dealing with her best friend Gretchen (again, Gillian in my books, I suppose Kobie and Gretchen were considered too out there for Scandinavian readers) becoming popular and more or less ditching Kobie as her social status goes through the roof.

I wasn’t sure how I’d react to these books as a middle aged lady. When I first read them, I was not yet a teenager and couldn’t really relate. Now, I look back on my own teenage experiences and I see a lot of myself in these books.

Yes, it can come across as cliched.
Yes, Kobie can be a whiny pain.

And yet, you can’t deny these nuggets of youth: getting completely lost in a song you hear for the first time on the radio. Falling head over heels for someone you honestly should know is out of your league.

These books by Candice F Ransom ring true today, five decades after Kobie graduated from high school.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been looking for this book for years and was thrilled to get an unread copy from PBS...I had first read this when I was in the sixth grade and it really made an impression on me because it seemed to be set in the 60's, according to the Top $0 songs they listened to and the fashions that were "In"... however, it read as if it could be about teenage girls in any decade and was a great tale about two best friends and how one year changes their lives and how they cope. A must for any fans of the YA genre.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites - I still re-read all the time. So funny.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so relieved, this was as terrific as I rememered!

Kobie is more mature in this one, only acting like a brat once in the shopping center. She takes time in this one to reflect before acting and to think of others. I was pleasantly suprised to find that I also remembered the Froot Loops part and that Kobie wanted to be a Disney animator.

[Rustiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminds me of my highschool moment, I read it over and over. One of my friend borrowed it but never return it. I wanna read this book again..:(

[Coco Mira · Rating 5 out of 5]

IYEAAAAHHH!!! I've been looking for this book for yearsssssss.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, it was fun to revisit this book! I must've read this at least a dozen times when I was growing up in the late-80s and early-90s. I still have my original copy (complete with a note inside the cover from my best friend, who is still my BFF!), plus Fourteen and Holding and Fifteen at Last . I learned a couple of years ago of Almost Ten and a Half and Going on Twelve and decided I needed to revisit the entire series.

To be honest, I wasn't really a fan of Kobie in Almost Ten and a Half and Going on Twelve. I thought she was really rude to her mom and at times practically bordered on bullying her best friend Gretchen (plus some other kids). Though Kobie hasn't exactly matured in Thirteen, I do like her again. She can still be selfish and sassy but didn't seem as outright mean as in the first couple of books. (I think Gretchen is also finding her own footing, which helps.) Thirteen made me remember what it was like to feel your world shift when feeling a song deep down in your bones, the loneliness felt when your best (or only) friend was out of school, and feeling somewhat helpless in difficult classes. I am so glad I hung on to these books and I can't wait to read the final two now, also!

[Amy T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all the Kobie Roberts books as a teenager and each one was better than the last. Ransom effectively captures what it's like to be a young girl experiencing her middle and high school years illuminating the friendships, insecurities, hopes, and social structure indicative of that tender and all around weird time. Kobie is extremely likeable and funny, she's the awkward underdog to her best friend, pretty with-it Gretchen, whose popularity soars upon arrival to high school. Ransom accurately describes the emotional turmoil Gretchen's newfound place in the "popular crowd" has on the girls' friendship, however, when push comes to shove, both Gretchen and Kobie discover that their roots are strong and they will always be there for each other. An easy book to enjoy, Thirteen (and the other books in the series) is the perfect book for any girl entering her teen years.

[Darcy]

what I can tell you off the bat is the cover is kind of offensive and the phrase "g***y fortune teller" is used to describe the mechanical figure on the cover. the book is a product of its time, but i need to point that out for anyone who is thinking of a nostalgic reread.

the story itself isn't terrible. kobie is slightly less annoying in this one than in Going on Twelve but i can't in good conscience rate the book because of what i pointed out above.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly better than Almost Ten And A Half but not by much. Kobie is thirteen years old but threw a tantrum in the mall to get what she wants! If a child of mind threw a tantrum like she did I would have grounded her. Her mother shouldn't reward such bad behaviour. No wonder Kobie is the way she is. She's a spoiled brat and acts like a psycho when she doesn't get what she wants. She makes Jessica Wakefield look like a saint.

And she's selfish. Gretchen is allowed to have other friends. She thinks she owns her.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the nostalgia! I read this when I was maybe 11 or 12, and I remember loving it but wondering what the heck "madras" was the whole time. It was the first book I ever read in one sitting/day. I stayed up super late to finish it but my mom let me! My best friend was Gretchen, but she was very different from the one in the book, and I had to adjust my mental image of book-Gretchen. This was my "oh I guess I love reading now" book.

[Ossy Firstan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kobie yang ini terasa sekali perasaan remajanya, lebih sendu karena kejadian-kejadian sedih tentang Gretchen, dan ending yang bikin krek hatikuu. Namun Kobie terlihat mulai menurunkan egonya dan mulai beres-beres kamarnya sendiri guyys. Setelah ini kayaknya mau lanjut baca Kobie umur selanjutnya hoho

[Stephanie Shoffner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as a teen and still think about it at 32.

[L.M. Maretti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still remember how much I loved this book as a preteen back in the 80’s!

[Camelia Tedjasukmana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite in this series

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LONG LIVE KOBIE ROBERTS. A nostalgia read ❤️

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 35 I am probably a little too old to read this now as I can identify with the parents as much as the teens, but it was a fun stroll down memory lane nonetheless. It did bring back many of the feelings of being a teen in junior high back in the eighties and some things made me cringe while others made me smile. I wish it was longer and look forward to reading the other books in the series. When I was twelve, "Going on Twelve" in this series was one of my favorite books and I didn't know at the time that there were other books in the series. Better late than never!

[Jodi Donaldson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was about 12 years old and I never forgot it. I tried and tried to get my hands on a copy of it for the longest time and one day I struck gold on Amazon.com and found it in paperback. Needless to say I order it without hesitation and I read it as soon as it came in the mail. Even at age 22 I still loved this book! I really felt a connection to Kobie and just wanted to hop into the book and give her advice and many many hugs. If I ever have a daughter someday I will strongly encourage her to read this book!

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up out of a box of used books the other day and was pleasantly surprised. I think the author captured very well the essence of that confusing time of being thirteen very well. I wish that some of the supporting cast might have been fleshed out more, but as I learned their stories I came to really enjoy getting to know all of them. I would definitely seek out the rest of the series and read it.

[Queenie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book when I was still in 6th grade, just 12 years old. Way back then, I pondered on the scenes I've read on this book, wondered if it will ever happen to me if I turn thirteen myself. Luckily, it didn't. Thank God because I don't want a friend to get hit by a car. :) This is another example of a the-hottie-and-the-nottie story.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earlier this week, O. unearthed this from one of the boxes of my childhood books in the basement. We were running late for a long car ride yesterday, so I grabbed it on the way out the door. I was pleasantly surprised that it was held up to a re-read as an adult -- and not purely from nostalgia.

[Beth K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at least 20 times when i was growing up. my copy has this same silly cover which at this point is completely falling off. this has a special place on my bookshelf.

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this book it was good!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book so many times as a kid that the cover fell off. Would love to find a copy to reminiscence.

[Samantha Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still remember how much I loved this book as a preteen back in the 80’s!

[Yusnia septiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

a light story, very easy to read. but it was a very good story