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Sally & Jean Burnaby #1
Senior Year
Sally is miserable! Here she is ready for a fabulous senior year, when everything goes wrong. Her best friend Kate goes away to a new school. Her boyfriend Scotty starts to date that new girl in town. Sally feels so angry and alone, she almost gets mixed up with the wrong crowd. Then her parents start to bug her about her plans for the future! How can Sally think of the future when her senior year is turning out to be such a disaster?
[Description from 1979 Scholastic reprint]
[Description from 1979 Scholastic reprint]
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
5 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Anne Emery
80 books33 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Anne Emery was born Anne Eleanor McGuigan, in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, when she was nine years old. Miss McGuigan attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Following her graduation from college, her father, a university professor, took the family of five children abroad for a year, where they visited his birthplace in Northern Ireland, as well as the British Isles, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Miss McGuigan spent nine months studying at the University of Grenoble in France. She taught seventh and eighth grades for four years in the Evanston Schools, and fourth and fifth grades for six more years after her marriage to John Emery. She retired from teaching to care for her husband and five children, Mary, Kate, Joan, Robert, and Martha.
Anne Emery wrote books and short stories for teen girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her understanding of the lives of teenaged girls creates believable stories and characters that are readable and re-readable!
Anne Emery was born Anne Eleanor McGuigan, in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, when she was nine years old. Miss McGuigan attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Following her graduation from college, her father, a university professor, took the family of five children abroad for a year, where they visited his birthplace in Northern Ireland, as well as the British Isles, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Miss McGuigan spent nine months studying at the University of Grenoble in France. She taught seventh and eighth grades for four years in the Evanston Schools, and fourth and fifth grades for six more years after her marriage to John Emery. She retired from teaching to care for her husband and five children, Mary, Kate, Joan, Robert, and Martha.
Anne Emery wrote books and short stories for teen girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her understanding of the lives of teenaged girls creates believable stories and characters that are readable and re-readable!
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 16, 2015
What a delightful read! Full of charming period details and the sort of "life lessons" that never go out of style. Though today's teens may face problems a bit more complicated than a boy trying to "act smooth" and steal a kiss or drinking a beer at a party after the parents go out, the fundamental issues Sally faces regarding "right" and "wrong" behavior, of choosing friends wisely, and of trying to stay true to herself while also exploring new sides of her personality are ones that would resonate with young people today. Though a few of the lessons are a little bit obvious, and some of the outcomes may be a bit too tidy, overall I was very impressed with how organic it all felt and I appreciated that Sally's parents were there for her but not overly intrusive, encouraging self-reliance yet they also aware of when their experience and help were truly needed. Sally's senior year provides a delightful glimpse into high school life in the late 1940s and a sweet, innocent romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Burnaby family is fun and interesting and I look forward to reading more about them as this is, happily, a series.
December 15, 2017
This book was so refreshing. I don't really understand why YA today has to be so full of angst and rage. This book still dealt with absent parents, underage drinking, and teen romance, yet did so in a way that was healthy and thoughtful instead of glorifying/normalizing those things. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Note: Review of full series on my blog - https://thearomaofbooks.wordpress.com...
Note: Review of full series on my blog - https://thearomaofbooks.wordpress.com...
July 28, 2022
This edition says it is a kindle but mine is an original 1949 hardcover with this dust jacket. This is a typical 1940s, 50s maltshop teenage romance but it was very enjoyable. It's the first book in a series of 4 books about Sally Burnaby and her younger sister Jean.
Sally starts her senior year being very needy. Her best friend Kate has gone away to boarding school and Sally just can't seem to make any decisions on her own without her. Scotty, the boy next door, who had always been her date, taken for granted, has drifted off to another girl and Sally falls in with a fast loose crowd. To her credit she does learn fast and decide never to go with these young people again. She sort of wanders aimlessly through the year not even sure about where she wants to go to college. Her youngest sister Betsy coming down with Rheumatic Fever and the ensuing medical bills decides Sally's future. She will have to go to the local university and live at home. It's so nostalgic. Remember when people went to the hospital? That was before the days when your insurance allowed 2 days in the hospital for serious things and drive-by surgery for others. Well, Betsy spends 3 months in the hospital! I'm also curious about sizes in the 1940s. Were they different? Sally is described as thin and looks thin on the cover but her prom dress is a size 14. Gee, I wore a size 6 in my senior year and I'm NOT telling you what size that grew up to be!
Anyway, the book ends with Scotty giving her her first kiss and "pinning" her, the going steady standard of the time. The book continues in the next volume "Going Steady".
