I saw this book on my library shelf, and was totally caught by the title. Is it not the strangest title in history?! I loved this book though, it had a little bit of everything, and the story was incredible sarcastic. It's basically about a teenage girl describing highschool and the lies they tell you about it! Its a great book!!! EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS... come on, get off the computer and go get it NOW!

An EXCELLENT book! I give it 5 stars! A++++++! =-) I was skimming the book shelf of my teachers class looking for a book to read for my next test and I came accross this book. It looked like a good book and it was. I loved it so much that I kept the book and reread it 5 times!
~Fran

I wish I had the foresight to buy more of Ellen Conford's books from the late 70s, early 80s. I reread this book probably once a year, because it still is very funny and speaks to all the fears and dreams a teenage girl has. I always loved Ellen Conford, because she wrote about normal kids who did their homework, didn't do drugs and had both good and bad teachers in their classes. Julie is a great heroine because she's pretty normal, and therefore you can relate to her, her crushes, her family, her friends and her insecurities. As always, the moral is that you, as a teenaged female, are just great the way you are. Another plus for Ms. Conford.

Many great heartwarming stories packed into one terrific book! These stories make you want to send a "birthday surprise" of your own to someone very special! This book will surely be on your shelf for many years. Don't miss the short stories from your favorite authors in Birthday Surprises.

I fell in love with this book when it was named to the Texas Bluebonnet Awards List in 1996-97. Since then my students have LOVED reading the stories...each of them unique...each with a special message! What a treasure! It is the perfect motivator for inspiring students to write!

This book contains 10 heartwarming stories. I think that every story has its own perspective of what life is all about. Some of them make you laugh, and some make you cry. The author of this this book should pat herself on the back. This is a book that you don't want to miss.

These are great stories for early chapter book readers. (There's another earlier title in the series). Annabel reminds me a lot of the Junie B. Jones books, only she's not so smart-alecky. I admire her becasue she wants to be an actress, not a movie star, and she's willing to do the work to achieve her goal. She's a girl with a lot of fortitude and ingenuity. Great role model. Lots of humor.

I'd highly recommend this for second grade readers.

Bradley knows his father is special. For one thing, he's impressively tall. But all through this diary, Bradley never realizes that anyone might think the hair and fangs a bit--well--unusual.

A good read, a short read, and a really neat boy hero, who only wants to grow up just like ("Eat your fungus, Bradley.") Dad. Sweet and funny.

This is probably the most important book I read in my childhood. It is a bit disappointing that Ellen Conford's book isn't as widely read today as Judy Blume's works are. Dreams of Victory revolves around sixth grader, Victory Benneker, who seems to keep coming up short in class elections and school play auditions. She's self-conscious about her short brown hair while her arch-nemesis, Sharon Webb has the longest, blondest hair in the school. Victory survives each challenge through her imagination. Instead of being too scared to ride a ferris wheel, she dreams of being an astronaut. After being embarrassed by her poor dancing skills, she fantasizes about performing a show-stopping dance number in the Miss Galaxy Beauty Contest. I believe this book speaks to all kids, although especially girls on the cusp of adolescence, who needs a good laugh and, perhaps, a confidence booster. I would reccommend it to everyone, although I would absolutely insist that anyone who wants to be a writer or would like to instill the writing bug in their children read this wonderful book.

This is a wonderful book that teaches children not to be afraid of the dark. My little boy ask for it every night and said "Be Brave Eugene" Through out the reading. I Recommend it to any parent.

I read this book when I was younger and loved it. It is about a girl who's not thrilled about her parents sending her to camp for the entire summer. She makes friends and gets a boyfriends,but also has to deal with the bunk bully. This is a quick and enjoyable read.

This is about a girl who's name is Jenny Archer and her best friend Wilson. Her mother's birthday is coming up, so Jenny wants to get her mother a fur coat. So she tries to get enough money.

I read this book years ago and enjoyed it. It is about a girl who moves to a new town and into a house where somebody was murdered and has a hard time making friends. She feels lonely and becomes friends with the nerdy girl, even though she does not want to. Eventually she the other kids over by having a seance. Great Read.

When I read this book,I thought it was boring. But then when I got in the middle of the book it was great. I had experienced so much things in this book about being a friend. Having a true friend! This book was a great deal for me. Wallis, was girl who had meant stuffy the boy who was in the neighborhood. Stuffy was clever boy about making all those things he wanted to do. I enjoyed the book very much!

I a have a dream that all men are created equal because truth is beauty and beauty is truth and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood, and peace is more precious that diamonds silve or gold, thats why I have a dream.
The paragraph above, is a small portion of Martin Luther King Jr's speech named I have a dream. It was a terrible day when Martin was shot (by James Earl Ray). Martin wanted everybody to be created equal and tried to hard to accomplish his goal. Today his hardwork has paid off. Just look around, all people, black, white, everybody, are treating each other equally and that, was/is dream.
Martin was very succesful in school, he was smart, handsom, and athletic, he always put his studies first. When he got out of college he followed his fathers steps as a pastor and started the civil rights movement. One day while signing a book he wrote, he was stabbed but after awhile. After a few years he was awarded the Noble Peace Prize. His wife Coreta was always supporting him and the day Martin gave his speech was the day heshowed the world the dream he had!

Dear Lovey Hart, I am Desperate is basically about a high school newspaper decided to start an advice column. The person who will be dispensing advice would write under the name Lovey Hart. Guess who got chosen? Our intrepid heroine of the story. Sure it is fun to give out advice to others, but it seems that it is even more fun to hang around with Chip, the blond hunky editor of the school paper.

Our heroine started out pretty well....even getting a thank you letter from one person who followed her advice and changed her life. But as time went on, Lovey Hart went from savior to scapegoat, as people who followed her advice blindly and ended up worse than where they started. Well, it got to the point where our heroine can't even tell anybody she's Lovey Hart or she would be laughed out of town.

Well the ending is quite interesting. Also a very funny book.

This book is funny and realistic. It's about a girl, Carrie who works for the newspaper. A cute older guy, Chip, asks her to do a secret column, "Dear Lovey Hart", where she answers questions that the readers write in. It starts out fun, she gets tons of letters, helps epople out with serious issues, and gets closer to Chip. Only Carrie's best friend, Claudia also has thing for Chip. Carrie's other best friend, Terry has a thing for a teacher, which leaves her in depression after embarassment and rejection. Marty, Carrie's older guy friend, who's Chip's age, has a crush on Carrie. He wrties to Lovey Hart, asking for information, but when Carrie gives him info, everything goes wrong. Jen, Carrie's little sister soon finds out that Carrie is Lovey Hart. The book countineus and is really exciting and interesting. I strongly reccomend it!

Such a wonderful book and so funny regarding how a fairly unsuspecting high school sophomore finds herself in the middle of quite the mess, just trying to do the right thing. Very engaging, wonderfully written. It's too bad that it's out of print. The sequel is great as well.