Title of Book: Just As Long As We’re Together
No. of Pages: 279
Main Characters: Stephanie, Rachel, and Alison
Date of Publication: 1987
This is the first part of the two-book series, and it is in Stephanie's point of view (the other book, Here’s to You Rachel Robinson, will be reviewed after this one). Stephanie moves to Palfrey’s Pond in Connecticut because her house needs a new roof, and her mom learns that the cost to replace it is too expensive. She now lives next door to her best friend Rachel Robinson. She and Rachel have been best friends since second grade. Things go very well with them until a new girl named Alison moves into their neighborhood. Will Stephanie and Rachel’s friendship survive?
A couple of things stand out: an addition of a new girl in their neighborhood (Alison) and a serious family problem with Stephanie. Many other things that happen in the book come from these two events. Judy Blume writes a lot about the “typical” things that girls do every day including going shopping, chatting about boys, going to dances, going to school, and taking some family trips.
One of the strangest things about the book happens in the first chapter. Stephanie has a crush on Richard Gere, the actor, and she has a poster of him on her ceiling. In 1987, when the book was first published, the actor was 37. At that time, it would be appropriate to have posters of this actor on your wall. As of right now he’s 71 years old and it would be a bit strange for this to happen. When I first told my mom about Stephanie having a crush on Richard Gere, she was flabbergasted and told me this book had to have been written a long time ago, and she was right.
If any kind of swear words or sexual references bother you, you might want to pass up this book. There is one swear word (the “a” word) and three chapters have sexual references in it. There is one longer conversation where Stephanie, Rachel, and Alison talk about sex. There is another chapter where sex is mentioned briefly. Chapter 35 takes place partly at the movie theater where the girls spy Jeremy and Marcella making out. There is no erotic stuff.
The writing is not abstract, which means it was easy for me to put the pictures in my mind and follow the story. There is a good amount of dialogue, and I think that helped me understand what was going on.
Overall, if you have no problem with people talking about sexual situations and using curse words, then I would recommend this book.
PROS: Believable story, good descriptions of characters, words are easy to understand.
CONS: No huge events, some events are discussed and not read about again and you never know what happens. For example, Mrs. Remo calls Stephanie and Rachel to the office at school even though they did nothing wrong, and you never read about the situation again.
K.B.R. Rating: 📚📚📚📚
