UP GOES THE CURTAIN by Janet Lambert

I can't even begin to describe how much that picture of the Tempo edition disturbs me. Why must it be askew? I love the hardback cover, though. Penny's dress is to die for and Josh is dreeeeeamy! He has lots of bones in his face according to Tippy in PRACTICALLY PERFECT which I am currently reading. Spoiler: I now love Tippy. She barely shows up in this one, which is thoughtful of her.

Let's get started, shall we?

It starts up with a really sweet set piece where Penny meets, Letty, who is waiting tables in New York City while her husband is away at war. They strike up a very exposition-y conversation wherein we learn that Penny has a role in a BROADWAY PLAY!! She begins rehearsals in three week and is lonely because the rest of the fam (who she describes to Letty - and the reader) is at Fort Knox. Letty asks why she doesn't just go visit for those weeks and Penny, realizing that Letty is a genius, makes plans to meet up with her when she returns. 

Terry Hayes makes an appearance, but is surprisingly non-amorous and noncommittal about meeting up with her at Knox where he is also heading. The reason becomes clear when Penny meets his new gal-pal the vixen, Marcia McMain. Or as I call her Louise 2.0. She's dreadful.

INTRIGUE ALERT!! Okay, I'm just going to break it down. Marcia is a spy, Penny catches her. If it weren't for Penny Parrish, we might have lost WWII, just saying. The story is surprisingly tight and it really got me thinking about female spies working for the Axis in the US and how you never hear about them. I did some investigation and found very little. And also, Lambert can write suspense. Who knew??

So Penny goes back to NYC with Carol because Dave and Colonel Parrish are getting called up. It's sad. But Letty helps. She has been living on her own since her Joe left and is a trouper. She helps Carrol keep a stiff upper lip and is soon living at the apartment with Pen and Car. (The scene where we see Penny show up at the diner to take Letty out to dinner from Letty's perspective is really adorable. And moving. Well done, Janet.)

Then there is some stage drama - Penny tries to make friends, people gossip. There's a funny gay boy playing her romantic interest who keeps trying to upstage her. (No, of course it isn't said outright, but come on...) And then there's Josh. Not only does he seem to dislike Penny, he also hates AMERICA! He gets mad when Penny stands at attention for the national anthem. What a jerk. He's not even in the service!

The play goes to Boston, Terry comes to visit and doesn't propose because he knows Penny has her defenses down and would say yes. He's a good boy. They open on Broadway and Penny is a hit. Huzzah! There is some nonsense with her costar that causes a fight between Josh (he's the stage manager, I think) and Mr. Goss, the director and Josh gets fired for sticking up for Penny!

That's it, our girl goes after him and cracks him like a nut. Turns out he grew up poor in a theater family. His mom died young, his dad was a flake and Mr. Goss is his "Uncle Dad" his dad's best friend who essentially raised him. He worked in the theater and was getting a name as a respected director. When the war started he went to the army and wanted to fight like a real man, but ended up directing shows, like a sissy. Lambert, to her credit, has Penny put forth some propaganda about how keeping morale up is as important as battle. He ends up going bonkers and gets kicked out, hence he hates the army. And by extension America and Penny. Til now.

They bond, Carrol has a baby and Michael gets shot down over Germany. 

Do you remember Michael? He is the one from West Point of whom I said "I am almost sure he is going to die in the war because somebody has to and we like him but ultimately don't care what happens to him. But I could be wrong." And there you have it, I am a genius.

I shall leave you with that cliff hanger. Gosh, I wonder what happens. 

JUST JENNIFER by Janet Lambert

Oh Janet, you just don't care if you break my tender heart, do you? You put kids in all kinds of peril in the middle of a war and you pull it back just as it gets unbearable. 
Let's look at the things Jennifer Jordan (henceforth referred to as JJ) has to deal with, shall we?

• 8 siblings of the whole, step and half variety 
• one of whom is horrible (the mostly wretched Gwenn)
• one of whom is completely forgettable (Vance who I had to look up when he was mentioned at the end because I completely forgot he existed)
• one of whom is an orphan who may or may not have been in the car when his parents were killed
• a father who is away working for Uncle Sam
• a housekeeper who has zero work ethic
• a hired girl who has the IQ of a can of spam
• a neighbor boy with PTSD who requires lots of attention
• PTSD-boy's snooty aunt
• a landlord who is always in her business (just kidding, he's the best)
• a wedding to arrange
• a wife to murder
• and Guilder to frame for it

The poor girl is swamped!

Okay, the last two were The Princess Bride but still, you get the idea.

JJ is great. She is raising all these kids with very little help. She uses her army-brat know-how to keep them in line. The kids are pretty awesome, too. Their favorite game is Orphan Asylum. Considering that 3 of them are complete orphans, this is a bold stance. 

She talks Mr. Caldwaller, a widow who has an empty house that used to belong to his now dead son, into letting them rent the place when their housekeeper bolts and JJ decides it would be better to live by a lake. I think maybe she has an internal understanding that the family would be good for Mr. C and he for them. And she is right.