Sally starts her senior year being very needy. Her best friend Kate has gone away to boarding school and Sally just can't seem to make any decisions on her own without her. Scotty, the boy next door, who had always been her date, taken for granted, has drifted off to another girl and Sally falls in with a fast loose crowd. To her credit she does learn fast and decide never to go with these young people again. She sort of wanders aimlessly through the year not even sure about where she wants to go to college. Her youngest sister Betsy coming down with Rheumatic Fever and the ensuing medical bills decides Sally's future. She will have to go to the local university and live at home. It's so nostalgic. Remember when people went to the hospital? That was before the days when your insurance allowed 2 days in the hospital for serious things and drive-by surgery for others. Well, Betsy spends 3 months in the hospital! I'm also curious about sizes in the 1940s. Were they different? Sally is described as thin and looks thin on the cover but her prom dress is a size 14. Gee, I wore a size 6 in my senior year and I'm NOT telling you what size that grew up to be!
Anyway, the book ends with Scotty giving her her first kiss and "pinning" her, the going steady standard of the time. The book continues in the next volume "Going Steady".
February 25, 2024
2.5 stars. Hmm… I didn’t love this. Sally wasn’t particularly likable. Jean was more interesting. I especially didn’t like that Sally had to play games with Scotty for him to be interested in her. It’s a stupid lesson for girls to think they have to act casual and uninterested in order to not scare a boy away. Screw that! If he scares so easily, bye bye! I don’t know if I’ll read any of the others in this series. This felt kind of preachy, and even though it was short, it felt like it went on and on. I definitely prefer Beverly Cleary’s malt shop novels! They’re more relatable and don’t feel like they’re so preachy.
January 22, 2022
Anne Emery really knows how to suck a reader in. What I love about her books is that her main characters eventually learn how to be self reliant.
The first in the series, Sally Burnaby is about to graduate from high school and her friend group has changed. So she starts babysitting to fill her time and sets goals for herself.
The last chapter leaves you starry-eyed, when our main character starts going steady with her childhood friend. And knowing Anne Emery, that means in the next book, she'll slap us around and kick us in the teeth and not want them to go steady any more. Stay tuned ...
The first in the series, Sally Burnaby is about to graduate from high school and her friend group has changed. So she starts babysitting to fill her time and sets goals for herself.
The last chapter leaves you starry-eyed, when our main character starts going steady with her childhood friend. And knowing Anne Emery, that means in the next book, she'll slap us around and kick us in the teeth and not want them to go steady any more. Stay tuned ...
December 31, 2021
This was a new-to-me author, and I was thoroughly delighted with this step back in time. I loved how the whole family was included and how the author gave Sally a senior year with some challenges that helped her mature. It wasn't all soda shops and sock hops. I hope I can find the rest of the series.
January 25, 2018
Fun read
November 28, 2024
A series I somehow missed when I was younger, I always enjoy the glimpse into social standards of another time.
April 23, 2025
The cover is fantastic!
July 9, 2025
Just revisiting my young teen-ager reads. Kind of fun.
October 8, 2025
A pretty sweet story! Hopefully I can read the rest in the series.
May 27, 2012
Saw this at Molly's book store and couldn't resist it. I was especially intrigued to see it was first published in 1949, rather earlier than I expected for this genre, and meaning the protagonist (if not fictional) would have been about 3 years younger than my mom. The story is standard fare, but I'm always game for a now-period-piece teen novel. I was surprised how 50s-early-60s it seemed compared to my perception of my mother's teen years--wonder how much of that was due to my mom's particular experience. The younger siblings being hooked on radio serials, though, did resonate a bit with that!
February 7, 2017
The protagonist is figuring out ways to stand on her own without her best friend, what career path and college to choose, and how to have friends with good moral character. She makes mistakes and learns from them. Her family provides a supportive base. I enjoyed it.
December 19, 2011
The first in the Burnaby series. I loved these books as a pre-teen. The Burnaby's seemed so normal...something I so wished my family was. Written in the late 1940s early 1950s these are wonderful period pieces.
October 23, 2016
Okay, this was first published in 1949, so that explains the language. The paperback I have says 1979, but aside from a random reference to disco, this seems very dated. "Gee, that's swell!" is not a phrase I would use in describing this time capsule.
July 20, 2016
Re-read October 2001.
Want to read
June 28, 20101968 edition
June 18, 2011
A little too bland and preachy in spots--I much prefer the Rosamond Du Jardin books. I'll read the others and hope that Jean makes for a more interesting heroine.
June 9, 2016
This was a fun vintage young adult book. The main character Sally has a lot of growing to do and it's realistic. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews