Now & Then

by Harriet Grey, I. Marlene King

One for all and all for one! School's out -- finally! -- and Samantha, Roberta, Teeny, and Chrissy are going to spend the whole summer together. Just like they do every year. Because they're best friends--and notheing can ever change that. At least that's what they thought. But this summer was going to be different. This summer everything would change. This summer they hold a seance in the cemetery and try to summon a boy back from the dead! And while they search for clues about his mysterious death, they learn secrets about themselves and each other. Secrets that will change their friendship forever.

Genres: Fiction

103 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a novelization of the movie Now & Then. It is not the book that the movie Now & Then is based on. This is a very important distinction. There is absolutely nothing new in this book that is not in the film. It's basically a narration of the movie. Therefore, if you've seen the movie, there's no reason to read this book. Also, the movie is better. Don't bother. Don't bother at all. (On the positive side, it is extremely accurate in its description of the film. Not that it's terribly hard to do that.)

[Ryan McFadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a short read, pretty much true to the 1995 motion picture, although it was nice to read about the infamous carnival scene that was cut from the movie, as well as the part where they visit Sears to buy the treehouse.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novelization of this is aimed more at the younger audience, rather than the slightly older girls who may have watched this film. It's a very young-girl appealing book, with a bright pink cover, and shots from the movie on the front, and some colour photographs inside.

This does not focus as much on the four girls as adults but more on them as youngsters, doing seances, going through the usual coming of age issues. There are quite a few scenes cut from this, whilst focusing on the young girls, since the scene with Roberta binding her chest, to stay the tomboy she is, does not appear - for some reason, this jumped out at me, as I remembered where it should have been.

This is only 103 pages, and really adds nothing to the film - there are no additional scenes, no background information to characters, or nothing additional. This will only take a short time to read, and you'd be better off watching the film - especially since you get the chance to see a young Devon Sawa playing Scott Wormer. The film is more feel good than the book as well. I think this could have been extended, to include more additional scenes from the film. If you've loved the film and novelizations, I would recommend picking it up, as it's quite cheap, but there is no added value provided.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my favorite movie so I was excited to learn someone had written a short book BASED ON THE MOVIE (lots of people have the misconception that the movie is based off a book and it’s not) so I knew what I was getting into. I gave it 2/5 because I think it was just written meh. I mean the sequence of events is spot on and lots of line delivery the way it’s done in the movie but the actual writing… bad. To me this author is not a writer and merely used her skills she learned from 8th grade ELA to put this book together. A passing grade but nothing to publish or make money on. I did think it was cool she added the deleted scene, with pictures, loved that! This book is clearly written for a 12 YO and I’d like to think even when I was 12 I would be able to recognize a poorly written story. Overall I was hoping to keep this in my purse and read it all the time since it’s my favorite movie but I was unable to get past how bad it was done and will not be reading it again.

[Shaz]

there was really no point to me reading this because it's just the movie (plus pictures and I WAS RIGHT THERE WAS A DELETED SCENE FROM THE MOVIE THEY PUT IN HERE INSTEAD) but anyways at least it was good for the reading goal

[Madame Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brief novelization of the fabulous movie. A bonus are included photos of the carnival scene that was cut from the film.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A childhood favourite movie. This shortened novelization was worth it just for the carnival scene.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

memory lane 🫶🏻

[Braydee Raden · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good

[D.R. Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for fans of the movie. Not particularly well written or with any clear point of view but cute and nostalgic.

[Jessi Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful! My favorite movie!