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American Girl: Julie #2
Julie Tells Her Story
Julie is working on her school project, "The Story of My Life," and enjoying it, until she has to write about "The Worst Thing That Ever Happened." That would be her parents divorce, and she doesn t want to tell classmates about it. After her big basketball game ends badly, she decides that could be her "worst thing." But as her family rallies around her, Julie learns to be more hopeful for their future. The "Looking Back" section explores school life in the 1970s. Author: Megan McDonald. Paperback or Hardcover. 104 pages.
This book is the second in a series of six historical books filled with inspiring lessons of compassion, courage, and friendship. Julie s entire book set includes: Meet Julie; Julie Tells Her Story; Happy New Year, Julie; Julie and the Eagles; Julie s Journey; and Changes for Julie.
104 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2007
11 people are currently reading
539 people want to read
About the author
Megan McDonald
295 books738 followers"Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody," says Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, the Stink series, and THE SISTERS CLUB. "I'm certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that."
For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn't always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as "Little Johnny the Storyteller." Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. "I'm told I began to stutter," she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start "writing things down."
Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice. "Judy has taken on a life of her own," the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald's strongest incentives to keep writing, along with "too many ideas and a little chocolate." And now -- by popular demand -- Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink's special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, "Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy's little brother, chanted, 'Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!' as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own."
More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor -- and squabbles -- of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.
Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.
For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn't always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as "Little Johnny the Storyteller." Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. "I'm told I began to stutter," she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start "writing things down."
Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice. "Judy has taken on a life of her own," the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald's strongest incentives to keep writing, along with "too many ideas and a little chocolate." And now -- by popular demand -- Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink's special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, "Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy's little brother, chanted, 'Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!' as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own."
More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor -- and squabbles -- of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.
Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.
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February 11, 2024
The great AG marathon continues. Reading this for the first time as an adult, here's what stands out:
There's nothing really wrong with this one – it's a perfectly good continuation of all the elements of Meet Julie. But there's really nothing new that we didn't have before, so it starts to feel a little flat.
Julie's still really upset by her parents' divorce, sometimes she fights with her sister, she loves being silly with Ivy, and she's enjoying her spot on the basketball team even though it isn't easy being the only girl. (Though we only ever see kids from another team giving her a hard time – from what we see of her team, the guys seem to have accepted her.)
Julie tells Tracy that she shouldn't blame only Dad for their parents' divorce: both parents are equally divorced. And Tracy seems to accept the correction, but it made me wonder: was Dad having an affair with a stewardess or something? At 15, Tracy might know more about the causes of the divorce than Julie...
But in the end, Julie makes a connection that pulled this book up from 3 stars to 4. She remembers her dad saying that his broken foot healed stronger than before, and connects this to her own broken family: her relationships with each member can be stronger than ever. That's lovely, and it also made me think about how many broken things we have in this book: the pot for Tracy's spider plant, Julie's finger. Maybe not A+ thematic work, but overall, pretty good. And I do love Julie's last minute decision to change her report and truly talk about the thing she doesn't want to talk about. It takes guts, and she takes a deep breath and does it.
More Julie babble:
Meet Julie | Julie Tells Her Story | Happy New Year, Julie | Julie and the Eagles | Julie's Journey | Changes for Julie
Good Luck, Ivy
The Tangled Web | The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter | The Silver Guitar | Lost in the City | Message in a Bottle
A Brighter Tomorrow
There's nothing really wrong with this one – it's a perfectly good continuation of all the elements of Meet Julie. But there's really nothing new that we didn't have before, so it starts to feel a little flat.
Julie's still really upset by her parents' divorce, sometimes she fights with her sister, she loves being silly with Ivy, and she's enjoying her spot on the basketball team even though it isn't easy being the only girl. (Though we only ever see kids from another team giving her a hard time – from what we see of her team, the guys seem to have accepted her.)
Julie tells Tracy that she shouldn't blame only Dad for their parents' divorce: both parents are equally divorced. And Tracy seems to accept the correction, but it made me wonder: was Dad having an affair with a stewardess or something? At 15, Tracy might know more about the causes of the divorce than Julie...