Mr. C has a daughter, Lacey, who is a beautiful school teacher who loves the kids and acts as a surrogate big sister/Auntie to JJ. There is also a handsome Lieutenant who comes around pretty regularly and Lambert uses a play from her Candy Kane book and pairs up these two kindly young adults prettily. (Oh, spoiler, they get married at the end after an adorable courtship with the requisite misunderstanding.)

The PTSD boy is Cyril, who lost his adored older siblings in the London bombings. He also has some metal in his back but is dying to get back to Merrie Olde so that he can get "in the action." His Aunt is a Mrs. Claypool type of the highest order who just wants what is best for the boy, but is terrible at figuring out that it is JJ. 

There is also a tutor and some assorted maids and butlers, one of whom has an egregious brogue, but is a wonderful, motherly type. 

The story centers around JJ taking care of every freaking thing. Then she gets sick and everyone realizes how much she does for them all and they help her get well. Cyril is in love with her, natch. Auntie doesn't approve, of course. But everything works out in the end. Even though Alice (my fave) breaks her collarbone and almost can't go on the big trip to New York after the wedding. (And a declaration of love from Cyril to JJ and a chaste kiss.)

There is also a nice bit about how Donny (the brother/cousin who lost his parents in the car crash) begins to hero-worship Cyril, which is just what the sad sack needs. 

Also there is a horse and Cyril is a Lord. Not the messianic kind, but rather the English kind. Don't worry, but the end of the book he decides the only good titles are earned ones like "General" and his hair is as short as any, by God, American boy in Florida.

This book was lovely and all those kids are destined to be plot fodder for more Lambertian shenanigans later on. I look forward to reading about all of them. Even Gwenn who is spoiled and selfish, although she does get a little redemption at the end. As we all should.

Back to Penny Parrish next time - on Broadway!

WHOA, MATILDA! by Janet Lambert

I just can't get my Matilda's to line up. Kind of the same problem Candy and Barton have...

So we have a time jump here. Our little Candy Kane is now a senior in high school. She is living in DC with her parents. Her dad is doing importantly, manly war work, her mom is volunteering like a crazy person. Leigh has married an officer and is living in California. Cleoretta is still with the family and Candy arranged a marriage for her with Joe, the elevator operator, in spite of him being desperately in love with Lieutenant Colonel Kane. Seriously, Joe thought 'he was the handsomest mane in Washington."
Turns out LC is headed for North Africa along with Leigh's husband and Coop - the young officer Candy fixed up with Jane in the last book.
Barton comes up to Washington, just a buck private, in spite of his father being a big muckety-muck in the service. He dropped out of West Point and is hoping to become a flier.
The ladies end up going down to the Fort Benning area, which is where Barton is conveniently stationed. He stores his shit-heap of a car - Matilda - with them at Jane's ancestral home. There is a baby who is cute and not yet annoying.
The story concerns itself with Candy and Barton's nascent love affair. (No tongues.) and Leigh becoming less of a beast and starting to do for others.
Candy is really good at singing God Bless America and is invited to Florida to get people to buy bonds with her talent. Barton proves himself less of an ass by knowing how to interact with his betters and eventually gets sent to flight school. Coop loses a foot.
I loved how Marcia completely lost her marbles when LC Kane got called up. She was a basket case and it was a nice comparison to when the Parrish parents dealt with the same thing calmly. I found it interesting how this was basically propaganda for food rationing and what a great idea it is. (Gas rationing, however sucks, because Matilda is always hungry for fuel.)
The parts where Candy has to be zany to get an audition with a famous bandleader are silly, but ultimately pay off when she gets to go on tour. Even though she doesn't appreciate it.
Corp comes home and the Kanes are going to move back north or some such nonsense, it will become clear in the next CK book which seems that it might be horse-centric. I don't really care.
So what we get from this is that war changes people, usually for the better if you don't count missing feet and Candy is the one that makes the world go around and Barton is still pretty much a man-baby dud.

