Barbara M. reviewed on 3/9/2020 + 147 more book reviews

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.

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