Helpful Score: 4
This is book 2 in the Katie trilogy by Berg. I recently read Durable Goods, and wanted to see where the story of Katie was going.
The book opens with 13 year old Katie and her dad now stationed on a base in Missouri. She is having a tough time adjusting to her new life. It is difficult for her to make friends, her sister Diane is not with her to help her deal with the problems she is having. Her dad is still very distant and her mothers recent death is still tormenting Katie.
One day Katie meets the man of her dreams, 23 year old Jimmy. He is a gas station attendant who is extremely handsome and nice, although married. This doesnt stop Katie from falling in love with him and planning their life together. As she settles into her new life Katie makes new friends, and has to make some choices about which road to take, without much adult guidance.
Once again, I love the simple but heart felt style of writing that Berg utilizes. The writing is spare but you really identify with many of Katies feelings and actions. A sweet tale of first love and the joy and pain it can bring. I have book three True to Form sitting here waiting to be read. I dont think Ill wait very long.
The book opens with 13 year old Katie and her dad now stationed on a base in Missouri. She is having a tough time adjusting to her new life. It is difficult for her to make friends, her sister Diane is not with her to help her deal with the problems she is having. Her dad is still very distant and her mothers recent death is still tormenting Katie.
One day Katie meets the man of her dreams, 23 year old Jimmy. He is a gas station attendant who is extremely handsome and nice, although married. This doesnt stop Katie from falling in love with him and planning their life together. As she settles into her new life Katie makes new friends, and has to make some choices about which road to take, without much adult guidance.
Once again, I love the simple but heart felt style of writing that Berg utilizes. The writing is spare but you really identify with many of Katies feelings and actions. A sweet tale of first love and the joy and pain it can bring. I have book three True to Form sitting here waiting to be read. I dont think Ill wait very long.
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed the story. It is about a 13-year old girl, new to her Missouri town, living alone with a stern, inaccessible father following her mother's death. She forges alliances where she can, and that ultimately offer her more than she had anticipated. A very nice read.
Helpful Score: 1
Nobody does characters like Elizabeth Berg. This is a great growing up story.
Helpful Score: 1
Very nice story. I enjoy Berg's books.
Helpful Score: 1
Second in the 'Katie' series, I loved it.
Very enjoyable book on growing up.
I read "Durable Goods" recently and gave it four stars. "Joy School" is also a solid four stars. When the book starts, Katie is 12 years old and a freshman in high school. We learn that she skipped fourth grade. However, if that's the only grade she skipped, I think the author miscalculated. Most students are 14 when they start their freshman year in high school and turn 15 during the school year. Katie started her frosh year as a 12 year old and turned 13 during the school year, thus she was two years younger than most of her classmates--not one year had she skipped only one grade.
This book, like "Durable Goods," didn't have much action in it but it was a little more interesting than its predecessor--there's something going on with Diane, Katie's older sister, who ran off to Mexico (in the first book) with her boyfriend, Dickie, and got married; Ginger, the new housekeeper, becomes interested in Katie's dad and he in her; Katie develops a serious crush on an older man; and she becomes friends with Cynthia and Taylor, two very different young gals.
"Joy School" like "Durable Goods" was a book that I started one day and finished the next. It's not great literature but it's an easy and entertaining read and sometimes that is enough. I plan to request the third book from the local library.
This book, like "Durable Goods," didn't have much action in it but it was a little more interesting than its predecessor--there's something going on with Diane, Katie's older sister, who ran off to Mexico (in the first book) with her boyfriend, Dickie, and got married; Ginger, the new housekeeper, becomes interested in Katie's dad and he in her; Katie develops a serious crush on an older man; and she becomes friends with Cynthia and Taylor, two very different young gals.
"Joy School" like "Durable Goods" was a book that I started one day and finished the next. It's not great literature but it's an easy and entertaining read and sometimes that is enough. I plan to request the third book from the local library.
Good book. Interesting for young readers.
A coming of age novel that brought me back in time to my middle school years. Humorous, witty and very well written.
Written more like a young adult novel, but still a cute story of a young girl whose mother recently died. She moves with her over protective father to Missouri, where she must make new friends, and she eventually falls in love. A quick, sweet read. Supposed to be a "sequel" to Durable Goods.