CANDY KANE by Janet Lambert

I got to listen to CANDY KANE this summer read by the inimitable Lady Chardonnay as we cut cross country. She is a wonder at reading aloud and before she began she told me that many people she knows consider this one of Lambert's weaker outings. However, she said she loves it because to her it shows how an emotionally abused girl overcomes the expectations of others through her innate kindness. With that in mind, I fell in love with Candy as well.
There was some silliness in the reading - we cussed out Barton for his baby-man shenanigans, we saluted Major Kane every time his rank was mentioned, we bonded over our loathing of Leigh and Marcia. But ultimately we enjoyed this trip into a world where problems can be solved with a permanent wave and some singing talent and where matchmaking is always a good idea.
Last week, when I was rereading this, I annotated my copy with all my opinions about the goings on and someday I may make those amazing insights public. But for now I will talk about those covers. 
Holy cow!
The paperback cover looks downright salacious! Candy looks like a girl on the make. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, she learns a bit how to work those feminine wiles by the end. But our Candy is really a stalwart little soldier with a heart of gold. 
The other two covers are more in keeping with the book. She has her braids and her sensible shoes, but those braids are neat, and she is cute, and she even has the option of two different outfits!
The story is that Candy is the daughter of a successful businessman who gets called up to active duty in the early days of WWII. Her mother is a trophy wife of epic proportion and her older sister is a shallow socialite. 
Candy and her dad move to Georgia to a military post while mom (who is never called mom, but rather Marcia because she is a cold bitch who is obsessed with her beauty) and sis (the less said about her the better) stay home and close up the apartment and farm. 
Candy meets the family next door - warm, loving mom who shows Candy what good parenting looks like, new best friend Anne and whiny mansplaining Barton. 
There is also Cleoretta, the friendly cook/housekeeper and Nana, Candy's childhood nanny who is a source of love, comfort and wisdom.
Candy meets a soldier (with whom she shares NO romantic interest) and fixes him up with the pure-of-hear Jane. When sister Leigh finds out that he is richie-rich-rich she tries to steal him away, but good sense and true love prevail and Candy ends up singing at a talent show and in the process learns how to be more "grown up", alas...
The emotional abuse Candy suffers from her mother is real. There is no love there, only nagging and and real fear. I honestly don't know if Lambert was aware of how vicious Marcia is to her daughter. (Don't worry, in WOAH MATILDA she is a changed lady and things seem to be going well. Barton is the problem in that book. Well, Barton and war...) It is a bit too easy how quickly Marcia begins to appreciate Candy when Candy becomes more feminine and shows a talent for singing. It is really her kindness that makes her worthy of having a book named after her. But, whatever...
I loved this book. I am a Candy fan and I loved having the opportunity to have the book read to me and then go back again and make sure it was just as good as I remember. It was!

GLORY BE! by Janet Lambert

You guys, I have some terrible news... And it is a big old spoiler so stop reading now if you are going to read this for the first time later...

Carol's dad buys the farm. And it isn't the kind of farm buying he did in the last book where he bought an actual farm. He expires. He is an ex-character. It was heartbreaking, but ultimately a better fate than I thought he was lined up for. At one point I really got the feeling that Louisa was going to make a play for hime and I was HORRIFIED! Although a little impressed, way to go all in, Louisa.

But I digress...

The book opens as Penny is turning 18 and she is all angsty about having to start her "career" on the stage. She was a little moody and irritating, but it was actually fascinating how it was a BIG DEAL, a girl having a career. And when you juxtapose that with Carrol saying to David, "Oh, please forget that one of the things that first drew you to me was my desire to get an education and have a career because I have found love with a man now so I don't need that bullshit anymore." Or something like that.

So Penny meets up with Lieutenant Hayes again. When she was 14 or 15 he thought she was a cutie but now that she is 18, his lust is inflamed and he must have her! Well, in a Lamberty way. He plagues her (as they used to say) and she gives back as good as she gets. 

Dad goes to Europe as an observer and I know it is war and this changes EVERYTHING for the Parrishes, like the teenager I inwardly am, it means very little to me. He was a nice fella, but no Carol's dad with his riches and charm. I do love the way the he and Marjie talk about presenting a united front. It is a really loving, if old fashioned, marriage. 

The upside of Dad's dangerous mission is that the rest of the family gets to move to Gladstone - the farm where Carrol and her adorable dad live. Except Bobby who goes to the military school he so richly deserves. 

Penny breaks a date with Michael (I am almost sure he is going to die in the war because somebody has to and we like him but ultimately don't care what happens to him. But I could be wrong) to go out with Lieutenant Hayes.  He has tickets to the new Janice Ware play so Mike is SOL.

SO they go to the play and at one point Terry says, "Pen, you're the first girl I ever knew who had something on her mind besides clothes and lipstick and a line of patter." OUCH! I think Lt. Hayes needs to get out more. But he encourages her to write to Janice Ware and, glory of glories, Janice writes back and invites her for a visit. 

But it all goes to shit when Terry horns in on Penny's big dinner with Janice and she clams up and gets mad a him because he ruins everything and then it gets pointed out that he was trying to help, but it is still kind of manipulative and mansplainy and she gets him back later trying to fix him up with the dreaded Lorraine and that messes up his work life and it's just a big thing with these two trying to control one another and not communicating at all. 

You bet these crazy kids are going to get together someday. And it is a credit to Janet Lambert that even though they are terrible at getting together, I am kind of rooting for them.

Back to Janice Ware - she decides to mentor Penny. Yay!

So then there is the event where Penny decides to fix Terry up with Louise and it is terrible for many reasons. 

First, Louise swans around looking like a vamp and acting all "mature" and I really thought she was setting her cap for my beloved Mr. Houghton. (We find out later it is a Terry's commanding officer and hilarity ensues when she plays Terry off of him. If by hilarity I mean almost screwing up Terry's career.) 

The grossest thing is when Terry comes in and asks Penny, "Got a kiss for Daddy?" Oh, Terry, no... Too close to the truth you cradle robber. Keep that shit out of my head!

So everything is going great at Gladstone and then Langdon Hughes dies. And it's really sad. Lambert does a good job with grief, I'll give her that. And LH sets up the Mr. Parrish as the person to handle his stuff assuring that the families will remain connected. 