But in the end, Julie makes a connection that pulled this book up from 3 stars to 4. She remembers her dad saying that his broken foot healed stronger than before, and connects this to her own broken family: her relationships with each member can be stronger than ever. That's lovely, and it also made me think about how many broken things we have in this book: the pot for Tracy's spider plant, Julie's finger. Maybe not A+ thematic work, but overall, pretty good. And I do love Julie's last minute decision to change her report and truly talk about the thing she doesn't want to talk about. It takes guts, and she takes a deep breath and does it.
More Julie babble:
Meet Julie | Julie Tells Her Story | Happy New Year, Julie | Julie and the Eagles | Julie's Journey | Changes for Julie
Good Luck, Ivy
The Tangled Web | The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter | The Silver Guitar | Lost in the City | Message in a Bottle
A Brighter Tomorrow
August 17, 2020
This is one of the better Julie books. The subplot about a houseplant is completely extraneous and a waste of pages, but I enjoyed Julie's character growth and her ultimate willingness to be honest with her classmates about how her parents' divorce was her worst life experience. She overcomes the sense of shame that she feels, and is able to be vulnerable and honest.
Her thought processes are relatable and realistic, and I also enjoyed the period detail of her recording interviews with family members on a tape recorder. The one in the illustrations looks a lot like the hand-me-down tape recorder from Mom that my siblings and I grew up with, and this element of the story is what I always fondly remembered after bailing on the series in 2007. Also, just like I remembered, Julie's older sister called her "Miss Watergate" after she used the tape recorder to spy on her. Good times.
This book has a lot of great period details, and the historical note briefly addresses a number of ways that the school environment changed for seventies kids. When I originally read this, it was my first experience learning about integration from a source other than my parents' stories, and it fascinated me to see in print the kinds of things that we had talked about. (I later learned about it in school, of course, but had only studied earlier eras at that time.)
The historical note focuses on the protests and tensions in the North, and I wish that it had addressed the violence and terrorism that occurred in parts of the South during the integration process. However, I appreciate the book's balanced perspective on people's feelings about this issue, since the author acknowledges that even though some white Americans opposed integration for discriminatory, racist reasons, others simply felt an attachment to their neighborhood school or didn't want their children to have to ride on the bus for hours. The historical note fairly addresses the range of reasons why the integration process was difficult for people, but I wish that the author had included details about what it was like in the South.
Her thought processes are relatable and realistic, and I also enjoyed the period detail of her recording interviews with family members on a tape recorder. The one in the illustrations looks a lot like the hand-me-down tape recorder from Mom that my siblings and I grew up with, and this element of the story is what I always fondly remembered after bailing on the series in 2007. Also, just like I remembered, Julie's older sister called her "Miss Watergate" after she used the tape recorder to spy on her. Good times.
This book has a lot of great period details, and the historical note briefly addresses a number of ways that the school environment changed for seventies kids. When I originally read this, it was my first experience learning about integration from a source other than my parents' stories, and it fascinated me to see in print the kinds of things that we had talked about. (I later learned about it in school, of course, but had only studied earlier eras at that time.)
The historical note focuses on the protests and tensions in the North, and I wish that it had addressed the violence and terrorism that occurred in parts of the South during the integration process. However, I appreciate the book's balanced perspective on people's feelings about this issue, since the author acknowledges that even though some white Americans opposed integration for discriminatory, racist reasons, others simply felt an attachment to their neighborhood school or didn't want their children to have to ride on the bus for hours. The historical note fairly addresses the range of reasons why the integration process was difficult for people, but I wish that the author had included details about what it was like in the South.
December 16, 2011
the cover photo is an illustration of julie interviewing her mother using the tape recorder her father bought for her in japan. when i saw this illustration & realized that julie's mom is a ginormous hippie, i started to wonder if perhaps the albrights' marriage broke up because ma albright started having an affair with hank, the grizzled hippie veteran who is always baking zucchini bread & organizing petitions.
julie's story continues to be a yawn. in this book, julie's class is given an assignment. they have to write their autobiographies. they are encouraged to interview their parents about what they were like when they were children, & address the topics "the best thing that ever happened to me" & "the worst thing that ever happened to me". julie is intrigued by the assignment until she hears about the "worst thing" aspect. she feels that the worst thing that ever happened to her was her parents' divorce. hey, julie? get over it. i bet it was way worse for your parents than it was for you. when the teacher adds that the kids will be expected to do oral presentations of their autobiographies in front of their classmates, julie is even more dismayed. she doesn't want to admit to the entire class that her parents are divorced (even though it was established in meet julie that most of her classmates at least suspect that reality, even if it hasn't been totally confirmed--this series sucks when it comes to continuity).
