Author: Lenora Mattingly Weber
Publication: Thomas Y.
Crowell Company, hardcover, 1965
Plot: Katie Rose is the 16-year-old daughter of a large Irish family and is acutely aware of her family’s financial struggle. She hates that
her widowed mother supports the family by singing in a nightclub. She is mortified by second hand clothes and
yearns for slice-and-bake cookies instead of having to adapt recipes to use the leaky (but free) eggs and other products her
relatives bring to Denver from their farm. In this second in the series,
Katie Rose has a boyfriend her readers appreciate more than she does and continues
to yearn for “Pretty Boy” Bruce Seerie.
When Bruce gets suspended from the basketball team for his grades, Katie Rose seizes her chance to offer assistance, like
all smart lit-types with a crush. But no one appreciates a know-it-all and
it is her exuberant younger sister Stacy, also a hoopster, who captures Bruce’s
attention.
Jeanie, who is an even better (in the sense of more useful) best friend than Tacy Kelly (perhaps because
of having more experience with boys), tries to convince Katie Rose that Bruce is pleasant
though nothing special but Katie Rose thinks the only way to save face is by
getting a big part in the school musical.
Unfortunately, although Katie Rose is talented, the director follows the
Abbey Theatre's system of casting that ensure no one gets a star part in
every show (so why does waif-like Zoe always gets the lead?) so Katie
Rose is humiliated by a dancing part with no lines.
Even worse, when Katie Rose
tries to escape her perceived shame by leaving town, she is sidetracked by Beany
Malone’s brother (once a heartthrob in his own right), who needs a babysitter, an evening that turns into a nightmare. You can never lick your wounds in privacy
in a Weber book!
 |
| Lenora Mattingly Weber |
Audience: Current and former
teens; fans of classic Malt Shop fiction
Weather: March is very
prominent in this book, which may be one reason I chose to reread it today. The characters are eager for spring to
arrive; Katie Rose shivers in the chilly wind in her coat, and everyone keeps
reminding each other that March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion. A perfect reread for a blustery day!
My Impressions: Weber’s Beany Malone series (Beany and her friend Miggs also
appear in this book) is better known than Katie Rose due to many fans/reprints but
the Belford family is nearly as entertaining as the Malones. There are five
Katie Rose books and three about her sister Stacy. Katie Rose is not at her best in this entry,
alas. Of course, it is understandable
that after crushing so long on Bruce, however irrationally, she is bitter when
he falls for her younger sister. What is
hard to understand is how little she appreciates Miguel, who is smart, funny, thoughtful,
and fits into her family. The
description of Katie Rose’s tryout for the high school musical and the way she
checks out the call board is to vivid and so painful – anyone who ever tried
out for a play will wince in sympathy as Katie Rose fails to find her name
listed for a part. It takes a real
crisis to make Katie Rose realize that her insecurity caused her to brag in a
way that was a turn off to everyone except loyal Jeanie.
My mother and I always
thought that Weber moved on to a new family/series not only because Beany had
been married off but also that the issues that Beany dealt with were already
dated by the 60s, and she recognized that YA books were evolving. Having been widowed herself with a large
family, Weber knew the stresses of being a single parent. The Belfords’ financial situation is more acute
than the Malones, who worry about feeding a horse and buying formals (not that
there’s anything wrong with such pursuits).
Mrs. Belford can barely afford groceries (although I always thought she
shouldn’t have been too proud to take an allowance from her affluent
father-in-law) and her daughters have to deal with babysitting gigs that turn
into kidnapping or groping by the parent providing the ride home, drugs, adultery,
and Vietnam. Some people think Katie
Rose whines too much but I think, like all of Weber’s heroines, she is
delightfully human.
Source: Personal copy. Mine is an ex-library book
but Image Cascade has since reprinted all the Malone and Belford books, and I
recommend them. Start with Don’t Call Me Katie Rose or Meet the Malones.
Off the Blog: March
Madness! Harvard beat Georgetown in the first round of the NIT last night and Duke plays tomorrow in the NCAA first
round.
* Photo of LMW copyright to Image Cascade
1 comment:
I was so excited when this book came out. I think of Katie Rose every windy March day, and when I use sour cream to bake.....
Post a Comment