Some other stuff happens - Bobby and Tippy FINALLY redeem themselves by giving Carrol their most cherished possessions to help her through her grief - a doll and a knife. Frankly, Bobby, that knife thing could have gone really badly if things had played out differently.

David proposes, she says yes, there is a wedding, blah blah blah...Goodbye Carrol's career!

OH MY GOSH - the most horrifying thing in the whole book is in the chapter when Carrol and David get engaged. They have a picnic and Carrol is cleaning up "she stuffed the papers and her cup into the sack and whisked through her housekeeping by TOSSING THE SACK INTO THE RIVER!!!" (caps and exclamation points, my own) This girl is a litter bug of the highest order. Alas, it was the times... 

Penny and Terry have a feud. Whatevs... Then David graduates and Carrol pulls herself out of her sadness like a champ and goes through the ceremony and dance and Mr. Parrish shows up 2 seconds before David gets his diploma and then the wedding...

And it closes with Trudy saying wise things in offensive dialect and I tell you I am dreading MISS TIPPY...

So we close the book on the Parrish family for awhile. I am currently re-reading CANDY KANE and WOAH MATILDA is about Candy, too. But I know Penny and Tippy and the gang will be back and I can't wait to see them!

DREAMS OF GLORY by Janet Lambert

First of all, if this is what the cover is supposed to look like, mine is VERY faded!

Well, I still love Penny Parrish. I truly thought she would be annoying by now, but I just adore her. She is a little flighty, but she is so good-hearted and kind, but she has backbone too. She will cut a bitch if she needs to, Lousie!

So the premise her is the that Parrish family has moved (conveniently) to West Point where eldest son David is a plebe. There is a LOT of West Point jargon here that I didn't necessarily get. (Although the lighthearted look at hazing was bonkers.) But I did get the gist and danged if it didn't make me want to visit the Point again.

(I went to a wedding there when I was in high school and I remember it being rather fancy - they had real wine for communion! What kind of protestants put up with that nonsense, I ask you??)

Carroll's dad has bought a farm (mansion) nearby and the girls have a grand time there. She is in school in New York, and Penny goes down to visit. At one point there is some nonsense with a football game and people just missing each other and Penny meets a famous actress, spends the day in a theater watching her play and then goes out and meets a bunch of movie stars. You know, as one does.

There are dates and dances and misunderstandings and David goes blind from studying too hard. (Let that be a lesson to you - take it easy on the studying!) There is a chaste kiss at the end and it is HOT STUFF! (Just kidding, but it is sweet and romantic and adorable.)

There are still black characters talking in dialect, and every time it happens I feel that sound of a needle scraping across an album, taking me out of the happiness of the book.  There is some very pointed anti-communist talk that firmly sets this in it's time. But other than that, I barely took any notes on this because I was just enjoying it as a read. There was one stupid section that featured the abhorrent Tippy and dreadful Bobby - but other than that it was charming.

There was a nice section where Carroll's dad (who I think is HOT!) and Penny are talking about how small everyone looks from the New York penthouse balcony and Langdon Houghton says "We are quite little people when we get down into it. But each one of us is important. Without us [the world] couldn't be so big." and Penny says how strange it is that everyone has a life of their own. And for some reason this just stuck with me. I sometimes look at people in wonder that they see the world as their story, just the way I see it as mine. (I mean, predominantly, not in like a completely self-obsessed way.)

It made me appreciate that a happy story like this can have an impact and that everyone's story has value and that sort of thing. It made me thinkier than I expected. That is all.

On to GLORY BE which looks like it might have a plot twist or two. Will Louise wind up in the penitentiary? Will Dick be kicked out of the Point? One can only hope...

STAR SPANGLED SUMMER by Janet Lambert

This summer I bought the complete works of Janet Lambert. You may recall how I aired them out with some (minimal) success They still smell a bit musty, but I put them in order in a lovely bookcase and have started my reading of them.

I was told by many to start with STAR SPANGLED SUMMER and with good reason. It is adorable! However, I was on a road trip with my dear friend Lady Chardonnay and she was kind enough to read CANDY KANE out loud to me, so that was actually my first Lambert. But I am going to wait to write about that until it comes up in order about 5 or 6 posts from now. It was terrific and had more depth than I was expecting.

So - STAR SPANGLED SUMMER is our introduction to the Parrish family who are adorable. The father - Major Parrish (salute) is strong and kind, a military man who is an excellent horseman and a charming husband. The mother Marge is kind and full of fun - always up to help her kids organize some kind of fun or another.

David, the eldest son plays it close to the vest. He is dreamy-ish, mostly because of the way he holds himself apart. He is slated to go to West Point at the end of this summer and is studying and obsessing about equestrian matters.

Penny is adorable! I was worried that I was going to find her enthusiasm tiresome like that of JOAN FOSTER, FRESHMAN (don't ask...) but she was wonderful! A little Tobey Hayden-like with shades of (dare I say?) Betsy Ray. She is a good friend with a creative imagination and definitely her mother's daughter.

Bobby and Tippi are amorphous blobs of little children tropes, but I believe Tippi will become more important as she ages.

