What Is This Book?

[Deleted]

samantha said:

Help! I'm trying to recall the title of a YA novel that was published in the mid - late 70s. It was a young girl coming of age story written in the first person and I'm pretty certain it was set in the 50s. The only plot detail I can recall with any clarity is the narrator's yummy recipe for scrambled eggs with cheese.

Hmm, nothing else to go on?

It makes me think of Beverly Cleary's YA books -- but hers were written in the 50s and 60s. You sure it was written in the 70s?

[Samantha]

I think the author's last name started with a Z. Not Paul Zindel, though. I'm almost certain it was a female author. It definitely wasn't Beverly Cleary -- the style was nowhere near as sunny as BC.

Gawd, could I be any more vague? Sorry, y'all!

[Deleted]

Samantha -- Is it An American Girl? I read it years ago and it was set in the '50s, though I don't remember a scrambled egg recipe. The title is a link to the Amazon page -- for some reason it won't show up in the lighter color.

SGleason -- could it be Is That You, Miss Blue?

[Samantha]

winnifer, YES!!! Oh wow, thank you so much. YOU ROCK.

[SGleason]

Winnifer, thanks! I have Is That You, Miss Blue and I see the resemblances - but sadly, no.

Note: From ITYMB, I was made aware of the works of Dee Day Dor Den (D.H. Lawrence.)

[dwanollah]

smilla said:

I would be eternally thankful to the Greecie who helped me locate this book. Thanks, again.

Okay, that one's gonna bug me. It's not a Girls of Canby Hall book, is it?

[Smilla]

Nope. My memory is that it was a piece of adult fiction (not chicklit) and not part of a series or anything like that.

[Deleted]

SGleason, it's going to kill me now, because I know I read that book. I remember Ebbie Faber. But I cannot recall the title.

OK, here's a question: It's either a children's or YA book, which I probably read in the early '80s. A new girl is paired up with another girl in a cooking class, and they make brownies or lemon bars or something, but they screw the ingredients up and they taste terrible. As the teacher is coming around to grade the brownies/lemon bars, the girl says, "Quick, rearrange them in the shape of a cross. No one ever gives an F to the shape of the cross."

Anyone recognize this?

[luciano]

winnifer, that sounds like a Marlys cartoon strip which had two girls messing up Tangy Breakfast Squares - it ends with Marlys saying, "You watch. No one gives anything less than a B- to the shape of the cross." Do the drawings in this book look familiar?

[Deleted]

Hmmm -- that might very well be it! I'll have to see the strip to be certain, but I did read those Lynda Barry books. Funny that I wouldn't recall the illustrations, though!

Thanks, Auron!