julie gets a little more excited about the assignment when her dad gives her a cool tape recorder. she interviews him & he talks about how he broke his leg or something when he was julie's age. he explains that the bone grew back even stronger at the fracture site than it had been before. hmmm, i wonder if julie will pick up on this thinly-veiled aphorism & apply it to her experience as a child of divorce? *rolls eyes*
there is also a long, tedious scene in which julie goes to her friend ivy's house. ivy is basically a poster child for the chinese american experience. ivy & julie spend a lot of time painting chinese characters on pages ripped from the phone book. this is an activity that ivy supposedly loves. bear this in mind when i review good luck, ivy, in which ivy claims to hate painting chinese characters & claims to suck at it. wherefore art thou, consistent characterization?
there is also a long scene that didn't make any sense to me in which julie's older sister, tracy, asks julie to plant-sit. apparently tracy is doing a science experiment involving a spider plant, but she wants to go to a party where she & her teenage friends are going to see how many people they can fit in a VW bug. after that, they're going to take off all their clothes, drop acid, & eat some california cheeseburgers before murdering sharon tate. or maybe not. but the VW bug part is real. julie agrees to take on the plant-sitting job, &...i'm not master gardener, but i think a spider plant is going to be A-okay just hanging out on a desk alone for twelve hours. it does not require supervision. especially supervision in the form of a nine-year-old girl who immediately manages to knock the plant out the window so its pot shatters on the sidewalk outside. julie then stuff the plant into her purse & hightails it to some shopping strip to pick up a new planter. the spider plant had been potted in a planter shaped like a purple hippo. julie selects a pink pig-shaped planter & hopes her sister won't notice the difference. um...really? i guess sometimes nine-year-olds are kind of dumb. let's move on.
julie plays in a big basketball game & gets knocked down & somehow manages to break her finger. she has to miss the rest of the game & she decides this will be her "worst thing ever" for her paper. but, bonus: after she gets out of the ER, her entire family goes out to dinner--their first all-family time together since the divorce. somehow this inspires julie to change her paper & admit that her parents are divorced & that was her "worst thing ever," but she will come back stronger in the place where her family fractured. *puke*
also, rather than delivering her paper in person, she sets up her tape recorder & just plays her interviews as is. i mean, supposedly she edited them together into something coherent, but i don't know how she managed to do that without a tape splicer & real-time playback apparatus, etc. unless that was a damn nice tape recorder. i feel that the "reading aloud" portion of the assignment was probably a test of public speaking & julie should be marked down for using a tape recorder. but whatever. i guess it's obvious that i don't really care for julie or her stories.
julie's story continues to be a yawn. in this book, julie's class is given an assignment. they have to write their autobiographies. they are encouraged to interview their parents about what they were like when they were children, & address the topics "the best thing that ever happened to me" & "the worst thing that ever happened to me". julie is intrigued by the assignment until she hears about the "worst thing" aspect. she feels that the worst thing that ever happened to her was her parents' divorce. hey, julie? get over it. i bet it was way worse for your parents than it was for you. when the teacher adds that the kids will be expected to do oral presentations of their autobiographies in front of their classmates, julie is even more dismayed. she doesn't want to admit to the entire class that her parents are divorced (even though it was established in meet julie that most of her classmates at least suspect that reality, even if it hasn't been totally confirmed--this series sucks when it comes to continuity).
julie gets a little more excited about the assignment when her dad gives her a cool tape recorder. she interviews him & he talks about how he broke his leg or something when he was julie's age. he explains that the bone grew back even stronger at the fracture site than it had been before. hmmm, i wonder if julie will pick up on this thinly-veiled aphorism & apply it to her experience as a child of divorce? *rolls eyes*
there is also a long, tedious scene in which julie goes to her friend ivy's house. ivy is basically a poster child for the chinese american experience. ivy & julie spend a lot of time painting chinese characters on pages ripped from the phone book. this is an activity that ivy supposedly loves. bear this in mind when i review good luck, ivy, in which ivy claims to hate painting chinese characters & claims to suck at it. wherefore art thou, consistent characterization?