There are also two servants - Trudy and Williams who are, well, wonderful people but written a bit problematically. We will get back to them later.

The plot is thus - Carrol Houghton is a poor little rich girl who visits the Parrishs at their home on an army base and finds that the warmth of a close family is far more valuable than material wealth. And also there is intrigue with a jealous bitch named Louise who wants David because she can't have him and may or may not have attempted to murder Carrol to this end.

The thing I am most interested about in these books is the look at how gender, class, and race are dealt with and there is some real meat here.

On page 49 Carrol and David are talking about why girls chase boys and Carrol says, "...a lot of it is because girls don't have any ambition. They aren't planning a future as boys are, and aren't trying to amount to something someday." Well, that stopped me dead in my tracks with its accuracy. Girls did not have a fraction of the opportunities boys had to succeed so they had to find a star to which they could hitch their wagon. A boy-star. Yikes.

Carrol goes on to say that she wants to study languages in college and then "do something" afterwards. She is not like those other girls. She is a cool girl! Well, not really, but she is pretty awesome and is more than just that PLRG trope I expected.

Next up is Tubby. She is a fat girl, naturally, and is teased by the aptly named Dick. I think she is a bit of a wet blanket, but she doesn't deserve to be treated like that. It made me sad. Dick will get his at some point I am sure.

Now a big problem in this book is racism. I know it sounds harsh, but it is clearly there. The attitude towards Trudy (one of the family - couldn't live without her) is kind but patronizing. She is hardworking and kind, with a sense of humor, but all her dialog is in dialect straight out of AMOS AND ANDY. Williams is treated worse - same dialect, but also there are inferences that he is lazy - even though he seems to be Johnny-on-the-spot as far as I am concerned.

There are some sweet parts with Trudy and Williams. Clearly the Parrish's love Trudy and treat her respectfully. After "the hop" Penny takes time to tell Williams how well he played (he is in the second post orchestra). But this is not a book I would give to a kid without talking seriously and thoroughly about how African Americans were treated at this time.

Dialect always creeps me out. Even the brilliant SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER used it for Ruth who was otherwise one of the most wonderful characters I ever met in a book. I am hoping this peters out in Lambert's writing eventually, but I don't know if it is likely.

If you have delicate sensibilities, look away now. On page 238 David is being razzed by his friends because he gets to take a plane to West Point with Carrol and her father rather than the train like the other fellows. Dick says, "Aren't you sumptin'. Mr. Gotrocks flying to the Point..." According to Urban Dictionary it means to flaunt money, but it sure sounds like a dick joke to me! It doesn't help that he goes on to say, "We'll all look the same when we get dyked out in those grey flannel shirts." I assume that means "dressed up" but Urban Dictionary assures me it has a very different meaning that is not Parrish approved!

At any rate - I enjoyed this book a lot. The description of life on the base is fascinating and there are some nice touches. At the moonlight picnic the kids ride horses out to where they are going to eat and sing songs not unlike the crowd in the Betsy Tacy books. (They are the gold standard, I am going to reference them a lot!)

So far the war is kind of in the background, but I believe that it is going to be more than just a plot device in these books. I am looking forward to the next installment DREAMS OF GLORY and will let you know what I think when I finish it!

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I am currently sitting at table 21 in the Gale Family Library at the Minnesota Historical Society, waiting to get my paws on the Maud Hart Lovelace papers!
Some of the things I hope to see are Maud's GREAT WORLD memorabilia, the Okto Delta constitution, a little essay called AN ADVENTURE ON PUGET SOUND.
I am agog.
In other news, I was visiting my friends Pete and Mandi in Chicago a couple days ago and Pete is trying to offload some records he acquired and he gave me a snazzy little disc called - THE GREAT CARUSO! He was quite surprised when I squealed like a 1990s teenybopper at a Backstreet Boys concert.
The anticipation is killing me. If they find my body draped across table 21, you will know why!
More to come...

Laundering My Lamberts!

SO as you can see, my new collection of Janet Lambert books is currently being aired out. I bought them from a friend who is relocating and wanted them to have a good home. I would mention the friend, but I am about to cast aspersions on the smell of her basement. Believe me, honey, it smells better than mine! Those poor books would turn to dust in self-defense if the had to go in my basement. We have a sign on the door that says, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." (And my beloved is currently riding an exercise bike down there. He abandoned hope a long time ago...)

So yesterday I bought a new bookcase for these lovelies and am attempting to debasement-ize them. They are in really good shape, but have been in storage for awhile. Since I would rather smell lavender dryer sheets than musty book, I am taking extreme measures! They are on my back porch with a dryer sheet in  and between each book. 

I also have a handful in some plastic boxes with [box 1] baking soda, [box 2] more dryer sheets, and [3] a charcoal bag my beloved keeps in my car in the vain hope that it won't smell terrible all the time.  That's what the internet told me to do. But who trusts that guy?

In other news, have received an AMAZING chronology that Susie Welsh put together for the interrelated books. My plan is to put those in her order and do the rest chronologically.  If you aren't friends with her on facebook and want the list - I will check and see if it is in the public domain. I can't wait to get started!

