I am looking for the title of a book given to me by my father around mid-late 1960’s.
It was about a pre-teen girl growing up, trying to improve, organize and schedule her day to day life. More like a Nancy Drew “good girl” type, unruly hair, awkward.
I think it must have been written earlier, 1940’s or 50’s.
The book was written in the first person, humorous and light.
I remember a strict but kind father, older sister and school friends/enemies.
Possibly a first dance. Lots of list and schedule making to improve herself, waking, school work, etc., minute by minute.
That’s all I’ve got. Maybe this will ring a bell with someone.
Thank you.
It isn’t Gidget, is it?
Could this be Junior Miss by Sally Benson? It’s a collection of short stories that were originally published in The New Yorker in the 1930s. 12-year-old Judy Graves lives in Manhattan with her parents and prim older sister Lois. She’s an awkward, impulsive tomboy, and several of the stories portray her attempts to change or improve in various ways – a movie that’s clearly Shirley Temple’s A Little Princess makes her put on frilly dresses and fawn over her father; magazine ads and articles worry her about her hygiene and appearance and she fusses with soap and baths and toiletries; she makes a New Year’s resolution to budget and save money when her father announces he’ll give the girls allowances; she tries to change the family’s Upper East Side ways after visiting a more bohemian classmate. In the last chapter, she goes to a dance and has something of a transformation. There was a Broadway adaptation in 1943 and a movie in 1945, but the plotlines are significantly changed.
Here is a description of “Junior Miss” from another book blog:
https://mondomolly.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/junior-miss-by-sally-benson/