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Fifteen was the first romance book I ever read...if you could call it romance. It is a sweet story about first love. I just remember reading it and imagining my first date someday.
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First Love - A Treasury of Three Favorites: Jean and Johnny, Fifteen, and The Luckiest Girl
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Jean and Johnny
Fifteen-year-old Jean is astonished when a handsome Johnny whirls her ‘round the dance floor. She's never given much thought to boys before; now Johnny is all that's on her mind. Finally she finds the courage to invite him to a dance. But the excitement of a new dress and a scheme to take Johnny's photograph cannot stop Jean's growing uneasiness that she likes Johnny a lot more than he likes her . . .
Fifteen
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 knew all the clever things to say. If only she were prettier. If only she were ready for this...
The Luckiest Girl
Shelley Latham can't wait to get to San Sebastian, where flowers bloom in November, oranges grow on the trees, and the sun shines almost every day. And once she's there, things get even better. In no time, she catches the attention of two boys: one, a good-looking basketball star, the other, an interesting, fun boy who likes journalism. Shelley feels like the luckiest girl in the world. Now she's about to discover the magic of falling in love -- and a whole lot more!
Fifteen-year-old Jean is astonished when a handsome Johnny whirls her ‘round the dance floor. She's never given much thought to boys before; now Johnny is all that's on her mind. Finally she finds the courage to invite him to a dance. But the excitement of a new dress and a scheme to take Johnny's photograph cannot stop Jean's growing uneasiness that she likes Johnny a lot more than he likes her . . .
Fifteen
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 knew all the clever things to say. If only she were prettier. If only she were ready for this...
The Luckiest Girl
Shelley Latham can't wait to get to San Sebastian, where flowers bloom in November, oranges grow on the trees, and the sun shines almost every day. And once she's there, things get even better. In no time, she catches the attention of two boys: one, a good-looking basketball star, the other, an interesting, fun boy who likes journalism. Shelley feels like the luckiest girl in the world. Now she's about to discover the magic of falling in love -- and a whole lot more!
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Genres
romance
827 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,2001
This edition
- Format
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827 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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January 1, 2001 by HarperCollins
- ISBN
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9780060002473
- ASIN
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0060002476
- Language
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English
About the author
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Beverly Atlee Cleary was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first book was published in 1950. Some of her best known characters are Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby, Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ralph S. Mouse.
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised, and she has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins after a question from a kid when Cleary was a librarian. Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised, and she has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins after a question from a kid when Cleary was a librarian. Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.
Community Reviews
Rating(4 / 5.0, 5 votes)
5 stars
2(40%)
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5 reviews All reviews
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Very cute and wholesome. I read The Luckiest Girl when I was younger, so perhaps nostalgia plays some factor in my assessment, but I enjoyed reading these teen coming-of-age stories from the 50s.
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5 Stars for The Luckiest Girl
Gee. Gotta love YA Lit from the 50s!
Though I adored the story from the beginning, I didn't discern in my adolescence, when I first read The Luckiest Girl, how wise and poignant a story this truly is, not only for its portrayal of young romance and the road to maturity but for its lesson on mother/daughter relationships as well.
I also found that I'd misremembered Philip as some kind of macho guy, likely because my memory of the leaning boy on the book cover of the paperback I read left me with that impression of him, but he's a much more interesting character the way Cleary wrote him. Hartley is, well, Hartley--good ol' Hartley!--and Shelley's wonderful reflections on life and love at the end of the novel put honest-to-goodness tears in my no-longer-adolescent eyes. I even laughed more this time around!
5 Stars for Jean and Johnny
Ah! Young people listening to records and tuning in to their favorite television and radio "programs," drive-in restaurants with carhops serving Cokes, folks with telephone numbers like "Toyon 1-4343," and teenaged boys saying things like, "Gosh, that would be swell!" and meaning it.
Such fun to return to this old-fashioned, cozy, slightly heartbreaking, relatable, sweet story, since I understand it better this time and have a greater appreciation for Jean's gradual maturation through the novel. She grows in a much more satisfying way than I remembered. Plus, I don't know if I realized it years ago, but there's actually an Asian girl in this book, incorporated into the minor cast of students just like the rest of 'em, but with a clearly different name and a distinct look to her in one of the illustrations.