But first the airing out...

THEN AGAIN MAYBE I WON'T because I am a middle aged lady...

I love to read the books I was obsessed with as a young person with my little old lady eyes in the 21st century to see how they hold up. Today's installment is that classic of adolescence by Judy Blume that had quite an impact on me. From shoplifting to looking into the neighbors windows to nocturnal emissions - there was so much to learn here!

First off, the cover of the version I am currently reading pulls no punches. This boy is LOOKING THROUGH THOSE BINOCULARS with SOMETHING ON HIS MIND. What could it be?

It is hard to tell what is the reflection at the bottom of the cover. Could be a nicely stained wood floor, could be some sort of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS bug - your guess is as good as mine.

[Here there be spoilers. If you haven't read this since the mid-80s like me, you can still get one of the 16 copies in the Noblenet system. Or at the evil empire. Or you could order it from your local bookseller because they aren't keeping it on the shelf unless you're talking about someplace HUGE.)

Now to the story. The basic premise is it is early summer and nearly 13 year old Tony Miglione is living in Queens, working a paper route for his spending money and thinking about going to junior high next year (7th grade). He lives with his parents and mute grandmother and his older brother, a teacher, and sister-in-law knocked up earlier in the marriage than they planned, live in the in-law apartment. Because of his impending grandfather-hood, Tony's dad takes one if his inventions to an investor and - just like that - they become upper middle class. Maybe even upper-class, depending on how you define it.

I read this book in the late seventies when I was 11 or 12, it was written in 1971 and from what I have read so far, it holds up. It would surely have the feel of historical fiction to a young reader of today, and for me it takes me right back to Smithtown, Long Island, sitting by the back window, listening to Billy Joel and wondering just what the hell a wet dream is.

Now for the deep dive.

In reading this again, I realize that as a kid I never took in the impact the death of Vinny, Tony's older brother. The loss of Vinny weighs heavy on the story. It was published in 1971, When the Vietnam war was still going on. This loss does a lot to explain why Mrs. Maglione wants to start fresh with all new things when the family moves to Long Island. She is clearly trying to escape from the memories of the old place. I’m interested to see how this plays out in the rest of the story.

Another thing that I completely missed is the discussion of class. It is a story about a family moving on up from being a blue-collar family where the father is electrician (not the lucrative career it is now that there are so many fewer electricians), the mother works in retail, the disabled Grandma is home helping with childcare and cooking and the son has to have a job at 12 to have any spending money.

I also never noticed how caught up Tony is in a fear that the money is not going to last. This is very interesting to me because it shows that he’s been sort of indoctrinated to have fears about money as a member of a family that is just scraping by would at a very young age. I’m also interested in the fact that the brother and sister-in-law were studying to be teachers and how education is shown as a bridge to a better life.

When the Migliones move, the description of the new house is so funny to me. Having grown up on Long Island, I know exactly what that house felt like. My house wasn’t that big with the extra bathrooms but we did have three!  We had one upstairs near the kids 'rooms, one attached to the master bedroom and one downstairs for company and emergencies. And yes, many was the time I sat there with the door open so I could see the TV. We were a family without shame. And we were bathroom rich. I have lived for the past 22 years in a one bathroom house And luckily we only have two children both boys who had to be urged to have good hygiene as at a young age. And the rule has always been, when Mama says get out of the bathroom, you have 30 seconds to wrap up whatever you are doing! (And no, you can't see the TV from the bathroom.)

So, the idea of the room having three windows being a big deal stuck out to me.My sister Susan had two windows out front and one to the side that looked into the neighbors house. My room had two windows in the front with a built-in window seat and two windows in the back and a little bit of porch that I could climb out and sit on the roof if I was feeling angst-y. But I didn’t do that very much because it involves climbing which I was far too lazy to do. The number of windows just seemed normal, but now that I think about it, the houses we lived in as we were "moving-on-up" had progressively more windows as my dad climbed the corporate ladder.

For his first rich-boy birthday, Tony gets a new bike- a 10 speed, mother-scratcher! He has such a feeling of freedom now. He learns his way around the town and it’s completely liberating. I did bike some as a kid, but again see laziness above. It was good to ride my bike to the library. That was always one of my very favorite things to do. But I would often try to catch a ride at least downtown, and then walk back later in the afternoon. Tony doesn't seem to walk much.

Nowadays, I don’t see kids riding their bikes much. That could be because we live on a main road. I did a study in graduate school about obesity rates in kids who live on on main roads as opposed to roads that do not have outlets on to main roads. It was a master work. But I digress.

Ooh, the next-door neighbors with a pool, I know it well! The etiquette behind this is very touchy stuff. Both our neighbors had pools. The family on one side had a pool but we were never invited over. But the Jenkins on the other side had a pool and we had an open invitation. This was problematic because Kenny Jenkins had a bunch of gorgeous friends who I had tremendous crushes on so I would have to beautify before I could go over there. It was awkies. I had no game. I used to tell myself that it was because they were late developers, and that’s why I never got to make out with any of them. But the actual truth was, I was awkward as hell in high school. No doubt about it. I made up for it I had some game in college and I'm married now so, well played me...

So Tony finally meets the neighbor kids. Joel, oh Joel, I never saw your underlying issues when I was a kid, but I can clearly see you need a lot of therapy now that I am an adult. Lisa, the perfect princess becomes Tony's obsession from the minute he meets her. Hot older girls are still a thing for middle school boys, I suppose.

The maid was something, huh?  No one I knew had a made growing up, except for Saul and Minnie. They also had a pool, and we had an open invitation to swim there. They were loaded! Now that they’re both dead I think it’s OK to say that Saul was my dad‘s sponsor in AA. He was an old man and had a wife that he was deeply in love with whom he fought with constantly and she also was crazy about him, and argued with everything he said. I believe that Saul and Minnie did have an impact on my marriage, Rich and I are very Saul and Minnie. His grandparents also used to fight all the time, and his family said he is just like his granddad. I was born the same day as his grandma and hope that I have some of her fiery spirit.

Anyway,  the Richman's had a maid and their pool was an in ground pool. And they had a pool house, we didn’t go into the house because we didn’t want to irritate them. And I think that was for the best. This place was in walking distance and Katie and I used to go over pretty frequently. We would read-walk on the way up and on the way back. My gosh we were nerds. Anyway God bless Saul and Minnie.

The school thing is 100% right. Being the new kid is never as easy as Tony makes it seem making his two new friends on the first day, but it is a big learning curve. I could go on for days about that.

Reading about youth group is a hoot, that was my whole social circle when I was growing up. Where I lived,  if you didn’t have kids your age in the neighborhood, you didn’t have a social life. (If you were a big nerd who only wanted to read and didn't want to ride your bike too far.) My sister had a nice group of kids in the neighborhood and was very popular with them, but I was too young. They already had one kid who is two years younger to be their mascot. They were nice to me and that they would invite me to activities like tobogganing, and every once in a while horseback riding. (Okay, my sister had a horse, maybe we were rich.)

It’s great that Tony’s going to get to play basketball and youth group. And that one of his new friends is also in youth group. This girl Corky, I remember her coming up. I was never a fan. I can’t stand skinny girls, Just like Tony.

Oh my gosh, the erections! TAMIW was my first introduction to the human penile erection! Thanks Judy, I can’t believe I forgot why I was so fascinated by this book. I’m going to end here before it gets too graphic and hopefully make my next post more about Tony and less about Barb. Then again maybe I won’t.

BIG HILL chapters 7-9

CHAPTER 7 – OUT FOR VOTES

The race is on! Maud takes us down the street to meet the neighbors as the girls canvas for votes.

First up is the Rivers' we met Mrs. Rivers when she distracted Betsy as the birthday party girls came over earlier in the book. Next up are the Hunts. They are “deaf and dumb” in the parlance of the day.

How interesting that she uses the name Hunt! Dave Hunt was a silent fellow – could be be their son? There is only mention of a baby in that house in BIG HILL, and Dave Hunt (according to Sharla Whalen) is based on Bob Hughes whose father was a judge, so probably unlikely to be hearing impaired. And Buehlah Hunt was one of the Winonas. There is no meniton in the Companion of this neighborhood family at all. [1]

We hear a lot about the need for inclusivity in children's books and here is Maud in 1942 highlighting characters who have disabilities and promoting acceptance of immigrants. Yay Maud! [2], [3]

Miss Williams, the music teacher is on team Julia. As is her brother Ben who is one of those non-royal book carrying kind of boys. Julia hits up Mrs. Benson – but the girls aren't worried. She loves them best. The postman will sign both or neither requiring a new rule of no double signing. The bigs pick up Dorothy. No mention is made of her jowles, but she is their enemy now. BT&T pick up Alice who is given two more attributes – earnestness and thick blond braids.

The baker's boy signs for Julia. (Clearly, she used her wiles. Look at that picture, she is seductively pinching his arm.) But he gives Tib a donut to make up for it. Corruption in government already! He is angling for baker-friendly legislation regardless of who wins. This is a down and dirty business...

There are some strange houses as the girls wend their way to the ice cream social. They are so confident in getting all the votes there that they just send Tib. Yep, they rest while Tib does the work. Again...

But Tib comes back furious! The evil ones have not only gotten all the social votes – they are dining on cake and ice cream! Oh the horror! You can see how pleased they are in the picture. Our gals are just tiny little figures in the back, but I am guessing Tib's right fist is clenched.

They hatch a plan to go to Little Syria for the votes. They know it would be frowned on, but they haven't been specifically told not to so they are going to take the chance. Oh girls... [4]

CHAPTER 8 – LITTLE SYRIA

Betsy Tacy Society marker is where the houses are and the Jefferson
Elementary School is the site of the Meechum Mansion.
James Avenue still has a few of the old homes that were inhabited by early
Syrians in Mankato.

The girls go up the hill. They try to act dejected on the way up, but they overplay it and Julia and Katie get suspicious, but they don't follow their guts and just rest assured that they will be victorious.

They are nervous, but they know Naifi lives there so that makes it feel a little less scary. 

