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Julie Gordon
Julie Gordon Exchange Student
Julie Gordon wins an American Field Scholarship that takes her to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a year. It's a year full of new experiences and new people. There's her "family", the Hembraugers, and their zany daughter Marilyn; Oakland High School, with- its Sock Hops, Pep Assemblies and the Senior Prom. There's the whole, different American way of life: there's Halloween and Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie and blueberry waffles. And, as Julie soon finds out, there's even a different language. Naturally, Julie is soon caught up in the whirl of activity, as well as becoming involved in a kidnapping on her first day at school. As "Julie Gordon" readers know, life is never dull when Julie is around, and her latest adventure is no exception.
169 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 14, 2017
Julie Gordon, Australia's most boring teenage girl, has won an American Field Scholarship that takes her to Ohio. Wow, an entire year of boring other people.
This is the fourth in the Julie Gordon series, but luckily not the worst. It has the least plot though, so prepare to read 170 pages of nothing happening.
Once Julie has won her scholarship and said goodbye to Frankie, the only interesting character in any of her books, she heads to Ohio to stay with American parents, an older brother (who has no personality) and a girl of a similar age to Julie who tries to have lots of fun but succeeds only in showing how boring Julie really is. Julie gets to do all the fun American things like a sock hop (a dance in your socks), Halloween (something 1970s Julie has never heard of, "maybe because we began life as a convict country, and convicts don't have too much to celebrate") and watching a friend get kidnapped. But don't worry, Julie sees the kidnapping and seems concerned, but noone else is, so she promptly ceases to worry about it . Then, after a trip to New York to see a hippy, she heads home and life goes on as if nothing happened. Mostly because nothing did.
I'm being generous with my 2 stars here, but only because I gave Julie Gordon's dreadful pony book two stars and this one is minutely better than it.
This is the fourth in the Julie Gordon series, but luckily not the worst. It has the least plot though, so prepare to read 170 pages of nothing happening.
Once Julie has won her scholarship and said goodbye to Frankie, the only interesting character in any of her books, she heads to Ohio to stay with American parents, an older brother (who has no personality) and a girl of a similar age to Julie who tries to have lots of fun but succeeds only in showing how boring Julie really is. Julie gets to do all the fun American things like a sock hop (a dance in your socks), Halloween (something 1970s Julie has never heard of, "maybe because we began life as a convict country, and convicts don't have too much to celebrate") and watching a friend get kidnapped. But don't worry, Julie sees the kidnapping and seems concerned, but noone else is, so she promptly ceases to worry about it . Then, after a trip to New York to see a hippy, she heads home and life goes on as if nothing happened. Mostly because nothing did.
I'm being generous with my 2 stars here, but only because I gave Julie Gordon's dreadful pony book two stars and this one is minutely better than it.
December 31, 2020
This was a re-read for me.
Julie Gordon wins an exchange scholarship to America. Who exchanges with her is never mentioned.
Brad, a fellow student, in the grade up from her, gets kidnapped outside the school she is attending as an exchange student in the first week. Unbelievable no one else see it, also it happens so randomly in the early part of the book.
Then she goes to caves on a school trip a week later and just happens to see the car, then to New York to see her sister a week or so later, and the kidnappers happen to be at the airport with Brad.
Not to mention that before even arriving at her host home she has run into Brad already in Honolulu.
The rest of this book is just about learning silly facts about the differences between Australian and American culture. Fun to learn back in 1980 when I first read it.
Computers and mobiles didn’t exist, so I excused a lot of her naivety Julie exhibited.
Definitely a book of the late 1970’s and should be read with that in mind.
Otherwise, no much happens, I went into reading it with not much expectation so I was not disappointed.
Julie Gordon wins an exchange scholarship to America. Who exchanges with her is never mentioned.
Brad, a fellow student, in the grade up from her, gets kidnapped outside the school she is attending as an exchange student in the first week. Unbelievable no one else see it, also it happens so randomly in the early part of the book.
Then she goes to caves on a school trip a week later and just happens to see the car, then to New York to see her sister a week or so later, and the kidnappers happen to be at the airport with Brad.
Not to mention that before even arriving at her host home she has run into Brad already in Honolulu.
The rest of this book is just about learning silly facts about the differences between Australian and American culture. Fun to learn back in 1980 when I first read it.
Computers and mobiles didn’t exist, so I excused a lot of her naivety Julie exhibited.
Definitely a book of the late 1970’s and should be read with that in mind.
Otherwise, no much happens, I went into reading it with not much expectation so I was not disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2013
I read this when I was young and recently found it again, great book for Tweens.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews