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Title: Jean and Johnny (Rack) by Beverly Cleary, Eileen McKeating ISBN: 0-613-96182-X Publisher: Sagebrush Education Resources Pub. Date: August, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.15 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: The "no illustrations" edition.
Comment: The publishers did this book a great disservice by not including the charming illustrations that were in the original 1959 edition (and most of its subsequent editions). Though these drawings were a bit dated - Jean's dad wears horn rimmed glasses, Jean and the other girls wear long skirts and saddle oxfords to school - so is the book! Keeping these 1950s-esque illustrations would just seem appropriate for a book that is so quintessentially 1950s. Without these illustrations, a first-time reader would think that this book was about Jehovah's witnesses, what with Jean and her sister making their own clothes, the high school sewing class for girls and the lavishness of going out for Cokes. With the recent return of retro, it's amazing that the publishers didn't opt with including the old illustrations. The same goes for the new editions of "Fifteen" and "Sister of the Bride" - both Beverly Cleary books that were given the same treatment. For the full effect of these charming books, better find an older edition.
Rating: 4
Summary: Jean and Johnny
Comment: Jean and Johnny was about a girl that was fifteen years old and falls in love with a popular boy. It all started when Johnny asked her to dance at a local school party. Jean was amazed that he had actually asked her. Jean found out that Johnny went to the same school as her and they started hanging out together. Johnny would wait for Jean after classes and go out to lunch with her. Jean started liking him and asked him to the dance. He canceled because, supposedly, his grandmother was very sick. Jean knew that he didn't want to go with her, so she asked his best friend. Johnny ended up going to the dance with another girl and Jean felt that his friend was much better than he was.
I liked this book because it shows what a real teenager goes through when they like a boy. It shows how they get nervous whenever a phone rings. It shows that they cringe when their father talks about a specific boy. I like the way it shows her perspective of how life works and goes into detail about what she's thinkning.This book is a great way to learn how other people think and feel.
My favorite part of the book is when Jean dumps Johnny for Homer. Even though Homer is the best looking and is really shy, Jean looks past that. She doesn't go only looks and she likes his personality. Also, when they are at the dance and she tells Johnny, "Wonder drugs? Im so glad your grandmother is feeling better." I think it takes a lot of pride to say that and that's why I admire Jean.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent portrayal of a first love
Comment: It's safe to say that every woman alive can identify with this very "on target" tale, which Beverly Cleary depicts with warmth, humour, occasional pathos, and perfect realism. Perhaps we are not much like Jean (I know that I never was ... seems strange she has no interests, no involvement in activities, and only one friend), but which of us has not, in some fashion, had the idea that love was mutual as long as we kept talking about a particular dream boat?
I used this book, which I'd originally read over 30 years ago, with a class when I was teaching pre-teen girls. I noticed that even an adult reader would be wondering whether the gorgeous Johnny really "liked" Jean, or was merely one with a big ego. (I'll not spoil the story by saying which was the case.) I smiled in nostalgic, if bittersweet, recognition when, for example, Jean searched the dictionary for the definition of "cute."
Fortunately, the book was written in the last days of when a conceited type could be taken at face value. We are spared the boring diversions into the psychology of the "hunk" which undoubtedly would divert us today.
As usual, Beverly Cleary presents vivid and highly enjoyable characters and situations, with which readers of any age can identify. Top fare.
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