They start at Mr. Meechum's pointedly unfriendly house. They try the door but are chased by a dog. Dogs are the worst. Betsy gets caught on the fence as they try to escape. The picture is hysterical. They all looked completely freaked out. I am freaked out by the hugeness of Tib's hands in this picture! No wonder she usually clenches her fists.

They are rescued by a young man who is chopping wood outside who turns out to be Naifi's father! He recognizes BT&T from his daughter's story and is pleased to meet them. He refers to her as “My heart. My eyes,” which strikes strikes Betsy as strange but Tacy likes it. Your eyes are important! [5]

They go into Naifi's house and there is her grandpa pulling on a hubble-bubble pipe, otherwise known as a narghile. You can still purchase those today! Although I can't imagine what on earth you would use it for. In other news, Grandpa is super mellow.

Grandma is making kibbe – which according to the internet is the Lebanese equivalent of meatballs made with lamb. She gives them raisins and dates for a snack.

Naifi's family all sign the ballot and her father sends them off to get signatures from all the neighbors. There is a delightful look at all the new things that they see, the people they meet and the growing sense of comfort they take in this new and exciting place. [6]

There is a picture of Tib petting that rascally goat as Naifi looks at her grandma like she's thinking, “Enough with the raisins already!”

On the way out of town, they see Mr. Meechum and his beautiful white horses (and his daughter) and the Meechums (and driver) all sign for Tib. The girls head home filled with the joy that only screwing over your big sister can bring!

CHAPTER 9 – THE QUARREL AGAIN

Seriously, they look like piles of intestines. 

Julia and Katie are, I don't know - maybe playing with intestines? - in the picture at the top of the chapter as BT&T come back with their massive pile of signatures. They are PISSED! Those signatures aren't even in ENGLISH!!

Now to step back, when they saw all the work the big girls had done, Tib was all for conceding. But Betsy is a stubborn little troll. I know, I still support her over Julia, but she could give in this one time. Tacy rolls however Betsy does so they dig in their heels. It does not go well.

Katie brings the sass - “You might have let a chicken run over the paper.” Watch it, Katie. Their alphabet is older than yours.

The carnage begins. Arms, legs, lists and streamers all are flying. Mrs. Ray comes out to see what is going on. [7]

When Betsy mentions Little Syria, we hear the scratch of the needle as is drags across the soundtrack and everything stops. Oh, they are in SO MUCH TROUBLE!

It is decided that Mr. Ray developed this plan and he will sort it out, but he conveniently has a Lodge meeting that night. So it will be sorted tomorrow.

Betsy and Julia each spend the evening pretending the other doesn't exist. After supper Betsy goes out to play, but it isn't fun. She does NOT like this quarreling. The fact that Julia almost cried when she said everything was ruined really hit Betsy hard. Julia never even cries when she gets spanked! And Tacy is feeling bad about Katie, too. These girls know that they really do get some benefit from their older sisters.

At bedtime Mrs. Ray makes them apologize, but everyone knows it's just hollow words. As Betsy lies in bed, cue the flashback footage of all the fun times she and Julia have had together. Betsy starts crying quietly. Then she hears Julia crying – not quietly at all! They reconcile.

Julia is feeling so guilty about Betsy going to “that awful place” Little Syria. But Betsy tells her that it was a lovely place and they talk and talk until they realize they have never been up that late before. OH!! I love it when Betsy stays up late. All the best things happen when 
you stay up late! [8]

They go to sleep happily with but one question hanging in the air. What will they do with those streamers??

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Questions for discussion -

[1] What do you think is the deal with the Hunts?

[2] Maud is so forward thinking in her (dare I call it?) feminism - here she writes matter-of-factly about neighbors with disabilities fitting in to the neighborhood and acceptance of immigrants - both of these ideas are not necessarily things you'd see in 1940s kid lit. Or am I wrong? Do you know of other examples?

[3] On a related note - in what other ways does Maud and her depiction of Betsy seem more forward-thinking than you'd expect from the time?

[4] MORE CONFESSIONS!! You knew you were't allowed, but you weren't NOT allowed. What did you do young Maudlers? What did you do? Tell all... 

(I wasn't allowed to play in the woods behind the elementary school the summer after 5th grade because bad kids smoked back there, but no one said anything about the woods beside the elementary school. That didn't end well...)

[5] This makes me choke up a little bit - did your Dad have a special nickname for you? 

(Mine was Boomer or Slug. I know - weird. But I fell down a lot as a toddler and said "Boom!" and was covered with slime. Just kidding! Slug was short for Slugger-duggar. Don't know why...)

[6] Betsy is awesome at adopting places! GREAT WORLD is the high bar for this - she makes a home of nearly everywhere she goes. What is your favorite Betsy-goes-to-a-new-place-and-makes-it-her-own story?

[7] Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like this is a real physical altercation? Did you physically fight your siblings? 

(I was more a proponent of psychological warfare with my sisters, but there was the rare occasion of biting or scratching, And one very memorable throwing of a vase.)

[8] Oh come one, you saw this coming - what is your favorite Betsy-stays-up-late story in the books?