|
The Luckiest Girl
by Beverly Cleary
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (1991-05)
ISBN: 0380709228
EAN: 9780380709229
Paperback: 224 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
SKU: M133508
Condition: Very Good
Comments: 0380709228 MMPB free of markings. Cover shows light to moderate wear. Interior evidences only gentle use, spine is uncreased & is straight, pages clean; overall, a very serviceable copy. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
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!
|
Customer Reviews
|
I Should Be So Lucky
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-07-09
A little girl I know, Zora, finished this book and asked me if I would care to read it. I took her up on the dare and actually managed to read THE LUCKIEST GIRL with pleasure. I might be the only person among all these Amazon reviewers of this book, from every part of the USA, to be a man, so here goes nothing!
What I liked about the book was its slow boiling point. Cleary is a wonderful writer, and here she slows down her pace to match the complex, understated feelings of her heroine, Shelley Latham. Shelley isn't particularly brainy or smart, or clever, and she's stuck in a rut she doesn't know how to get out of. nor is she good at listening to other people. Yet somehow, just through animal instinct, and her good heart, she learns over the course of a challenging year, to let herself be herself and to realize that at least half of her problems are due to just being sixteen.
Cleary is brilliant at showing how the differences in California weather, nature, lifestyle first shock and dismay, then delight, a girl from "up North." Shelley notices everything, and we come to like her mostly through her eye, the way she tastes the world as though it were something new. Hartley Latham, the boy next door type whom she passes over at first, winds up telling her that's what he liked about her first of all-- "the wonderful wsy you have of looking as if you thought something exciting was about to happen." First Shelley loses her heart to the basketball star, Philip Branton, kind of dumb but with a perfect tan and a slow, folksy way of talking--the popular boy. Then something dramatic happens to their biology grades and she realizes she's been barking up the wrong tree.
We don't really have seasons here in California, and that lack affects Cleary's storytelling, and Shelley's education. She's only in "San Sebastian" for ten months, the course of a school year, and looking back she will begin to wonder what it was that she fell in love with Hartley for, and how it was she began to strike up a sisterly interest in little Katie, the 13 year old hellion she boards with. All of these changes, the smallest among them the most intriguing, thanks to Cleary's gifts of telling a story using the smallest possible fulcrum.
|
|
A wonderful first romance story...
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-12-02
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Like many teenagers, Shelley Latham thinks her life is boring. An only child, with loving parents, she finds herself sick of Oregon winters, sick of the predictability of her boyfriend Jack, who could only be described as "nice."
Then, a longtime friend of Shelley's mother invites the girl to spend the school year with them in California. Shelley is thrilled - not only will she get to experience all new things, but she'll get to experience them on her own. Finally, she thinks, she'll get to live like an adult and not the sheltered child her parents think she is.
While many things in California are indeed wonderful, Shelley discovers that life with the Michie family - much more laidback than her own - takes some getting used to. She also learns that there's something to be said for old friends and familiar routines, when she's thrust among a sea of unfamiliar new classmates. But within a short time, Shelley begins to adjust. She finds new friends, a new boyfriend, and even enjoys her place as older sister in the Michie's family. With every new step, there's something for Shelley to learn...
|
|
I am a Cornwall 6th Grader Who loved this book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-01-30
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
In the Book The Luckiest Girl,16 year old Shelly has had it! Her mother knew she wanted a yellow slicker but, NO, she had to go and buy her the pink slicker with the matching hat.
Shelly only wanted a slicker, but what she got was the trip of a lifetime!
Shelly Lafthem decides to spend the school year in Sunny Sabastion, California. She stays at her mom's friends house with the family. Shelly feels free without her parents and is enjoying life. Life even gets better when she dates the Sabastian's All_star basketball player: Phillip. Everything is going smoothly until Shelly gets a D in Biology and Phillip fails! Shelly finally realizes that she only likes Phillip because of his looks. She finds that her true love is someone who had always been there whenever she needed someone to talk to. Her time in Sabastion is almost up, so she takes in every precious moment she has left and dreads the day that she is to leave.
I thought that this book was one of the best books I've ever read. Beaverly Clearly writes in a different way than in her RAMONA books. The story made me cry and laugh and even made me feel jealous of Shelly. Many girls would die to go on an adventure like this, I know I would! I would reccommend this book to any girl nine years old or older. I think even some moms might like it too! Shelly Latham is truly, The Luckiest Girl!
|
|
The Luckiest Girl by: Beverly Cleary
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-01-13
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Moving to California involves many firsts for everything. Shelley Latham was invited to live with her mom's friend in California for her junior year in high school. When she gets there, she fits in respectfully. She instantly makes friends and starts dating the hottest guy in school. How much more lucky could she get? We'll just say that Shelley Latham has what every girl wants: the cutest boyfriend, a best friend that she can trust, and a (second) family who loves her as if she were their own child. In my opinion, this is a very good book. This book is good enough to read over and over again.
The Luckiest Girl, by Beverly Cleary, is a wonderful book full of new experiences that teach the reader what to expect in life. When Shelley moved to California, she instantly fell in love. She didn't know what to expect since she had only dated one boy in her life and he was a total loser. Shelley learned how to care for another person as she cares for herself. Shelley has also never gotten a grade lower than a B and it was a complete utter shock to her when she received her first D! She had always excelled in biology. Shelley was very disappointed in herself.
This book is also worth reading because it teaches you to never take anything for granted and always take notice of the wonderful things in life. Shelley Latham had never noticed how wonderful nature is until she moved in with the Michie's. Your everyday trees never have looked so marvelous before in her life. Olives have never tasted so good and school had never been so important to Shelley. Shelley was amazed by you everyday stuff that she saw/did in Oregon because she never took the time to realize how awesome everything really is.
If you enjoy reading mushy-gushy love books, then this book is the book for you! Shelley falls in love for the first time with a boy named Phil. But she later realized that Hartley was the one for her. Just because Phil was popular and good-looking didn't mean that Phil was better than Hartley. Because in reality, she and Hartley had more in common, he was smart, and he always made her laugh. Her and Hartley were the perfect couple.
Overall, this book by Beverly Cleary is a really good one! It is worth reading and worth your time. You can learn a lot from this book and you can experience life in a different perspective. So just take the time to find this book and read it. You won't regret it. I guarantee.
|
|
An O.K. Book
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-12-18
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Shelley got so mad that she shoved a handful of freshly cut roses down the drain, one by one. This book is an o.k book designed for preteens and teens alike.
There isn't any violence in this story. At the school or the house, there are no fights or crude language and everyone seems to be happy. The adults never hurt or punish kids violently. For example, when Shelley stuffed the freshly cut roses down the drain, her mom didn't do much to punish her at all, exept yell at her for a while.
No lovebird scenes were incoperated into the story. For exmple, when Philip askes Shelley out, they went to go eat doghnut holes at the local diner. There was no kissing involved at all! Shelley and Philip went on a lot of dates, but none seemed very romantic. They did "normal" things like go to the school barnyard dance and ride a 2-person bicycle around the city.
The only reason why I didn't like this book was that it was boring or too perfect at times. Sometimes Shelly would just sit in her room and take in the details or stand under the tree that her boyfriend was in and just watch him cut the branches off. Her life seemed very perfect also, knowing that she goes to California, 100+miles from her house in Chicago, and within three days has a boyfriend who is the most popular guy in school.
This book, although it seems perfect at times, is a wonderful story for preteens, tweens, teens, and adults.
|
|
|