At the Symphony Book Fair in New Orleans I picked up a copy of a wonderful "coming of age" novel for juvenile girls written in
1956.It is about a typical middle class girl named Jane Purdy,and how much she wants to "belong" by having a boyfriend of her own at high school.Some people regard this work as "dull" and "slow" and "too detailed";it doesn't have a lot of action, nor any exotic settings or "gimmicks". Set in a small town outside a big city which is obviously San
Francisco.It is the way that the author lets you look into the innermost thoughts of the girl, how beautifully described the settings and the world of 1956 that even though there are nice drawn illustrations, you really don't need them because the writing lets you visualise as clearly as if it was on film instead of
paper.It is the kind of book you can read over and over again,and you want to, because you can so easily identify, BE a teenage girl, something most of us can never be in reality.But here you can, at least in your daydreams.Particularily for us raised in the Basby Boomer era, the "Leave It To Beaver" period. People may think it is silly for someone as old as us to read such "childish" literature,but the but reading this homey story innocence of that simplier time can be soothing balm to our sorely tried nerves, something I am sure that we can all use. There were many books of this type written then, but this is definitely one of the best.
