FOR EACH OTHER by Janet Lambert

Well, I have to say that these are not the best covers I've seen in the Lambert revue. And the characters on the cover, who I can only assume are Josie and Scott, look far older than they should. Although Josie's hair looks great in the paperback version!

But let's back up.

We are back with the Campbells! The parents are intellectuals, who can't manage money at all and think it is perfectly fine to dress their children in rags and raise them on an old Chinese junk. The oldest, Sandra, is probably 18 or so and she is a beauty. She has a devoted beau, Jay, who is hoping to get her to accept his proposal. Her being in Haiti and him being a college student in the states isn't as much of an impediment as you would think because he's filthy rich.  Josie is about 15 and full of fun. She is a "bloom where you are planted kind of gal, and she is blooming. They have a younger brother, Tenny, who just rolls with the punches like a champ. 

 As the book opens, Josie is hanging around imagining things when she meets day-tripper Scott Maitland. He is the whitest boy in all of Haiti. He wasn't supposed to visit the island, but he has been over protected and is rebelling, albeit somewhat ineffectually. 

I had intended to research Haiti's "bloody struggle to become a republic, its ups and downs through the years when it was preyed upon by different political groups, and ending with the dissension and intrigue in its present government." But I did not, because Janet summed it up there. And I'm in this for the interpersonal relationships, not the politics. 

But I will point out at one point when Josie is talking about how the wealthy Haitians send their kids to school in France, she says they do it "Because French is Haiti's national language and because - well, many of them are almost white, and they feel that we still draw a color line." Which is a delicate way to say it in 1959. She is quick to mention that Sandra has a Haitian friend who was offered a wonderful job in New York, so clearly it isn't a problem.

Well, Scott gets a wee bit stranded and is a wee bit annoying, but Josie tries to make the best out of it. She takes him to see a voodoo ritual which they view as pure entertainment, but Lambert has an insightful bit where Scott is all riled up from the voodoo and Josie knows that it is just the thrill of the unknown and he will come down shortly, and he does. 

Drama erupts when Josie is overheard saying what a dud Scott is, and he overhears it. And agrees. But they make up. The Simpsons, who own the hotel where everyone is staying, have their study broken into. Nothing much comes of it. 

Then all hell breaks loose and the Campbell kids, Scott and Jay are sent to the states on their own. Josie spends much of my goodwill by sneaking a bunch of kittens onto the plane.

They end up at Jay's parents' house and we learn that Scott had been ill, but also had an older bother who had died of polio, which was one of the reasons his parents were so overprotective. That and his propensity for getting stuck in island nations during a violent coup. 

Jay's mom tries to give them some dresses that cost the current equivalent of nearly $300! That seems quite excessive. Sandra won't take them because until she is married she will pay for her own dresses, or at least her parents will. 

Jay sweet talks Sandra into taking his grandmother's engagement ring so that they can get married soon and go to college together. They're BABIES!! Josie reads some stuff to Sandy that she wrote about their parents for when they get homesick and it smartens her up and she plans to return the ring in the morning. 

And it ends. 

Honestly.

That's it. 

I really liked the Haitian setting and the look at the difference Lambert displays between tourists and people who stay in the place long term. As a person who likes to stay somewhere long-term-ish, rather than do touristy things, I appreciated it. And there was some real tension in the kids getting out of the country. But the interpersonal stuff didn't grab me. We KNOW Sandy and Jay are going to end up together and now that Scott has declared Josie to be his person, there's probably going to be another set of soulmates to keep together. 

Although I just pulled the next Campbell installment FOREVER AND EVER off the shelf and apparently they are moving to Crawfordsville and will have some adventures there. So you never know if Scott will return, or be forgotten. I look forward to seeing how Janet describes Crawfordsville. I have been there a few times, sure, it is 60+ years after the books were written, but how much could it really have changed?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, but I thought it would have stuck with me more than it did. Maybe that's just the Campbells. The settings are so unusual that the stories don't have to be too compelling. Or maybe I am dying to get back to Patty and Ginger and their crazy teenage wilding. Or to see if maybe Bobby Parrish does the right thing and lets Keith have Susan. So much to find out!