A Breath of Fresh Air

by Betty Cavanna

Teenage Brooke and her brother have a hard time dealing with their parents' estrangement.

Genres: Young Adult

223 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1966

About the author

American juvenile author (full name: Elizabeth Allen) Betty Cavanna suffered from a crippling disease, infantile paralysis, as a child, which she eventually overcame with treatment and exercise. During her convalescence, attentive adults read to her until she was old enough to read to herself, beginning a long love affair with books.

Cavanna majored in journalism at the New Jersey College for Women in New Brunswick, from where she received the Bachelor of Letters degree in 1929. She also took art classes in New York and Philadelphia. Cavanna's first job was as a reporter for the Bayonne Times. In 1931 she joined the staff of the Westminster Press in Philadelphia and over the next ten years served as advertising manager and art director. She also wrote and sold material to Methodist and Baptist publishing firms. In 1940 she married Edward Talman Headley, with whom she had a son. They moved to Philadelphia. After her husband's death, she married George Russell Harrison, a university dean of science, as well as nonfiction writer, in 1957. He died in 1979.

Cavanna became a full-time writer in 1941. Since then she has written more than seventy books under the name of Betty Cavanna as well as two pseudonyms: Betsy Allen, under which she wrote the "Connie Blair Mystery" series, and Elizabeth Headley, under which she wrote several books, including the Diane stories. As Betty Cavanna she also published the nonfiction "Around the World Today" about young people living in various countries.

Cavanna's juvenile fiction, about the difficulties of adolescenc, appealed to generations of teenage girls. Her characters confronted loneliness, sibling rivalries, divorce, and tense mother-daughter relationships. Her books, although characterized as pleasant, conventional, and stereotyped, have been extremely popular and recommended by critics for their attention to subjects which have reflected girls' interests. Going on Sixteen and Secret Passage were Spring Book Festival honor books in 1946 and 1947.

In the 1970s Cavanna turned to writing mysteries, which she termed "escape fiction," because she said she felt out of sync with the problems of modern teenagers. Two of her books have been runners-up for the Edgar Allan Poe Award: Spice Island Mystery in 1970 and the Ghost of Ballyhooly in 1972.

She died in France (2001).

Reviews

[CLM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big Cavanna fan but this one is too preachy and the heroine is annoyingly sorry for herself. Nor does she take any responsibility for her depressed younger brother. In general, Cavanna's siblings may squabble but they are protective of each other. However, I like the Concord setting and glimpses of local landmarks. A description of a Harvard party where everyone ends up at someone's parents' home dancing was a bit jarring, and seemed unlikely even in the 60s. Would a lot of Harvard students have been interested in high school girls?

[Kathy G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was written in 1966, so you could feel the time it was written in. Brooke's parents are getting a divorce, she is going off to college, and thinking about what she wants for her future. I remember how it felt to have your future looming and wondering what you will do and where you will end up. Also, mixed in with the story, Brooke was writing a paper on Louisa May Alcott. I liked the way the author intermingled facts about Louisa with the feelings that Brooke was having. The things we read and learn do affect us and we do identify. This was a very pleasant read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is just kind of depressing. I love her elegant, descriptive, realistic writing style, but the subject matter was not handled in a way I found to be positive or helpful.