there is also a long scene that didn't make any sense to me in which julie's older sister, tracy, asks julie to plant-sit. apparently tracy is doing a science experiment involving a spider plant, but she wants to go to a party where she & her teenage friends are going to see how many people they can fit in a VW bug. after that, they're going to take off all their clothes, drop acid, & eat some california cheeseburgers before murdering sharon tate. or maybe not. but the VW bug part is real. julie agrees to take on the plant-sitting job, &...i'm not master gardener, but i think a spider plant is going to be A-okay just hanging out on a desk alone for twelve hours. it does not require supervision. especially supervision in the form of a nine-year-old girl who immediately manages to knock the plant out the window so its pot shatters on the sidewalk outside. julie then stuff the plant into her purse & hightails it to some shopping strip to pick up a new planter. the spider plant had been potted in a planter shaped like a purple hippo. julie selects a pink pig-shaped planter & hopes her sister won't notice the difference. um...really? i guess sometimes nine-year-olds are kind of dumb. let's move on.
julie plays in a big basketball game & gets knocked down & somehow manages to break her finger. she has to miss the rest of the game & she decides this will be her "worst thing ever" for her paper. but, bonus: after she gets out of the ER, her entire family goes out to dinner--their first all-family time together since the divorce. somehow this inspires julie to change her paper & admit that her parents are divorced & that was her "worst thing ever," but she will come back stronger in the place where her family fractured. *puke*
also, rather than delivering her paper in person, she sets up her tape recorder & just plays her interviews as is. i mean, supposedly she edited them together into something coherent, but i don't know how she managed to do that without a tape splicer & real-time playback apparatus, etc. unless that was a damn nice tape recorder. i feel that the "reading aloud" portion of the assignment was probably a test of public speaking & julie should be marked down for using a tape recorder. but whatever. i guess it's obvious that i don't really care for julie or her stories.
January 9, 2024
ivy is always being strung along for julie’s schemes lol, poor girl. love the conversations about divorce in julie’s books!
January 25, 2024
This one brought me back!! I remember this story so vividly--the potted plant hippo, the basketball game scene...Julie was most definitely a huge influence on my love of basketball and why I joined so many teams at this age; I wanted to be just like her, the best ball handler! I also really remember when the schools changed in 5th grade and wanting to seek out a guy best friend (hopefully one that would give me a fun nickname) just like Julie!
October 31, 2024
this book treads a lot of the same ground book 1 does. i really wish here the books had explored why her parents got divorced. they seem on amicable enough terms. and im sure the fact they got divorced is what allows that. but i wish the books had anything to say on the matter.
August 5, 2024
Okay no disrespect to Miss Julie and not to invalidate her trauma or whatever, but there’s just something kinda funny about Julie coming from the American Girl canon where characters have dead parents, have their best friend die, are literally enslaved, get kidnapped, etc., and the The Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Julie is her parents getting a divorce.
Also, can we take a minute to acknowledge how unbelievably messed up it would be to make your students write about the worst thing that ever happened to them in their life and then make them read it out loud to the whole class??????? Take away Ms. Hunter’s teaching credentials immediately I’m so serious.
Also, can we take a minute to acknowledge how unbelievably messed up it would be to make your students write about the worst thing that ever happened to them in their life and then make them read it out loud to the whole class??????? Take away Ms. Hunter’s teaching credentials immediately I’m so serious.
April 30, 2025
This book centers around Julie telling her life story for a school project. This makes her confront her feelings in regard to her parents’ divorce and her relationship with her sister. I got a kick out of her recording her sister’s phone conversation. I am very curious to hopefully find out in future books what Tracy knows about the divorce- it’s like gossip to me. The history section at the end seems dated now because it mentions DVDs as modern technology! Ha!
July 13, 2022
I’m really liking Julie’s story arc so far!
August 27, 2025
This is a sweet story about Julie learning to face head-on the worst thing that's ever happened to her - her parents' divorce.
September 5, 2022
The story itself is fine, maybe a three or four but OH MY GOD the historical note! I didn't think it was POSSIBLE for AG to get school integration this wrong.
June 14, 2023
One of my favorite American Girl characters ♥ The American Girl book series allows people to go back in time and being able to explore what life was like. I have 4 books out of the many out there but each one is my favorite.
