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This is a sweet little book written in the fifties, about being fifteen in the fifties, that is probably too dated for a modern fifteen-year-old. Cleary's books about the children of the Klickitat Street neighborhood written in the same period have retained more relevance, and kept their bloom much better.

I read this at the same time as Lynne Rae Perkins's 'Criss Cross.' It was interesting how much more jaded kids in that book were, written five years ago about being fourteen in the seventies.

But Cleary's 'first love' books, despite the demise of the ID bracelet and the idea of 'going steady,' remain in print. Some things never change, like teen-age girls obsessing about boys (and vice-versa), and 'eyeing with disapproval' their mothers' attire.

To give you some examples of 'Fifteen's' age: Jane Purdy runs into her dream boy, Stan Crandall, when he's on his route delivering horsemeat for pets. Jane's town, Woodmont, seems to be exclusively populated by middle-class white families. On a visit to the Chinatown of the nearby metropolis, one boy makes jokes about 'flied lice,' and Jane can't handle the unfamiliar food.

Then again, there is something appealing about Jane's innocence and earnestness, and something timeless about her struggle to be herself in high school.

People still watch 'Leave It to Beaver' (), for which Cleary wrote an accompanying series of books (no longer in print). Ken Osmond, who played Wally, explaining the staying power of that TV series, says, 'Kids are still the same as they were in 1810.'