Beverly Cleary Author Study: The Luckiest Girl

No illustrations because this is another young adult book.

Shelley feels stuck in her Oregon life, so when she has the opportunity to live her junior year with family friends in California, she jumps at the chance. Everything is so new and different that she feels confident being her real self in a way she didn’t in Oregon. On her first day of school, she meets Hartley, but she has her sights set on Phil, the tall, handsome basketball player who sits next to her in biology.

Again, this book is low stakes when compared to contemporary young adult fiction. “Quaint” is an appropriate term, but it’s a feel-good story and I think it’s worth the read for the fun of it, if not to also get a peek into how teenagers used to socialize and date.