Sister of the Bride

I'm about as anti-marriage, especially young marriage, as a person gets, but I still think this book is pretty cute as an historical artifact of mid-20th century suburban mores. I admire that Beverly Cleary could show a character's growth in such a short time period of fairly insignificant events, because that's how life actually works, especially for children.

"She had felt sorry for the girls she had known who had married right after graduation from high school... But now...Barbara was beginning to change her attitude and to wonder if there was something she could do to speed up love. All she needed was a boy."

Barbara's older sister is getting married, and all the wedding and newlywed business has got Barbara's sixteen-year-old mind whirling in a poetic daydream. But she may have a thing or two to learn before the coming ceremony is over in Sister of the Bride, a novel by author Beverly Cleary.

Although it's the fourth book in the First Love series, I wouldn't at all call this book a romance. The bits of Barbara's pre-adventures with love are mostly on the fringes of the story here and there, show more and they follow something of a Jean and Johnny and The Luckiest Girl pattern.

This novel is mainly about wedding preparations and what Barbara learns and observes during the experience, especially what she learns about herself. I can see how I might've found the read more thrilling back when I was still looking forward to being sixteen, and rereading it now would've had that added dash of nostalgia. Instead, in reading it for the first time now, a good deal of it felt pretty slow, and, well, ordinary.

Still, the humor had me laughing, the lightness was delightful, and I could absolutely empathize with Barbara on various levels. The lover of old-fashioned fiction in me is quite content for having finally read this old-fashioned but relevant tale. show less

Because it's by Cleary, and illustrated by the Krushes, I have read it.  But I have the same mixed feelings that I do about the other YA books by Cleary.  I hope they're dated - that girls don't think that baking cookies to bribe a boy to be a boyfriend is a good idea.  Otoh, Cleary's girls do, mostly, come to their senses about things like that, and I know the author understands universalities of human nature... so maybe it's not a bad thing if girls are still reading them.  They're certainly pleasant reading, mostly.  (In this one the bride of the title is 18 and the groom 24, and ppl think that's a good thing... I find it a little disturbing....)

Once you get past the rather dated views on marriage, this book is charming. Barbara is excited about all the plans for her older sister Rosemary's upcoming wedding, and at the same time, conflicted about all the attention being showered upon the bride. Written in the early 60s, younger readers might be surprised that soon-to-be married Rosemary is 18, a freshman in college, and worried that she won't have her retainers off her teeth before the wedding. Still, Barbara's various trials -- bickering with her younger brother, being exasperated by her wise-cracking father, and wanting to have an important role in the wedding -- have aged very gracefully and Cleary's writing, as usual, strikes a great balance of humor and insight. Her teen show more novels are not as well known, I think, as her Ramona series and other books for young readers, but they are very engaging. show less

Standard Cleary, always lovely. An excellent take on how other members of the family deal with a wedding and the related emotions and activity. Not overly sentimental. I wish I had gotten around to reading it when I was 15 instead of waiting until now!

Barbara can hardly believe her older sister is getting married. With all the excitement of wedding plans going on, Barbara can't help dreaming of the day she will be the bride. She can't wait to fall in love.

But as the big day gets closer, wedding planning often turns into family arguments. Even the bride and groom are bickering over details, and Barbara's fun-loving sister is turning into a very practical, grown-up person. Weddings are fun, but all this serious stuff is scary enough to make Barbara think she's not going to be rushing into a serious romance any time soon.

Not the best book ever, but pretty interesting to read about the Bay Area in the 60s like that. Also, all of the concerns about silver gifts that would have to be polished.