And, speaking of the illustrations--the darling illustrations! My reading time probably doubled just taking extra moments to study and enjoy all of the fitting and amusing details in the pictures. Wonderful!
4 Stars for Fifteen
Oh, it seems that, compared to Jean and Shelley, Jane here in Fifteen is flimsier, more internally whiny. And this may be the flattest, perhaps the most juvenile, of Cleary's YA romances. Could be because it's the first, or at least was the first published.
Still, I found the novel to be charming on the whole, and it got better as Jane finally began to "learn her lesson," as these young heroines of Cleary's inevitably must. Gee, such an experience rereading books like this as an adult!
Gee. Gotta love YA Lit from the 50s!
Though I adored the story from the beginning, I didn't discern in my adolescence, when I first read The Luckiest Girl, how wise and poignant a story this truly is, not only for its portrayal of young romance and the road to maturity but for its lesson on mother/daughter relationships as well.
I also found that I'd misremembered Philip as some kind of macho guy, likely because my memory of the leaning boy on the book cover of the paperback I read left me with that impression of him, but he's a much more interesting character the way Cleary wrote him. Hartley is, well, Hartley--good ol' Hartley!--and Shelley's wonderful reflections on life and love at the end of the novel put honest-to-goodness tears in my no-longer-adolescent eyes. I even laughed more this time around!
5 Stars for Jean and Johnny
Ah! Young people listening to records and tuning in to their favorite television and radio "programs," drive-in restaurants with carhops serving Cokes, folks with telephone numbers like "Toyon 1-4343," and teenaged boys saying things like, "Gosh, that would be swell!" and meaning it.
Such fun to return to this old-fashioned, cozy, slightly heartbreaking, relatable, sweet story, since I understand it better this time and have a greater appreciation for Jean's gradual maturation through the novel. She grows in a much more satisfying way than I remembered. Plus, I don't know if I realized it years ago, but there's actually an Asian girl in this book, incorporated into the minor cast of students just like the rest of 'em, but with a clearly different name and a distinct look to her in one of the illustrations.
And, speaking of the illustrations--the darling illustrations! My reading time probably doubled just taking extra moments to study and enjoy all of the fitting and amusing details in the pictures. Wonderful!
4 Stars for Fifteen
Oh, it seems that, compared to Jean and Shelley, Jane here in Fifteen is flimsier, more internally whiny. And this may be the flattest, perhaps the most juvenile, of Cleary's YA romances. Could be because it's the first, or at least was the first published.
Still, I found the novel to be charming on the whole, and it got better as Jane finally began to "learn her lesson," as these young heroines of Cleary's inevitably must. Gee, such an experience rereading books like this as an adult!
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Such a sweet collection of stories that will remind you of simpler times and warm your heart. Beverly Cleary has always been a favorite author of mine, and these three books are no exception. While the age demographic is a slight departure from her more well-known Ramona Quimby or Ralph S. Mouse books, the grounded relatability is not.
All three stories follow a teenage girl growing up and learning to navigate high school, love, and social situations. Truly just wholesome and lovely stories.
All three stories follow a teenage girl growing up and learning to navigate high school, love, and social situations. Truly just wholesome and lovely stories.
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Beverly Cleary wrote the Ramona books, of course, and the Henry Huggins books, and a lot of other fantastic children's books, but who knew that she also wrote teen romances? I didn’t. And this collection totally hooked me in. The fifties nostalgia is captivating, even if you were a teenager long after that. Girls curled their hair with bobby pins and wore dresses to school, and on all their dates. Boys wore slacks and sweaters. Couples walked to the movies, and to the ice cream parlor. Remember when there was exactly one telephone in the house, and when it rang, you hoped it would be for you? Remember when kitchen counters were called drain boards, and refrigerators were still called “ice boxes?” Well, even if you don’t remember, you’ll be delighted by these novels, because teenage boy-girl relationships haven’t changed at all.
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