The testing of Janice Day

"The Testing of Janice Day" by Helen Beecher Long is a story set in the early 1900s about a girl named Janice Day in the small town of Polktown. She's excited for a surprise from her father who works in Mexico, and she guesses with her cousin Marty about what it could possibly be. When Janice finds out the surprise is a brand-new car sent to her from her father, it causes a ripple of excitement throughout the town. As Janice starts driving, she makes new friends, like Frank Bowman, a civil engineer. The story goes through themes of family, friendships, and learning as someone grows up, all while the world changes around them.