Girls of Canby Hall Series by Emily Chase 1984 to 1989

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The Girls of Canby Hall series by Emily Chase was published by Scholastic from 1984 through 1989.  The series was a rival of the Sweet Valley High series, but did not have the staying power of the Sweet Valley High series.

The series features a group of roommates at Canby Hall and has the usual mixture of friendship problems and romance of the teenage fiction genre.

List of Titles:

  1. Roommates, 1984
  2. Our Roommate is Missing, 1984
  3. You're No Friend of Mine, 1984
  4. Keeping Secrets, 1984
  5. Summer Blues, 1984
  6. Best Friends Forever, 1984
  7. Four Is a Crowd, 1984
  8. The Big Crush, 1984
  9. Boy Trouble, 1984   
10. Make Me a Star, 1985
11. With Friends Like That, 1985  
12. Who's the New Girl?, 1985  
13. Here Come the Boys, 1985   
14. What's a Girl To Do?, 1985
15. To Tell the Truth, 1985
16. Three of a Kind, 1985   
17. Graduation Day, 1986  
18. Making Friends, 1986    
19. One Boy Too Many, 1986    
20. Friends Times Three, 1987
21. Party Time!, 1987   
22. Troublemaker, 1987  
23. But She's So Cute, 1987  
24. Princess Who?, 1987
25. The Ghost of Canby Hall, 1987
26. Help Wanted!, 1988
27. The Roommate and the Cowboy, 1988    
28. Happy Birthday, Jane, 1988   
29. A Roommate Returns, 1988  
30. Surprise!, 1988  
31. Here Comes the Bridesmaid, 1988   
32. Who's Got a Crush on Andy?, 1989
33. Six Roommates and a Baby, 1989

Canby Hall Super Editions:

Something Old, Something New, 1986
The Almost Summer Carnival, 1987 

Girls of Canby Hall #31 Here Comes the Bridesmaid, #32 Who's Got a Crush on Andy?, and #33 Six Roommates and a Baby

In Girls of Canby Hall #31, Here Comes the Bridesmaid, Jane, Andy, and Toby have been invited to Princess Allegra's wedding.  Andy will be a bridesmaid.  Unexpectedly, Andy falls in love with a prince, while Jane must keep the groom's brother, Armand, from causing trouble.

I partially enjoyed this book, but overall, I did not like it very much.

In Girls of Canby Hall #32, Who's Got a Crush on Andy?, Andy is depressed over her failed relationship with the prince.  She has decided not to allow herself time to fall in love again, so she is keeping herself busy.  Someone has a crush on Andy and is sending her notes.  Andy seems not to care, but Jane has decided to find out who likes Andy in case this person can make Andy feel better.

Jane and Toby think the notes are sweet, and by the end of the story, Andy feels the same way.  I think the notes are creepy.  The girls assume that the writer is a peer, but how do they know?  He could be a creepy older man chasing after young girls.  The notes make him sound like a stalker. It's not the 1980s, and I'm not a teenager, so I can't see anything good in the notes.

I did not find the first part of the story to be interesting.  Not only is Andy depressed, but Toby mopes around because she doesn't like the tone of her father's letters.  A variant of the subplot with Toby has already been used in a previous book.  Also, Andy was depressed just a few books ago.

I was bored with this story until around halfway through the book.  I enjoyed the last part of the book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #33, Six Roommates and a Baby, former housemother Alison is the proud mother of twin baby girls.  The old 407 girls and the new 407 girls are all godmothers.  After the christening, Alison is injured, and the girls stay to help Alison take care of the babies.  Jane and Shelley are rivals for the same boy, and the two groups of girls have trouble getting along.

Oh no, not again!  Do I have to suffer through another book with all six girls?  The first one was torture.  This is how they ended the series?

Fortunately, the book is much better than I expected.  The girls do get into a few fights, but the scenes are not childish like in Something Old, Something New.

I overall greatly enjoyed this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #29 A Roommate Returns and #30 Surprise!

In Girls of Canby Hall #29, A Roommate Returns, Shelley comes back to Canby Hall for a visit.  She has landed a role in a Boston play, and she is convinced that this is the beginning of her acting career.  The play flops, and Shelley is out of a job.  Shelley mopes around and acts like her life is over, annoying everyone including the reader.

I did not like this book.  I found everything to be boring.  Shelley is awful.  Everything about the book is awful.  I had to skim a lot of the book in order to get through it.  Series do indeed decline towards the end.

In Girls of Canby Hall #30, Surprise!, Beau shows up unexpectedly at Canby Hall.  Of course Jane hasn't told Cary that she met somebody in Texas, so Beau's appearance threatens Jane's relationship with Cary.  Even worse, Gigi decides to try to steal Cary away from Jane, mainly just to hurt her.

On page 50, we learn that the girls "would cluster around the big-screen TV to watch Sixty Minutes."  I laughed.  It sounds hilarious that the Canby Hall girls eagerly watch a news show.  I actually think they more likely would gather around to watch a sitcom or a soap opera.  I sometimes really wonder about the authors of these books.

On page 54, Toby's face gets very red while she is on the phone, and she reflects that she is "grateful that video phones never caught on." Oh Toby, you have no idea.

On both pages 65 and 101, a character "could care less."  What was wrong with the people who wrote this series?  What was wrong with the editors?  Probably the series did not have editors.

On page 76, Gigi and Yolanda are just like Lettie and Ina from the Dana Girls series.

"Oh, Gigi, that would be too funny."  Gigi looked into Yolanda's admiring face.  Sometimes she was a pain, but she was always loyal, and no matter what scheme Gigi thought up, Yolanda went along with it.  Gigi was pretty lucky to find someone like Yolanda in this school full of drips.

Gigi leaves the room and comes back on page 78.

Gigi came back into her room.  Yolanda was still sitting on Gigi's bed where Gigi had left her.  Just like a faithful puppy, Gigi thought.

Every series book villain needs a toady.

I enjoyed the first half of the book, but the last part dragged for me.

Girls of Canby Hall #27 The Roommate and the Cowboy and #28 Happy Birthday, Jane

In Girls of Canby Hall #27, The Roommate and the Cowboy, Jane and Andy visit Toby at her father's ranch.  Jane is immediately bored and cannot stand the heat.  Meanwhile, the girls accidentally break a lamp, so Andy decides to fix a special meal for Mr. Houston.  Everything seems to go wrong, causing one problem after another.  Meanwhile, Jane falls for Beau, a handsome cowboy.

I like that Jane actually feels guilty about falling for another boy when she has Cary back home. Dana never seemed to feel guilty, and that bothered me.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #28, Happy Birthday, Jane, Jane's parents give her a valuable heirloom pearl necklace for her birthday while Jane's friends plan a sailing trip for her birthday.  Jane decides to wear her necklace on the trip, and she loses it. How can Jane tell her parents what happened?

I knew from the synopsis that something really bad would happen and was able to guess that the pearls would fall off Jane's neck.  As I read the book, I watched for when that might happen. I correctly guessed the event and was not surprised at where the pearls were found at the end of the story.

I like these words of wisdom from the bottom of page 115.

"You remember the old saying, 'A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man but once?'  You will find as the years go by that you will suffer more from lack of courage than any other pain."

This is a pretty good book.  I enjoyed it.

Girls of Canby Hall #25 The Ghost of Canby Hall and #26 Help Wanted!

In Girls of Canby Hall #25, The Ghost of Canby Hall, the diary of Julia Canby is on display in the library.  Jane becomes fascinated with the diary, reading it every chance she gets.  Jane is shocked one day when she sees the ghost of Julia Canby.  Soon, other girls are reporting sightings. Is the ghost real or a hoax?

I find it odd that the school allows the girls to handle an antique diary without keeping a close eye on them.

Andy acquires the habit of hiding behind a large potted palm in the hallway to eavesdrop and apparently not one girl ever notices her while walking by.  Exactly how big is this potted palm? It must be huge with lots of fronds.

I was hoping this book would be spooky, but it wasn't.  The book has the same tone as the rest of the books.

I did not like this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #26, Help Wanted!, Jane, Andy, and Toby stay at Canby Hall for the summer.  They need jobs so that they can pay for their expenses, since the school will not be providing meals.  Jane finds the girls a job where they must clean and repair a large house before the owners return.  Jane is optimistic about the job, but the others fear that it is too much to handle.

Why would anyone hire three high school students to renovate and clean up a vacant house?  They even have to purchase furnishings for the house.

I enjoyed this book as a nice change of pace.

Girls of Canby Hall #23 But She's So Cute and #24 Princess Who?

In Girls of Canby Hall #23, But She's So Cute, Penny Vanderark is completely helpless.  Toby catches on that Penny is pretending to be helpless, so she doesn't trust her.  Meanwhile, Jane decides to go on a date with Cary instead of spending the evening with Andy and Toby at an event that is very important to them.

On page 27, the reader learns that "[m]ost of the girls at Canby Hall wore very little makeup."  An entire school full of teenage girls, and most of them wore little makeup?  Are you kidding me?  If so, Canby Hall is a very strange place.

I did not make a note as to exactly what I thought of this book, but I believe that I did not like it very much.  With all long series, the stories generally get weaker towards the end.

In Girls of Canby Hall #24, Princess Who?, Princess Allegra of Montavia comes to Canby Hall for a visit so that she can decide whether to return as a student next year.  Allegra falls in love with Randy, much to Toby's distress.  Allegra devises a plot so that she can briefly lose her bodyguards and spend time alone with Randy.  When Allegra disappears for real, her schemes might have backfired.

Princess Allegra might have sounded like an okay name in the 1980s, but now, Allegra is an allergy medication.

This is another weak book that I did not enjoy very much.

Most of the cover art in this series is inaccurate, not depicting scenes that actually happen.  When the cover art does depict an actual scene, the scene is depicted wrong.  The two books pictured in this post serve as good examples.

Girls of Canby Hall #22 Troublemaker and Super Edition The Almost Summer Carnival

In Girls of Canby Hall #22, Troublemaker, Toby is depressed, so Jane and Andy decide to throw her a Winter Blahs party to cheer her up.  Gigi Norton can't help causing trouble, so she decides to throw a party where everyone is to come as someone she hates.  When Gigi's party doesn't go the way she intended, she plays dirty tricks on the girls of 407, turning them against each other.

While at the pond and with Gigi and Yolanda hidden nearby, Toby complains about Andy's selfishness for no reason when Andy is not even being selfish.  This scene occurs only so that Gigi and Yolanda can use the information against the girls of 407.  I hate that sort of contrived scene that goes against the girls' personalities.

Laura Lee is a quiet girl who is the focus of the girls' attention in this book, at least when they aren't worrying about Gigi.  By the end of the story, all I could think each time I saw the name was Laura Lee Hope, the pseudonym used as the author's name for the Bobbsey Twins series.

This book does not have reminiscing in it.  I really enjoyed it.

In Girls of Canby Hall super edition, The Almost Summer Carnival, the maintenance crew has gone on strike.  Canby Hall will be closed if their work does not get done.  Jane, Andy, and Toby decide to set up task lists so that all of the girls can get the work done, which includes cooking meals, laundry, and all cleaning duties.  Of course this doesn't go well.

It's strange how the girls do their own laundry in the early books, but suddenly in this book, they have never done their own laundry.

A hailstorm breaks out most of the windows.  The windows are covered with blankets to help keep the rain out.  I have trouble understanding how a blanket would keep the rain out.  It would help for the first few minutes, but the blanket would get wet and moisture would still come in.

Jane is incredibly rude and snobbish in this book.  While Jane has always been a bit snobbish, she is written out of character in this book.  Jane is outright cruel.

This book is better than the other super edition, which I did not like, but not by much.

Girls of Canby Hall #20 Friends Times Three and #21 Party Time!

In Girls of Canby Hall #20, Friends Times Three, Jane and Toby spend their Christmas vacation in Chicago with Andy's family.  Andy's family owns a restaurant, and they are shorthanded.  Jane and Toby volunteer to help out.  Jane meets Zach, a boy who thinks she is poor.  Jane pretends to be what Zach thinks she is and finds herself in a difficult position.

On page 37, an announcement is made on Jane's flight for all passengers to "extinguish all smoking materials" as the plane approaches the airport for landing.   Times have changed.

I was quite bored by all the descriptions early in the book.  The text has too much explanation on how to be a waitress.  Jane's romance with Zach also annoyed me.  I did not like the first part of the book, but I did greatly enjoy the last one-third of the book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #21, Party Time!, Jane's family is hosting its annual Barretts' Landing party to commemorate when the Barretts arrived in America.  Jane invites Andy, Toby, and Cary to the party.  The friends do not fit in well, and their presence may cause problems at the party.

Way too much text is devoted to describing Alison, who is departing as housemother, and all three girls' personalities.  The lengthy description of information we already know is so extremely boring.  Jane's party is also boring.

On pages 95 through 98, the girls randomly discover a secret passage and explore it.  Oh, yeah!  The girls briefly turn into Nancy Drew.  I'm all on board with that.

I find it hard to believe that the Barretts' stuffy friends loosen up at the party just because of the presence of Jane's friends.  Give me a break.

I enjoyed the book a lot more once the setting returns to Canby Hall and deals with the new housemother.  That should have been the focus of the book and not some stupid boring party.

The book is mostly boring except for the new housemother plot and the totally awesome secret passage.

Girls of Canby hall #19 One Boy Too Many and Super Edition Something Old, Something New

In Girls of Canby Hall #19, One Boy Too Many, Jane's boyfriend, Neal, is coming to Canby Hall to visit.  The problem is that Jane has a new boyfriend, Cary, and neither boy knows about the other.  Andy and Toby disapprove of the way that Jane is handling the situation, but Jane does not care.

Cary doesn't have long hair or an earring on the book cover.  He is depicted as the exact opposite of what he is supposed to be.

Andy states that she has never been to Oakley Prep.  That's odd.  Jane and Andy went to a dance at Oakley Prep in the previous book.

I appreciate that Jane's roommates understand that Jane's behavior is disrespectful to both boys. Faith and Shelley seldom had a problem with Dana's fickleness.

I enjoyed this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall Super Edition, Something Old, Something New, the girls' housemother, Alison, is getting married.  For some inexplicable reason, Dana, Faith, and Shelley are the only previous Canby Hall girls invited to the wedding. Furthermore, they and the three new Room 407 girls plan a bridal shower together.  The planning goes poorly because the old 407 girls apparently hate the new 407 girls, and nobody can agree about anything.

This is a pretty bad book.  The original Room 407 girls act awful all through the book.  For instance, Faith tells the waitress to add anchovies to the new girls' pizza.  That doesn't even sound like Faith, and besides, it's a low trick to tamper with someone else's food without their knowledge. Later in the book, all six girls have a childish food fight.  Ugh.

This book is padded with lots of filler.  The original 407 girls just graduated a few books ago, but the reader gets to read pages and pages of reminiscing about everything the girls ever did at Canby Hall.  Spare me.

I did not like this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #17 Graduation Day and #18 Making Friends

In Girls of Canby Hall #17, Graduation Day, Dana, Faith, and Shelley will soon be graduating from Canby Hall.  Dana is worried about the poem that she is composing for Arch Day.  Faith is worried that her parents can't afford to send her to college while Shelley worries about Tom's new girlfriend.

Dana, Faith, and Shelley's sophomore and junior years take up the first 16 books of the series. Their entire senior year is crammed into this one book.

On page 97, we learn that Dana's sister, Maggie, is at Canby Hall.  It's odd, since Dana worried about Maggie coming to Canby Hall for an entire book.  Maggie came, but we never got to see any events connected to Dana dealing with Maggie's arrival.  Placing the entire senior year in one book is unsettling to the reader.

I enjoyed this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #18, Making Friends, three new girls arrive in Room 407.  Jane is a snobbish girl from Boston.  Andy is from Chicago, and she wants to become a ballet dancer.  Toby is from Texas, and she isn't used to being around other people.  The three girls do not get along at first, and they must work to develop their friendship.

The premise of this book is very similar to that of the first book in the series.

On page 88, Jane thinks about how strange Cary looks.  She reflects that "by far the most amazing thing about him was the single silver stud earring he had in one ear."  Really?  Actually, Jane's amazement is logical from her point of view, since Jane is from a straight-laced family.

On page 89, Jane thinks of Cary as "this dreadful person," so I knew that meant that they would end up dating.

I enjoyed this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #15 To Tell the Truth and #16 Three of a Kind

In Girls of Canby Hall #15, To Tell the Truth, the girls of Baker Hall take a truth pledge as part of a psychology research experiment.  The girls must tell the truth for 48 hours, no matter what happens.  Troublemaker Pamela is the only girl who doesn't take the oath, and she sets out to make trouble for the girls of Room 407.

Shelley is put in a difficult position when she must drive Ms. Allardyce to the hospital and promises that she will tell no one where Ms. Allardyce is. Shelley is seen returning with the car.  She gets into trouble when nobody can locate Ms. Allardyce, and she refuses to discuss what happened.

I was very interested in seeing how Shelley's problem would be resolved.  This is an excellent book

In Girls of Canby Hall #16, Three of a Kind, Dana falls in love with Mac.  Soon, Dana notices that Mac has a faulty memory and acts different at times.  Later, the girls figure out that Mac has an identical twin brother.  Dana, Faith, and Shelley get even with Mac and his brother by dressing up as identical clowns and fooling the boys at a masquerade party.

The last part of the story deals with the three girls fooling the two boys.  It is dragged out way too long, and I found it silly and boring.

On page  73 through 76, Faith leaves Lester, a three-year-old, alone outside on a tire swing.  The boy is only three, and he could have been hurt.

I enjoyed the first part of the book and did not like the last part.

Canby Hall #13 Here Come the Boys and #14 What's a Girl to Do?

In Girls of Canby Hall #13, Here Come the Boys, Canby Hall decides to admit three boys on a trial basis in order to decide whether the school should allow boys to attend.  The three boys stay in Baker House and become close personal friends to Dana, Faith, and Shelley.  The boys apparently have no interest in any other girls at Canby Hall.

The trial run with the boys appears to be successful.  The boys stay at Canby Hall for the duration of Dana, Faith, and Shelley's time at the school.  After all six graduate, the school no longer has any boys.  How very odd but typical of this series.  It's not like anything has to make sense.

I enjoyed this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #14, What's a Girl to Do?, Dana, Faith, and Shelley volunteer at the hospital as part of a class project.  Faith falls for a young resident doctor, even though he is 10 years older than she is.  Meanwhile, Shelley worries about the tryouts for the spring play while Dana worries that her younger sister, Maggie, might attend Canby Hall next year.

On page 29, Faith says that Pamela "could care less," and on the next page, Pamela herself says that she "couldn't care less."  The incorrect version "could care less" shows up in other books as well.  Apparently not even authors can get it right!  Or at least, the authors for this series couldn't get it right.

I enjoyed this book.

Canby Hall #11 With Friends Like That and #12 Who's the New Girl?

In Girls of Canby Hall #11, With Friends Like That, Canby Hall will be closed unless the students can find enough donors so that an endowment can be created.  Dana, Faith, and Shelley are dismayed to discover that millions of dollars are needed, dashing their hopes of finding the money.

Of course the girls manage to find a very wealthy hermit who gives the school the required amount of money.  Amazingly, he also shows them where he has an additional $2 million hidden in his barn. I'm sorry, but even many honest people would be tempted by that amount of money just laying in an unsecured location.  We are talking about $2 million!

This book is excellent.

In Girls of Canby Hall #12, Who's the New Girl?, French exchange student Nicole Brisbet arrives at Canby Hall.  Nicole is dressed like a little girl, so Dana, Faith, and Shelley help her pick up new clothes.  Amazingly, Nicole figures out how to dress and behave rather quickly, and she goes after another girl's boyfriend.

I had to laugh when Shelley discovers that Tom has no idea she is upset with him.

It's really frustrating to be mad at a boy—half the time he doesn't even know it.

The next paragraph spoils part of the plot, so don't read it if you don't want to know.

Nicole is at the school under false pretenses.  In fact, she is from Kansas instead of from France. Her parents filled out one application to Canby Hall, and Nicole filled out another where she falsified all information.  Nicole mailed the second application.  This doesn't make sense, since the people at Canby Hall thought that Nicole arrived from France.  What address was put on the application?  Surely not her correct Kansas address.  Did Nicole have a friend in France who helped?  This puzzles me.

I enjoyed this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #9 Boy Trouble and #10 Make Me a Star

In Girls of Canby Hall #9, Boy Trouble, Dana is too busy to go out on her date with Randy, so she suggests that Shelley go instead.  The plan backfires on Dana when Shelley and Randy fall for each other and begin dating secretly.

Dana's expression on the front cover is hilarious.

The Dana and Randy relationship makes absolutely no sense.  Dana strings Randy along, and he keeps following her like a puppy, except for in this book.  I actually like the idea of Randy cheating on Dana, since Dana is so awful to him. I know I shouldn't like the idea of Randy cheating on Dana, but I do.

This is an excellent book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #10, Make Me a Star, a film crew arrives to film a movie on the campus of Canby Hall.  Shelley is determined to get cast but fails miserably due to Pamela's manipulation. Meanwhile, Dana gets cast so that she can flirt with a cast member, which causes a rift between Dana and Shelley.

It's amazing that of all the places in the world that a movie can film on location, the crew chooses Canby Hall.  Oddly, film crews love choosing obscure locations that just happen to be the setting in series books.

Randy is conveniently missing in this book.  The poor guy is so used and abused.

I enjoyed this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #7 Four Is a Crowd and #8 The Big Crush

In Girls of Canby Hall #7, Four Is a Crowd, Pamela Young is new to Canby Hall.  Pamela's mother is a famous film star, and Shelley is captivated by Pamela.  Dana and Faith dislike Pamela, and the conflict threatens to destroy their friendship with Shelley.  Even worse, Pamela is a devious person, and she plays tricks on the three girls to pit them against each other.

On pages 28 and 29, Pamela mistakenly thinks Faith is a servant because she is black.  While this series just barely scratches the surface with respect to racism, it is nice that the series does incorporate some issues into the plots.

On page 78, a Snickers wrapper was crumbled up and thrown into the trash like a basketball.  That doesn't work with modern plastic wrappers.  Old wrappers were made from paper.

This book uses the phrase "could care less."  No, it's "couldn't care less"!

On page 45, the girls have to wait in line to use the pay phones.  I thought about how modern teens would see these books as quaint older books just like how I viewed the older series books from the 1950s.

I enjoyed this book.

In Girls of Canby Hall, #8, The Big Crush, Dana develops a huge crush on the new school guidance counselor, Michael.  Dana thinks Michael is just as attracted to her, and she fantasizes about their future relationship.  Dana is due for a hard fall when she learns that Michael is dating Alison, her housemother.

Both the front and back cover state that all three girls have a crush on Michael.  They do not! Dana is the only one.  I guess it sounds cuter to have all three girls in love with the same person, but it also sounds incredibly stupid.

Dana annoyed me in this book.  I find that she is rather fickle and is prone to falling in love too easily.  She doesn't think of her current boyfriend, Randy, as she crushes on Michael.  She isn't very fair to Randy, and I don't understand why she stays involved with Randy.