September 8, 2023
Re-read 2023: Well, this book didn't hold up quite as well to a second reading. There's an entire subplot with a plant that doesn't make sense and doesn't really do anything. Older sister Tracy is caring for a plant as part of a school science project and asks Julie to babysit it while she goes to a party. Huh? It's a blatantly contrived way to let Julie fool with the thing and, of course, nearly ruin it. Because who gets a plant minder for literally half a day? Julie's part of the plot at least makes sense. Yes, it's an incredibly bad idea for a teacher to assign students a project where they need to share the worst moment of their lives out loud in front of the entire class, but it's the sort of incredibly bad idea a lot of teachers even today would have. Her basketball coach is weirdly absent from even the basketball subplot, I guess because he was so cartoonishly sexist in the first book that McDonald couldn't figure out how to make him an effective coach to Julie in the very next book.
Also, I can't stop obsessing over Julie's parents' divorce. We still know nothing about the divorce, their marriage, what life was like in the house just before they divorced... And Julie is so neutral about it that it feels kind of weird, especially when her older sister is hostile towards their father. Is she unreasonably blaming their father for the divorce? Is Julie just wallpapering over bad memories to maintain a relationship with her father? I genuinely don't know. For me as an adult reader, it's distracting, because not having that information means I can't actually figure out the relationships. Would a kid care this much? I don't know that, either.
Also, I can't stop obsessing over Julie's parents' divorce. We still know nothing about the divorce, their marriage, what life was like in the house just before they divorced... And Julie is so neutral about it that it feels kind of weird, especially when her older sister is hostile towards their father. Is she unreasonably blaming their father for the divorce? Is Julie just wallpapering over bad memories to maintain a relationship with her father? I genuinely don't know. For me as an adult reader, it's distracting, because not having that information means I can't actually figure out the relationships. Would a kid care this much? I don't know that, either.
December 31, 2017
The whole broken bones heal stronger analogy doesn't work out. Broken bones heal weaker. She should have known not to throw her basketball indoors, so I couldn't really sympathize with her. Also, the part when she's in the ER wasn't very accurate.
March 11, 2022
I figured out why I'm not a big fan of the Julie books. After reading "Meet Julie" and writing my review, I read other reviews of the book and found out that the author, Megan McDonald, is the same person who wrote the Judy Moody books. My niece and I read a couple of those books when she was young and neither of us cared for them. But I will continue on and complete my reading of the American Girl series. I only wish they had entrusted Julie to Valerie Tripp (my favorite American Girl author) or even Janet Beeler Shaw or Denise Lewis Patrick. I think the Julie series would have turned out much better.
Again, the writing is a little corny. Megan McDonald relies far too heavily on pop culture references. The one aspect of the story I really liked, however, was the tape recorder. My sister, Julie, received a tape recorder for Christmas when she was around Julie's age. I can remember her, my other sister, my cousin and myself messing around with it just as Julie and Ivy did. Every once in a great while we dig out the tape she made that day and play back all the silliness. The most special part is when my grandpa is singing a Christmas song in German. He has been gone a long time now and it always brings us all to tears.
Maybe because I grew up at the exact same time as Julie, I am a stickler for some of the details. Some of the slang seems wrong. On page 11 after Julie is given the tape recorder, she says, "This is so boss!". Never in my childhood did I hear someone utter this phrase. Also, the illustration of Julie and Ivy on page 48 is not true to life for 9-year-olds. Teenagers, yes, but 9 and 10-year-olds did not dress like this in 1974. Little kids were just not this fashion conscious. I could see Tracy and her friends wearing these outfits, but not Julie and Ivy. And why is there such a long wait between basketball games? Three weeks? I'd think there'd be a game once a week.
Believe it or not, we had casts back in 1974. It was a big deal when everyone at school got to sign your cast. It would have been the perfect nuance to add to the story. I can't believe a broken bone would not require a cast. My niece broke her finger in the same fashion twice and had a cast both times. Also, a girl in my 5th grade class had her finger bent back and broken. Next day she came to school with, you guessed it, a cast on.
