Joan Meyers is a determined eight year old who is constantly confused by the challenges of growing up, being responsible and making the correct choices in her life. She struggles to understand why grown-ups have forgotten that the world is a magical place and that it is definitely okay to have ice cream for dinner. She questions when did being dependable become more important than getting the things you truly wish for? For Joan figuring out how to face the challenges of being eight years old is quite daunting.
Growing up Joan is a collection of stories, which takes place in the small town of Thomasville, Pennsylvania in the 1950's. Although Joan doesn't live in the world of technology, cell phones and iPads, like most girls her age, she is struggling to figure out who she is, what is important to her and how to successfully navigate the relationships and circumstances of her life. The collection follows Joan through the third grade. Throughout the year, Joan attempts to figure out how to achieve what is important to her, as well as please the people she cares for the most. Many times, her decisions lead her into compromising situations. Joan often responds by being self-serving, but in the end she learns an important life lesson that helps her to understand her world and herself better.
Children in the 21st century live in a world of advanced technology and have expectations of immediate gratification. They develop in a rapidly paced world in which they have to successfully negotiate and understand their environment and ultimately themselves. In contrast Joan is growing up in a small town where days move more slowly, children safely ride their bikes around town and people share feelings face to face and not by texting each other. Joan is growing up in a community where the neighbors are not too busy to support and care for each other. Although their environments are very different, girls in the 1950's and 2022 face the same challenges of understanding themselves, their worlds and the overwhelming experience of growing up. In these stories Joan faces the challenges of friendship, family, competition and death. In contrast to so many books today that allow young readers to look into the future, "Growing Up Joan" allows the reader to reflect on the past, and to see how Joan in the 1950's faces the similar challenges that they are experiencing today.