This book is an absolute riot and I laughed all the way through it. It consists of five “themes”, or reports written for school and diary entries.
The writer is 17-year old Barbara Putnam Archibald (Bab). She is a Sub-Deb, or a Debutante in waiting. She has an older sister, Leila, who is now a Debutante, having had her coming-out party upon turning 18. Bab cannot wait until she, too, is a Debutante, and can take her place in Society. One of her prime goals is to get Leila married off, as she (Bab) cannot “come out” until Leila is “out of the way”.Bab is constantly getting into a series of misadventures, much to the horror of her family. The accounts are written in her 17-year old voice, complete with misspelled and misused words (which add to the flavor), with Important Things always capitalized.
1. The Sub Deb: Bab invents a lover of her own (Harold Valentine) and devises ways to get out of the house, and is horrified to find her friend Carter Brooks knows a real Harold Valentine and brings him to a dance to meet Bab.
2. The Celebrity: Bab finds a favorite actor of hers is staying at the adjacent beach house, and manages to rescue him after his family locks him inside a bathhouse without any clothing.
3. Her Dairy: Bab devises a way to get out of the house unaccompanied (forbidden for a Sub-Deb) and attend plays at which her favorite actor stars, and manages to get invited to his dressing room.
4. Bab’s Burglar: Bab receives an advance allowance for her year in school, and manages to spend it foolishly on a car. She then uses the car to provide a taxi service to earn back some of the money, and finds a suspicious man who has his eye on her home.
5. The G.A.C: Bab, in a frenzy of patriotism over the war (World War I) organizes a group of neighborhood girls into a scout-like organization she calls the Girls Aviation Corps and sets out to track down German spies, one of which appears to be the family butler who is engaging in suspicious conduct with secret codes. (less)
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