Usually the historical notes provide a little redemption when the story is not up to snuff, but good and bad here. Ah, the memories ditto copies stir. How we all loved taking a good whiff of the inky smell. Ha ha! But I have to disagree with the take on typing skills. Plenty of kids (especially girls) took typing in high school and we can actually type in a fast, proper manner without looking at the keys. The way kids type today might be different, but the old QWERTY method is still quite efficient. I also find it odd that the notes highlight San Francisco's need to end sports in school, yet Julie lives in San Francisco and plays on a FOURTH GRADE basketball team. Uh, how is that possible when the high schools had to cut sports? Strange.
I did like the ending of the story where Julie's family came together after she breaks her finger. I wish all kids who are dealing with divorce had parents who acted civilly toward one another.
Again, the writing is a little corny. Megan McDonald relies far too heavily on pop culture references. The one aspect of the story I really liked, however, was the tape recorder. My sister, Julie, received a tape recorder for Christmas when she was around Julie's age. I can remember her, my other sister, my cousin and myself messing around with it just as Julie and Ivy did. Every once in a great while we dig out the tape she made that day and play back all the silliness. The most special part is when my grandpa is singing a Christmas song in German. He has been gone a long time now and it always brings us all to tears.
Maybe because I grew up at the exact same time as Julie, I am a stickler for some of the details. Some of the slang seems wrong. On page 11 after Julie is given the tape recorder, she says, "This is so boss!". Never in my childhood did I hear someone utter this phrase. Also, the illustration of Julie and Ivy on page 48 is not true to life for 9-year-olds. Teenagers, yes, but 9 and 10-year-olds did not dress like this in 1974. Little kids were just not this fashion conscious. I could see Tracy and her friends wearing these outfits, but not Julie and Ivy. And why is there such a long wait between basketball games? Three weeks? I'd think there'd be a game once a week.
Believe it or not, we had casts back in 1974. It was a big deal when everyone at school got to sign your cast. It would have been the perfect nuance to add to the story. I can't believe a broken bone would not require a cast. My niece broke her finger in the same fashion twice and had a cast both times. Also, a girl in my 5th grade class had her finger bent back and broken. Next day she came to school with, you guessed it, a cast on.
Usually the historical notes provide a little redemption when the story is not up to snuff, but good and bad here. Ah, the memories ditto copies stir. How we all loved taking a good whiff of the inky smell. Ha ha! But I have to disagree with the take on typing skills. Plenty of kids (especially girls) took typing in high school and we can actually type in a fast, proper manner without looking at the keys. The way kids type today might be different, but the old QWERTY method is still quite efficient. I also find it odd that the notes highlight San Francisco's need to end sports in school, yet Julie lives in San Francisco and plays on a FOURTH GRADE basketball team. Uh, how is that possible when the high schools had to cut sports? Strange.
I did like the ending of the story where Julie's family came together after she breaks her finger. I wish all kids who are dealing with divorce had parents who acted civilly toward one another.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2019
3.5 stars. Julie's school assignment is to tell "The Story of Your Life", which in addition to interviewing parents/siblings to see what they were like at age 10, includes describing the best and worst things to happen in your life. For Julie, the worst is her parents' divorce- but can she talk about that to the entire class??
A minor anomaly: at one point, Julie eavesdrops on her sister's phone conversation where Tracy describes going to see Jaws in a theater. Later, Tracy tells her mom & Julie about the movie and Mom is surprised that it's still in theaters. I looked, and it debuted summer of 1975... but this book takes place in 1974? Either we're collapsing the '70s together, or somehow a year has passed but given the biggest basketball game of the year is happening, we've still got to be in fall '74.
Overall though, not a bad book for middle grade looking for relatable historical fiction dealing in divorce.
A minor anomaly: at one point, Julie eavesdrops on her sister's phone conversation where Tracy describes going to see Jaws in a theater. Later, Tracy tells her mom & Julie about the movie and Mom is surprised that it's still in theaters. I looked, and it debuted summer of 1975... but this book takes place in 1974? Either we're collapsing the '70s together, or somehow a year has passed but given the biggest basketball game of the year is happening, we've still got to be in fall '74.
Overall though, not a bad book for middle grade looking for relatable historical fiction dealing in divorce.
