Janet Lambert and Anne B. Thompson

It seems in this world of ours that there is an infinite amount of information of just about everything.  So it is a surprise to want to know about the lives of Janet Lambert and Anne B. Thompson and find not much and certainly not enough.  This whole story started a few weeks back when I was thinking about Star Spangled Summer, a book I had read as a young teen.  I realized I could probably get it online, and sure enough, there was an edition on Kindle.  It turned out this was the first in the Penny Parrish series by Janet Lambert.  In for a sheep, in for a ram, I always say.  But actually it was nothing so rational as that -- I couldn't stop reading about the families Lambert had created.  I was fascinated by the lifeworld of the Army officer class -- army bases, West Point, war -- from World War II to the Korean War, as viewed through the eyes of their teen daughters.

Janet Lambert

Anne B.Thompson

Just Jennifer is one of the most remarkable of Lambert's books, as it follows the adventures of nine children left in Florida while their father, General Jordon, is off to the European Theater during World War II.  Jennifer is the oldest and takes charge, finding a lakeside house they can afford, and eventually winning the support of local townspeople who support the children as they struggle with ration coupons, a rickety but essential buggy, and a mysterious neighbor who turns out to be the son of a earl and Jennifer's future husband.

I found the books gripping, and couldn't help but wonder what the young people would do next.  Lambert has a fairly simple formula, offering each of a succession of heroines two admirable young men from whom to choose.  The frame of the romantic suspense in place, Lambert takes off to talk about finding one's footing as a person of worth in the midst of challenges: the exquisitely beautiful Carol confronted by her child's polio; the Jordon children keeping the home fires burning; the chaos created by the unnamed madness of Gwen; grieving the death of Ken in the Korean war or Alcie from an auto accident; or learning gratitude for wealth as Parri must.

These books have a following, as evidenced by all 54 having been reprinted.  And some scholar must have thought about them, I reasoned.  That is how I found Anne B. Thompson and her wonderful paper, "Rereading fifties teen romance: reflections on Janet Lambert," (The Lion and the Unicorn, Sept. 2005, 29;3:373).  Thompson's sensitive analysis of Lambert's approach to her characters offers a nuanced assessment of the gripping effect of the books.  She helped me appreciate that Lambert knew how to take us inside the turmoil of becoming a good person: Penny gets caught up in a Broadway adventure while her family looks for her in a panic; Carol can't get over her sadness after Davy has polio; Susan runs away from school because she needs a home; Parri pouts about her family going to Hollywood.  Each makes it through, slowly, with the help of their family, and a regular dose of salty advice from the working class women who provide the housekeeping and auxiliary mothering.

Of course then I wanted to know all about Anne B. Thompson so that I could call her up and we could just chat about Janet Lambert.  She retired from Bates College after teaching for there for 30 years.  I'll write to them to see if she left a forwarding address.  I did learn that she was busy writing a memoir about her mother and planned to read a chapter at an open studio in her new home.  I am particularly curious to know if she thinks Bitsy and Davy ever made a match of it.