A young girl struggles to negotiate school and friendship while coming to terms with the near-poverty in which her family is living.
A sweet little story with some memorable characters. ( )

There is a lot to like about this 1966 Newbery Honor book. It is a simple tale of youth seen through the eyes of 11 year old Franny Davis.

This is a book of values. A child of poverty, living in a tiny apartment in Greenich Village, New York, Franny has keen insights into her family. Her father is loving, but not the bread winner he needs to be. He is a fast talking, amiable artist who loves his family, but cannot hold a job.

Her mother has dreams of an education, but toils long hours as a laborer. Her twin brother is a wonderful soul who is angry and walking down a slow path where choices are shaky and troublesome. Her precocious baby brother is five and wise enough to know that the family is hurting and struggling.

Her noon day friendship is confined to small amounts of time during lunch. Through this relationship and that of her family, Franny learns that while money for every day necessities would be great, the true value is in those whom you love and love you right back. ( )

A "noonday friend" is one you only see at lunch during school, because you spend your after school hours watching younger siblings and helping your parents. Franny believes this is the only kind of friend she will ever have, and Simone is the one. But this book goes beyond the girls' friendship, and into the lessons learned from their families, older and younger, and gently teaches us about what's important. Enjoyable. ( )

With a copyright date of 1965, this had to be one of the first almost-teenage-girl-with-family-troubles books. This is now an out-and-out genre; I can’t tell you how many of these I saw at the library conference last week. Franny’s problems seem small compared to those of girls nowadays: Franny is worried that her friend won’t like her best and that her dad can’t keep a job (not because he has deeper problems like anger issues or drinking on the job issues…he’s just a bit dreamy). Because of the copyright, I felt pretty confident going in that everything would work out in the end and, of course, everything did. It’s a good solid story, with good solid characters. I wonder what contemporary readers would think of this book. ( )

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