Nora Johnson (1) (1933–2017)

Way back in the mid 1960's I found a paperback version of this book on the dusty shelves of Dennis Bookstore in the old downtown Lexington (as opposed to new and "improved" downtown Lex of today). I absolutely devoured this book and re-read it many times as a young adult. I had been on the look out for a copy of the book for many years when I discovered this re-issue in 2002.

Rereading it did not disappoint.

But as a YA piece of fiction? Comparing it to Harriet the Spy? That demands I take a show more re-look at Harriet the Spy, for certain!

This book is about coming of age. Betrayal and friendship. Kids with and kids without. Private school and rotten child rearing. The focus of the two 14 year old girls is a pianist named Henry Orient. The rich girl, Val, is totally infatuated with him.

It comes to no good, as Val's mother begins to have an affair with Mr. Orient.

I can not explain why I loved this book. Maybe the want of being able to roam around NYC and be as sophisticated as I envisioned Val, wearing her Mom's cast off fur coat and not giving a rats ass what the other, more popular girls of the private school, thought about her. .

It spoke to me in a way that let me know it was OK to be different, it was OK to want what you can not have, it is the dreaming that is important, the knowing that there is a life after teenage hell. show less

Similar in theme to Harriet the Spy; in this case the narrator and a friend spy on the title character. Their freedom to roam around NYC unsupervised certainly evokes the same bygone era as Fitzhugh's book. Events at close of book mark the end of childhood.

The script is pretty awful and Sellers is completely wasted and not even remotely funny. What the hell were they thinking when they made this one? The two young leads, neither of whom had much further acting career, are the only things that make this watchable.

2021 movie #223. 1964. 14-yo girl has a crush on a concert pianist (Sellers). She and her best friend follow him about NYC. Fun picture. The girl (Tippy Walker) reminds me of a young Diane Keaton.