Let's start off with Beverly Cleary's 'Sister of the Bride'.
Honestly, I didn't even know this book existed until a couple weeks ago, which is odd, since Beverly Cleary was a big thing at the libraries of my youth.
Boy, that makes me sound old...
ANYWAY, 'Sister of the Bride' is the story of 16-year-old Barbara MacLane, her elder sister's wedding, and the lack of romance in her own life.
Before you go running off, Cleary actually addresses the last subject very uniquely, in that this story isn't so much about romance, but rather growing up to be ready for romance -- a view seldom explored in today's stories.
While there is a love triangle in play, the way it plays out is also interesting in that neither guy is wholly good or bad by the end. The one boy, Tootie (unfortunate, yes,) is attentive and compassionate, but struggles with self-esteem issues*. The other, Bill, takes Barbara for granted, but is sincere and goes above and beyond to apologize to her.
(*Now, Tootie's self-esteem issues manifested themselves in a 'woe is me' attitude in the opening chapter, which manipulated Barbara into saying "I like you," which led to Tootie immediately asking her out to the movies, so at first I didn't like him, BUT can we collectively take a moment to thank Beverly Cleary for using this circumstance to show how uncomfortable a situation that is and the fact that just because you care about someone of the opposite gender doesn't mean you're in love with them AND that even if a person annoys you, you can still care about them (and vice versa.))
The original publishing date was in 1963, so some aspects are very aged, but not so much as to be horribly distracting, and otherwise it's a nice example of what life was like back then.
Overall, a simple, vivid book that once more showcases Cleary's gift of depicting growing up in the middle of chaos.
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