Going on Sixteen by Betty Cavanna

First published: 1946

Type of work: Domestic realism

Themes: Coming-of-age, animals, and family

Time of work: The mid-twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Locale: Rural Pennsylvania

Principal Characters:

• Julie Ferguson, a shy, lonely teenager
• Tom Ferguson, her father
• Sonny, a championship collie
• Dick Webster, ,Julie’s friend and peer
• Mr. Lonsdale, the owner of the Lonsdale Kennels

The Story

The plot and setting of Going on Sixteen are typical of the 1940’s and 1950’s in the United States. Yet the story themes—school, pets, family, friends, and career— are timeless, for these concerns encompass the developmental tasks of teenage life.

Julie and her father, Tom, have shared the household and farm tasks at Deepdale since the death of Julie’s mother. In addition, they raise collies for the Lonsdale Kennels. Julie convinces her father that they can bottle-feed and raise a litter of puppies after the death of the mother dog. One puppy, Sonny, becomes Julie’s favorite. The puppies are a welcome solace for Julie as she begins high school. Julie feels awkward and self-conscious at school, but competent at home as she trains the puppies. Sonny becomes more and more special to Julie, and she dreams of ways to keep the dog.

At school Julie’s favorite class is art; her mother had been an artist. With the encouragement of her art teacher, Julie develops her talent by sketching the puppies in all their moods. Yet the shifting emotions of adolescence confuse and threaten Julie. She wants to be popular but does not know how, for her shyness gets in the way. She even has trouble reestablishing a comfortable relationship with Dick Webster, a friend from early childhood. It is Dick, however, along with her art teacher, who gives her the encouragement she needs to enter the school poster contest.

Julie wins the contest and becomes chairman of the poster committee in charge of advertising H.M.S. Pinafore, the school play. Her growing responsibilities help her feel accepted at school, just as her responsibilities for the puppies have helped her relationship with her father.

Sonny and Julie become very close as the year goes on. Sonny responds well to training, and Julie begins to realize the future Sonny has as a champion show collie. Although she hates to lose the dog, she wants Sonny to have his chance.

During the following year Mr. Lonsdale decides that Sonny is ready to show. Tom, concerned for his daughter at the loss of her beloved pet, decides to help her with another artistic project, remodeling the unused family living room. He agrees to unblock the fireplace if Julie will do the rest. The summer passes in a whir of painting, papering, and decorating.

Tickets arrive for Julie and Tom to attend a dog show where Sonny will be entered. Both of them are very excited at the prospect, but are disappointed at Sonny’s performance. Alarmed at his appearance, they make their way to the ring. At the sight of Julie Sonny becomes ecstatic. The bond between girl and dog is obvious. Julie convinces Mr. Lonsdale to let her show the dog, and the result is the coveted blue ribbon. Realizing the bond between the girl and the dog, Mr. Lonsdale provides a happy solution. Sonny returns to Deepdale with the provision that Julie show him for the kennel when needed. The Fergusons return to the farm in time for Julie to attend the prom with Dick.

Julie has succeeded at many important developmental tasks. She has developed good peer relationships, she has resolved crucial family relationships, and she has decided upon a career path. Adolescents value competence, and Julie’s successes make Going on Sixteen a perennial favorite.

Context

Going on Sixteen is a typical example of the junior novel popular during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Betty Cavanna is noted for her successful formula books about teenage girls, dogs, and adolescent concerns. Her works’ popularity is the fruit of her skill in developing readable stories around concerns of perennial interest to adolescent girls, that is, developing skill competence, making friends, and developing relationships with the opposite sex. In contrast to junior novels of the 1980’s, here the sexual component is subdued. Many such earlier novels in this genre continue to be very popular with young teens who are uncomfortable in dealing with sex. Cavanna’s novels focus more on developing identity than on heterosexual love.

Traditionally, pets help children and adolescents develop responsibility while freely giving unconditional love. Sonny’s devotion and dependence on Julie and his inability to do well without her strike a responsive chord for most teens. Most teens are also struggling with the need to distance themselves from their family. Tom’s concern with Julie’s daydreaming is very familiar to most young adults, who also sometimes forget to do assigned chores.

Cavanna wrote more than twenty-five junior novels featuring art, animals (dogs in particular), and romance. Paintbox Summer (1949) is widely considered to be her best junior novel of this type. It has many similarities to Going on Sixteen—for example, using art as the medium for self-discovery. Romantic interest is more apparent, however, in Paintbox Summer. In this novel the heroine has a conflict between two loves, while in Going on Sixteen the focus is on friendship turning into love.

During the years from 1940 to 1960, Cavanna successfully used pets, romance, and identity crises in a variety of books, each time making very effective use of the trends of the decade in terms of teenage activities and interests. The fact that her themes are universal, however, allows each of her books to be enjoyed by teens in a different decade. It was not until the 1960’s, with her publication of the Around the World Today series, that Cavanna’s style and focus changed.

Dwight L. Burton, one of the first critics of young adult literature, identified several characteristics as being important in good junior novels. Among these qualities was portrayal of the individual as a person of worth and character. The characters in the Cavanna books demonstrate integrity.

G. Robert Carlsen, writing about teenage reading interests, explained that in choosing books adolescents look to fulfill several emotional needs: role playing through the characters, the testing of their own concerns about normal and appropriate behavior, and, finally, the opportunity to understand themselves as developing human beings. Cavanna’s books, formulaic though they may be, apparently continue to meet adolescent needs in these ways.