What we’re reading –

What were you doing in the summer of 1975? Were you babysitting for neighborhood kids? Watching Starsky and Hutch? Playing 45s on your turntable? Sharing twin popsicles with a friend, so that you each got your own stick?

And did you know a family that was so cool, so interesting and so fun (everything that your parents and family were not!) that you wanted to move in with them? If so, you should go to your local library or bookstore and get a copy of the novel Mary Jane.  This is such a fun, uplifting, and easy-to-read story that I’m sure you’ll love it.

The novel is set in an affluent suburb of Baltimore in the 1970s and describes the summer when the main character Mary Jane is fourteen. She is hired as a summer nanny for another neighborhood family, the Cones. When Mary Jane first meets the Cones, she realizes that they are not like most of the other people she knows. Mary Jane instantly falls in love with their adorable, free-spirited four year-old daughter Izzy (who often runs around the house naked. Oh my!) And she thinks that both Mrs. Cone (who never wears a bra – shocking!) and Dr. Cone, a psychiatrist who has sideburns (so cool!) are amazing. Mary Jane knows that although her conservative parents would never approve of the Cone’s messy house, their parenting style or their bohemian lifestyle, they are wonderful people, and a loving and caring family. And then in the middle of her incredible summer, a famous movie star and her rock star husband move in with the Cone family!  Mary Jane wonders if her summer can get any better.

Mary Jane learns a lot about herself that summer, and is able to see her own family from an outsider’s perspective. Although she grows up a lot and learns to think on her own, Mary Jane stays true to herself. This is a great coming of age story with lots of nostalgia, and it would appeal to almost anyone – even if you didn’t grow up in the 70s!

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/mary-jane-jessica-anya-blau?variant=39399712260130