Nancy Pembroke #5 Junior and #6 Nova Scotia

In Nancy Pembroke #5, Nancy Pembroke, Junior, Nancy and her friends return to Roxford.  As members of the junior class, the girls must mentor the younger girls.  Nancy finally realizes how awful she behaved during the previous year and vows to improve.

The story arc of this book centers around Nancy's personal growth.  She gradually becomes a much nicer person and is less flighty.  She quits treating Philip badly and even becomes friends with him.  For a time, I thought that Philip might be a prospective suitor, even though Nancy has written to a young man named Curtis for quite some time.

On page 20, the reader learns some interesting information about one of the professors.  "Professor Cummings stayed in town all summer, and has been playing around with a young kid from high school."  OMG.

Now that the girls are in one of the upper classes, they are no longer interested in hazing.  Instead, the girls form a secret society for the purpose of helping people in need.

This is a very good book.

In Nancy Pembroke #6, Nancy Pembroke in Nova Scotia, Nancy and her friends travel to Nova Scotia.  Nancy further matures, and she even falls in love with a young man named Jim.  In this book, the reader learns about Nancy's beliefs concerning romance and men.

Jim rescues Nancy from a predicament and impulsively kisses her.  From pages 168 and 169:

Her cheeks burned as she recalled his good night, yet she could not, some way, feel angry at him, as she should.  Why?  She had always hated any form of "necking" and a boy who tried it even once was out of her good graces.

"You're so funny, Nan," remarked one of her admirers, smarting from a rebuke.  "Everyone does it now."

"That may be," she had replied.  "Let 'everyone.'  I won't."

"But why?  There is no harm in it," he had persisted.

"Whether there is harm in it or not, I don't like it.  I consider love and all that goes with it such a wonderful, such a sacred thing, that I don't care to spoil it by playing at it with Tom, Dick, and Harry.  My kisses and hugs are going to be kept for the one right man; if he ever comes.  This wholesale display of affection is unspeakably cheap and disgusting, and I won't be a party to it."

I like how Nancy stands up for her convictions.  But wait...  Nancy used to kiss Uncle John on the lips.  So it's fine for Nancy to "neck" with her uncle but not with prospective suitors.  Um, okay.  The last part of the Nancy Pembroke set is like a different series from the first part.

On page 206, Nancy and Jeanette speak about the importance of finishing their education.  Nancy remarks, "I really want to finish college, and be prepared to earn my living in some way if it is ever necessary.  So many girls think that if they can only get hold of a man, they need never lift a finger again."

Jeanette then replies, "I know; and one can never be sure what will happen at some time in the future.  It is foolish not to find out what one thing we can do well, and then fit ourselves to do it.  Then, in an emergency, there is something to depend upon."

These girls, especially Nancy, have really matured.

This is a very good to excellent book.