Someone to Count on

by Rosamond du Jardin

Twink's summer is complicated by her changing feelings and the friends she meets when she takes a job in a drugstore

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1962

About the author

Rosamond du Jardin, née Neal, first wrote humorous verse and short stories for newspaper syndicates, then went on to sell approximately a hundred stories to such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, McCall's and many other publications, abroad as well as in the United States. She also wrote five novels for adults before her first novel for teenagers, Practically Seventeen, which was published in 1949.

She was married to Victor Du Jardin on October 28, 1925. They had three children, Jacqueline Neal, Victor Junior, and Judith Carol, with whom she would later co-author Junior Year Abroad.

In addition to writing, Mrs. Du Jardin frequently spoke at schools, and students enjoyed meeting in person the creator of some of their favorite stories. Mrs. Du Jardin enjoyed her school visits, too, because she liked and respected teenagers as individuals and firmly believed that they are interesting, normal and dependable people.

Born in the small town of Fairland, Illinois, Rosamond du Jardin was two years old when her family moved to Chicago. She lived there and in the Chicago suburbs for the rest of her life.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sure I'd read this, and I found it in a box with a bunch of books I had at college: half old favorites, half "books I keep intending to read". But I'm sure I would have remembered this nice story if I'd read it.

Her last book, and published in 1962, it's just the slightest bit edgier than her earlier stuff. It doesn't rise to the level of Anne Emery's characters dying of marijuana overdoses in 1969, but the parents are slightly bohemian, the protagonist is slightly nonconformist, and the boys aren't quite as squeaky clean. I can't offhand come up with another vintage YA where a friendship (not a romance) between a boy and a girl is the major storyline.

Not great literature (it's no Double Date or Sweet Sixteen), but a good read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still full of vintage charm, but this book is generally more serious than the other duJardin books I've read. Twink and family help out a troubled teen boy, which makes up much of the plot rather than her having fluffy troubles like Tobey.