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librarianna81 's review for:
The Summer Before
by Ann M. Martin
My sister gave me this to read, because we were huge BSC fans when we were little. It was...cute. Very nostalgiac, and very much like every other Baby-Sitters Club book ever, but I enjoyed being transported back to my youth & revisiting some "old friends". And I noted often how timeless these books are, because while the girls don't ever mention cell phones or computers or any sort of technology (which I guess was a good - if not conscious, in 1980-whatever - move by Ann M. Martin, because it keeps things ambiguous; could you imagine if Janine worked on a Commodore64 or something?!), it really still worked. I really liked that the books could still seem relevant and applicable to today, for the most part. Granted, there were probably some parts where the YA reader of 2010 might be all, "Why didn't she just Google him??" or something, but...for the most part, it works. I would've been disappointed if Martin had tried to "update" the prequel to her books. And it's always fascinating how timeless teenage problems always remain, no matter what the era. Girls will forever be consumed with figuring out how to grow up, while still being told what to do by their parents. They seek their own identities and try to understand others' while dealing with hormones, bullies, boys, homework, independence & dependence, etc. Despite technological and other advances and changes in the past 15 years, I don't think much has really changed from my YA-hood to today's.