The parallel to this is Maudie which the Lorimers kept alive in the '30's. This is today's teen-ager, Laurie, telling of her love -- at first unrequited -- for Sammy Hastings and all about the unsmooth path it took them on. Thinking she has a rival, she nobly grooms him to win the girl -- only to find it is herself; she remains true to him in spite of meeting a dashing new man on a trip to Mexico with the ancients (her parents); she is jealous of his first car; she tries to inject romance into the prehistorics' (her parents) marriage she continues her do-gooding for a girl who loves bugs; she wants a more mature life -- and Sammy, with unexpected cunning, gives her more than she can take of the glamorous whirl; her fling at domesticity ends in a shambles when she baby-sits with twins and a small baby; making Sammy jealous does not work out; and finally she hates Sammy when he overworks her in a dramatic competition -- only to find he has forced her to finish something she started. With Californian variations of teen-age slang, this mounts its sixteen year olds in their own climate of thought and attitudes, makes them amusing and understandable and pleasant rather than delinquent monsters. A very nice change.