June 22, 2018
Read this with my seven year old (actually listened to the audio version) and really enjoyed it! She chose this doll to get for her birthday, so we were excited to read her story. Being a 70s girls myself, I am loving the trip down memory lane! I also am enjoying the story -- family wrestling with divorce, learning about the Chinese cultures through her friend Ivy, life in California back in the day, and a young girl standing up for herself and fighting to play on the boys' basketball team. I loved the part where Julie has to face her fears of talking about her family situation during a class assignment. She has an unusual family for the time, and she faces the truth in an admirable way. My daughters really like the story as well!
March 1, 2021
This, like the first book of its series, is not as brilliantly and thoughtfully written as other American Girl stories (at least, not according to someone having taken composition and reading classes in college); however, having enjoyed this as a little girl from the USA, I know that American girls will love it! As I turned the pages, I remembered laughing at this part here, or wishing to be like Julie there. Though the subjects of the Julie series, such as divorce, are not good, the messages American Girl conveys about them are.
June 21, 2024
It really bothers me how American Girl kept the 6 book collection for Julie, but DIDN'T keep with the similar titles as the others. For example, this book could have been easily called Julie Learns a Lesson. She learned like at least 3 lessons in this book. Why they changed the titles for Julie, I don't know, but I HATE IT. However, This book was a lot better than the first one. It was a lot more interesting than the first one and I absolutely LOVED the ending. It actually made me cry because divorced kid here and whew, what Julie said at the end really hit home.
November 19, 2016
I didn't learn much in the story itself. They mention watergate but that's about it. For the most part it's about her parents divorce and the basketball game. Minus the tape recorder it felt like a modern day story. But I did like the looking back section. It was fun to imagine what school was like for my mom.
September 28, 2018
Oh, the memories Julie's story brought back to me. The telephone with the long twisty cord, the tape recorder, my friend arguing with her sister about whose turn it was to set the table or wash the dishes, divorced living arrangements and relationships.
A well written story showing pieces of the 70's through family relations, education, school sports and merchandise from Julie's Mom's shop.
A well written story showing pieces of the 70's through family relations, education, school sports and merchandise from Julie's Mom's shop.
March 9, 2024
4 stars. I really liked this one. Julie’s school project is to interview her family and then tell about the best moment in her life and the worst. The journey she went through to finally be able to tell her class about her parents divorce was really good. She’s a very wise kid and I’m really enjoying this series so far.
January 26, 2020
I liked the girls discussions of the changes a divorce brought, without any specifics, because it loses something when you get too specific. Helpful for families working out difficulties. Worst and best days can change with perspective too.
February 4, 2021
This series is shaping up to be a fave. The setting has this nostalgia for me from my knowledge of Haight-Ashbury and of my mother's childhood, but more than that the writing is good. The characters are solid, well-developed individuals and the plot proceeds well with solid themes and ideas.
September 26, 2023
I liked it, but it's kinda jumbled? There's a plot. But also it's very simplistic so there's daily stuff to "spice it up". I do like just a normal story, and not some overly fanatic plot. Always makes me uncomfortable when kids are like omg let's get mom and dad back together like the old days!
October 2, 2024
2.5 rounded down
After sitting with this book for a minute, I’ve decided to lower my rating. The plot is pretty nonsensical (Julie taking care of her sister’s plant, working on a school project) and I feel like it doesn’t progress her growth or arc all that well.
I do think it has a powerful moment at the end where she reflects on her parents’ divorce and the impact it has had on her life, with an especially sad scene where Julie is happy her family is finally having a dinner together again and wishes she’d break bones more often to make this happen (a dark wish for sure!)
After sitting with this book for a minute, I’ve decided to lower my rating. The plot is pretty nonsensical (Julie taking care of her sister’s plant, working on a school project) and I feel like it doesn’t progress her growth or arc all that well.
I do think it has a powerful moment at the end where she reflects on her parents’ divorce and the impact it has had on her life, with an especially sad scene where Julie is happy her family is finally having a dinner together again and wishes she’d break bones more often to make this happen (a dark wish for sure!)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2018
One of my favorite series of the AG series. Earth Day, Chinese New Year, endangered animals, bicentennial, and more.
August 13, 2019
to come
January 15, 2020
It was just really good. I liked how her family got a divorce and I liked how when she got hurt they all came together like how a broken bone breaks and comes back together stronger.
September 21, 2020
iT was really good.
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