Cathy Leonard Calling

Cathy Leonard #3

by Catherine Woolley

Cathy gets a job at the local newspaper

Genres: Childrens

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

A prolific writer of over eighty books, Catherine Woolley published so many children's books that her publisher recommended using a pen name for some of her works. Ms. Woolley's Ginnie Fellows series was and continues to be a reader favorite across generations.

Pen name: Jane Thayer.

Reviews

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - 3.75 as children's lit goes. Cathy is creative and diligent and pursues her dreams and recognizes when it's time for a reevaluation because school is important too.

This is a cute fall/winter story (storyline begins in late October and ends late December) in which we learn about 1950s-60s "society pages" of a small town. I though Facebook, with its "going to spend the day with so-and-so!" and "heading-out to this-place for the weekend" and "good to see you-and-you!" was a new thing, but turns out once upon a time there was a section of the newspaper devoted to "news" such as who had lunch with whom and who was visiting their family for the weekend and who was celebrating their anniversary with a dinner party. Rather humbling, to see what I thought was youth culture revolutionizing the world is actually just the newest version of gossip pages in the Post.

1960s comes through loud and clear when Cathy's brother says she can't be VP someday because "she's a girl." Otherwise, 5th graders being 5th graders and siblings being siblings and parents being parents (all on their mostly best behavior).

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten-and-a-Half-Year-Old Gets Job, Struggles with Work-Life Balance

A very busy installment in the Cathy Leonard series, without much time to enjoy the goings-on in Middlebridge and the Leonard family. Cathy takes up a job as a society reporter for her local paper, but it interferes with her school work, social life, and family life. I liked how the resolution allowed her to keep writing as a junior correspondent and that her choice to change was her own. Reading everything the poor girl had to do in one day--at the age of ten (and a half)!--was rather exhausting. Yet, it still had the charm of the first books, if less time to enjoy the simple pleasures.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Falling behind in my challenge, so I'm cheating a bit and reading some kids' books...but at least not Dr. Seuss. :)
"A Room for Cathy" was one of my favorite books as a child. I suspect I would have liked this one nearly as much. :)