I always enjoy Berg's take on life, and I think she has a remarkable ability to write from the perspective of a child/young teen. This story invites us to remember those awkward, trying-to-fit-in, early teen years, self-consciousness about one's family, the first blush of love. Good story. Enjoy.
Fabulous read! Fell in love with the young girl, Katie... Berg has a way of making the reader feel and understand what the character is going through.
Very sweet book. I remember enjoying the main character very much.
Sweet katie has lost her mother at the age of thirteen and father is inaccessible. She desperately tries to connect with people and in doing so experiences her first crush.
A very sweet, easy to read book.
Kind of boring. Not nearly as good as others by her I have read.
This is a large print edition.
A story that tugs at the heartstrings...thirteen-year-old Katie is new to her Missouri town, living alone with a stern, inacessible father following her mother's death. Unable to fit in at school, she forges alliances where she can: with her housekeeper, with a pimply fellow misfit named Cynthia, and with the gorgeous Taylor, who gets her kicks out of shoplifing. Most frutrating of all is Katie's imperfect friendship with the proprietor of a local gas station, a handsome 23-year-old who shares her love of checkers but doesn't return her crush.
Rarely is a sequel better than the first book; this one is!
The author so enjoyed these characters that she continued the story. This is book 2 of 3, but each stands alone.
The author so enjoyed these characters that she continued the story. This is book 2 of 3, but each stands alone.
A follow up story to Durable Goods. Very fast read, very good
The second in the continuing story of Katie, a sweet, funny, endearing young woman.
Tugs at the heartstrings... a 13 year old girl in a new town must find new relationships, and forms a crush on a buddy she plays checkers with, the handsome 23 year old owner of the local gas station. Hilarious and heartbreaking...
Entertaining and a quick read.....a bit nostalgic
My daughter loved this book.
I enjoyed the book. I'm an Elizabeth Berg fan.
I got this book in a paperbackswap.com transaction.
Lonely, in a new town with new problems and a widowed father who pays her little mind, Katie struggles to find her way. At thirteen, that's not so easy. But friendship by friendship, her life improves.
I particularly loved her relationship with Jimmy. He was pretty naive and took something of a risk spending that much time alone with a girl that age, but he treated her with tenderness and warmth so needed to help her through her time.
Well worth the time to read.
Lonely, in a new town with new problems and a widowed father who pays her little mind, Katie struggles to find her way. At thirteen, that's not so easy. But friendship by friendship, her life improves.
I particularly loved her relationship with Jimmy. He was pretty naive and took something of a risk spending that much time alone with a girl that age, but he treated her with tenderness and warmth so needed to help her through her time.
Well worth the time to read.
joy school is the story of 13 year old katie.it is a sad and sweet story of a misguided first love.
Delightful coming of age story.
This was a really good book, second in the series. Now to read the 1st one, Durable Goods.
From the back over.
A story that tugs at the heartstrings.
Thirteen-year old Katie is new to her Missouri town, living alone with a stern, inaccessible father following her mother's death. Unable to fit in at school, she forges alliances where she can: with her housekeeper, with a pimply fellow misfit named Cynthia, and with the gorgeous Taylor; who gets her kicks out of shoplifting. Most frustrating of all is Katie's imperfect friendship with the proprietor of a local gas station, a handsome 23-yr old who shares her love of checkers but doesn't return her crush. With humor and an eye for telling detail, Berg conveys the way each unpromising element of Katie's life ultimately offers her more than she had anticipated.
From the back over.
A story that tugs at the heartstrings.
Thirteen-year old Katie is new to her Missouri town, living alone with a stern, inaccessible father following her mother's death. Unable to fit in at school, she forges alliances where she can: with her housekeeper, with a pimply fellow misfit named Cynthia, and with the gorgeous Taylor; who gets her kicks out of shoplifting. Most frustrating of all is Katie's imperfect friendship with the proprietor of a local gas station, a handsome 23-yr old who shares her love of checkers but doesn't return her crush. With humor and an eye for telling detail, Berg conveys the way each unpromising element of Katie's life ultimately offers her more than she had anticipated.
First book I had read by this author. It was a fast read. cover on the book i have is different.
My daughter loved this book.
2nd in a trilogy of books by Elizabeth Berg. Follows "Joy School" and precedes "True to Form". Another great read by Berg!
I have two copies of this and am currently reading the other. So far it is enjoyable, as I have found all of her books that I have read to be!
