Carol Plays Summer Stock by Helen Dore Boylston (1942)

Her apprenticeship at Phyllis Marlowe's Repertory Theater behind her, green-eyed Carol Page now faces her first real job as second ingénue at the Richards Village Theater, Winasset, Maine. Along with her go her former classmate Julia Gregg and clever young Mike Horodinsky--Julia as apprentice, Mike as assistant stage manager.

In a rambling old house by the sea, Carol, Julia, and Mike live with the other members of the Richards Theater.  Here their days are filled with learning parts, attending rehearsals, painting scenery, and absorbing as much as possible about the business of a summer theater; nights are filled with the excitement of performance.  Here, too, Carol learns what it means to combat such forces as townsfolk who frown on the stage as evil, Maine fog and rain which seem intent on keeping away an audience.  She learns how to meet discouragement and how to cope with a girl named Orchid, a professional member of the cast whose training gives her an advantage over Carol and whose glamour is as effective as her technique. 

Most of all, Carol and Mike discover the meaning of the theater--its demands, its disappointments, its rewards--and it is with a deeper realization of their love for it that they turn their eyes towards Broadway.  (inside flap)

Passport to Romance by Betty Cavanna (1955)

Now that the farewells were over and the big ship was gliding out of New York harbor, Jody stood at the rail and wondered forlornly whether a year at school in Switzerland was really worth it after all. It's time you were on your own, her father had said, but she would miss his gay, easy companionship terribly. Her friends were sure she would meet some perfectly fascinating boy, but what good would it do her if he didn't speak the same language. Jody felt miserably alone and uncertain.

That "scared rabbit" feeling was one that returned to Jody again and again during the first months at school.  Because of the language barrier, it was hard to make new friends, and Mary Lou, the sophisticated Southern girl who had been her cabin mate aboard ship, went out of her way to make Jody feel young and childish.  Even an unexpected meeting with Timothy, a lanky, serious-minded boy she liked, only embarrassed her, because of his ungainly appearance.  The school year stretched ahead endlessly--and then, one day, it snowed.

Snow means skiing in Switzerland and, for Jody, skiing became a passionate new interest.  Absorbed in perfecting her skill, Jody began to forget her self-doubt.  Soon she was happily caught up in a tentative romance with the handsome instructor whom Mary Lou coveted, a gay Christmas vacation in Geneva, and her growing friendship with Timothy.  Then all her new assurance was suddenly shattered and it was only after near tragedy that Jody realized, once and for all, that she had become a person in her own right.

Betty Cavanna's understanding of girls and her ability to talk their language have made her one of the most popular writers in the country.  In this engrossing novel, based on the real letters of an American girl at a Swiss school, Miss Cavanna has perceptively re-created all the conflicting emotions of that most trying period in a young girl's life--the year in which she begins to accept growing up.  (from the inside flap)

Class Ring by Rosamond du Jardin (1951)

Saucy and irrepressible Tobey Heydon has no sooner accepted her friend Brose's class ring than she finds herself getting the most flattering attention and impossible-to-refuse invitations from not one but two other boys! Brose is very understanding for a while, but finally his patience snaps and he takes his ring back. Tobey thinks she doesn't care, but even her high spirits get very dampened before she learns the value of a tried and true friend and makes up with Brose. (from the back cover)

Stars in her Eyes by Betty Cavanna (1958)

Magda Page's family and friends had reduced her distinctive first name to just plain Maggie, but no one could tarnish the luster of her last name. Maggie, in her early teens, was a little too plump and not very sure of herself; but Maggie's father was the famous television personality whose show, "Peter Page Presents," was known from coast to coast. Maggie longed to look glamorous (though not enough to make her curb her appetite), to be attractive to boys (though she didn't quite know how to go about it), and, above all, to appear triumphantly on her father's television show.  (from the inside flap)

Going on Sixteen by Betty Cavanna (1946)

It should be a wonderful dress. It should be a dress that would transform her from the awkward, self-conscious Julie Ferguson into an entirely different girl. Fervently, Julie whispered to the mirror, "I hope." (from the back cover)

Accent on April by Betty Cavanna (1960)

Kathy McCall buried her face in her hands and collapsed in tears. Then unexpectedly, she began to laugh, a little hysterically. "Goodness," murmured her mother, "storms and sunshine. I'm certainly glad April isn't often." Mrs. McCall, of course, was thinking of the sudden storms of the teen-age years. Kathy, however, decided that for most of this past year the accent had been on April in their home. (from the inside flap)

Sue Barton, Senior Nurse by Helen Dore Boylston (1936)

First in the famous Sue Barton series. Sue looked for a place to escape from the terrible Mrs. Pasquale. There it was--a small door--probably a broom closet. Sue jerked open the door. She stepped in and--dropped! Down and down she fell. Then she struck bottom--soft, yielding bottom. She had fallen down the laundry chute. Adventures--comic, exciting, dangerous--mark Sue Barton's first year as Student Nurse. (from the back cover)