I also enjoyed this book.

Girls of Canby Hall #5 Summer Blues and #6 Best Friends Forever

In Girls of Canby Hall #5, Summer Blues, Dana, Faith, and Shelley sign up for the summer intensives, where each girl studies a specific subject for one month.  Dana's summer may be ruined after she breaks up with Bret.  Things look up after Dana meets a country boy, Randy.

Shelley's hometown boyfriend, Paul, arrives unexpectedly for a visit.  Paul and Shelley's new boyfriend meet each other, and Shelley may lose both of them.

I read this one quickly and really enjoyed it.

In Girls of Canby Hall #6, Best Friends Forever, Dana and Faith visit Shelley and her family in Iowa.  The girls later regret their decision, fearing that they will be bored in a small town in Iowa.


The visit goes better than the girls expected, until Faith becomes deathly ill with a high fever.  Can the doctors save her?

Faith purchases a small dried stuffed alligator that was imported from the Everglades.  Yikes.  I don't know anything about the current laws concerning alligators, stuffing them, and offering them for sale, but this doesn't sound like something that would be legal nowadays.

On page 101, the young people see a tornado half a mile away.  Dana asks, "Are we in any real danger?"  Nah, tornadoes never hurt people.  Of course they're in danger!

I enjoyed this book but not as much as other titles in the set.

Girls of Canby Hall #3 You're No Friend of Mine and #4 Keeping Secrets

In Girls of Canby Hall #3, You're No Friend of Mine, Dana has a big decision to make.  Her father wants her to come live with him in Hawaii for a year.  If Dana agrees, she will have to leave Canby Hall.

Meanwhile, Shelley is torn between Tom and her old boyfriend, Paul.  She doesn't know what to do, and Dana isn't interested in hearing about Shelley's problems.  She thinks Shelley's problems are silly.  Dana and Shelley are at war, and Faith must find a way to bring them back together.

I enjoyed this book

In Girls of Canby Hall #4, Keeping Secrets, important possessions begin disappearing in Baker House.  Soon, the girls are convinced that Mary Beth is the culprit.

Mary Beth acts unfriendly and refuses to become friends with anybody.  She isolates herself, and nobody likes her.  Faith alone tries to be friends with Mary Beth, but she is rebuffed.

This book introduces two new characters, Mary Beth and Millie.  Why introduce two characters whose names begin with the same letter?  After all, there are 25 other letters in the alphabet.  At times, I slightly confused the two characters.  Why do authors do that?!

While reading this book, I was interested to learn the identity of the thief.  I suspected a certain student of being the culprit rather than Mary Beth.

Too much of the text is devoted to trivial events, and much of the story drags.  The book is overall good, but it could have been written in a more interesting fashion.

Girls of Canby Hall #1 Roommates and #2 Our Roommate Is Missing

In Girls of Canby Hall #1, Roommates, Dana, Faith, and Shelley begin their sophomore year at Canby Hall as roommates in Baker House, Room 407.  Dana is a New York City girl; Faith is levelheaded; and Shelley is a country girl who has never been to a big city.  At first, the girls get off to a bad start when Shelley is uncomfortable being around Faith, who is black.  Shelly is also terribly homesick.  By the end of the story, the conflict is resolved, and the three girls are good friends.

Shelley is not likable in this book, since she feels sorry for herself for most of the story.  I did end up liking her after reading additional titles.

In Girls of Canby Hall #2, Our Roommate Is Missing, Shelley disappears!  Shelley was snatched by mistake instead of Casey.  The kidnappers plan to use the abduction to keep Casey's father from testifying in a criminal case. Dana and Faith try to figure out where Shelley is so that they can rescue her.

This book is atypical of the Girls of Canby Hall series in that it reads like a series mystery book and follows the same logic as a series book.  For instance, the young people don't tell the FBI agents what they know and instead solve the mystery themselves.  The reasoning is that the adults wouldn't have believed them.  Right.

This is a very good story.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.