In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a young woman falls in love -- and learns how sorrow can lead to an understanding of joy.
Katie, the narrator, has relocated to Missouri with her distant, occasionally abusive father, and she feels very much alone: her much-loved mother is dead; her new school is unaccepting of her; and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When she accidentally falls through the ice while skating, she meets Jimmy. He is handsome, far older than she, and married, but she is entranced. As their relationship unfolds, so too does Katie's awareness of the pain and intensity first love can bring.
Beautifully written in Berg's irresistible voice, Joy School portrays the soaring happiness of real love, the deep despair one can feel when it goes unrequited, and the stubbornness of hope that will not let us let go. Here also is recognition that love can come in many forms and offer many different things. Joy School illuminates, too, how the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons that really matter.
- Books
- Young Adult Fiction
- Joy School (Katie Nash #2)
Joy School (Katie Nash #2)
Author(s)
Publisher
Genre(s)
Age Range
14+
Release Date
March 24, 1998
ISBN
0679449434
User reviews
Not very interesting
Overall rating
2.0
Plot
2.0
Characters
0.0
Writing Style
0.0
Reader reviewed by Dede
Joy School is about a 12 year old girl named Katie, and her new life in the new town she moved to after her mothers death. She is not very close with her father and she begins making friends- some good, some not so good. When she meets a 23 year old man named Jimmy and "falls in love." I had a lot of issues with this book - one - the jacket says that her dad is abusive and it doesn't show in the book. Second the book bounces around between all the secondary characters that I would get confused and have to rethink what I had just read. She finds a good friend - Diane, a bad friend - Taylor, and falls in love with Jimmy who is married. Another biggie in my book is that she lies to Jimmy and tells him she is 15, not 12 going on 13. I cringed. The book was just not thought out, I didn't care for any of the characters and Katie came off as pretty whiny. She had good morals, though that is about the only good thing I can say about this book.
Joy School is about a 12 year old girl named Katie, and her new life in the new town she moved to after her mothers death. She is not very close with her father and she begins making friends- some good, some not so good. When she meets a 23 year old man named Jimmy and "falls in love." I had a lot of issues with this book - one - the jacket says that her dad is abusive and it doesn't show in the book. Second the book bounces around between all the secondary characters that I would get confused and have to rethink what I had just read. She finds a good friend - Diane, a bad friend - Taylor, and falls in love with Jimmy who is married. Another biggie in my book is that she lies to Jimmy and tells him she is 15, not 12 going on 13. I cringed. The book was just not thought out, I didn't care for any of the characters and Katie came off as pretty whiny. She had good morals, though that is about the only good thing I can say about this book.
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