(I loved Ducky and was really disappointed in this book. Ducky and Amalia were my favourite - I loved the drawings in Amalia's books - and Maggie the one I related to most. I had very little patience for Dawn and Sunny, in the beginning, but Sunny really grew on my by the end of the series. Her second book was, I think, my favourite of the series.)journal-diary1 Jaclyn2,186 5

Glad Ducky gets a bit of a breather in this one. Now that Alex is at a facility getting the professional help he needs, Ducky's big dilemma is how to deal with Sunny suddenly being attracted to him when he only wants her as a friend.

Ok it's totally possible for Ducky to be hetero and STILL not into Sunny, but I swear, this book says practically EVERYTHING else short of Ducky actually coming out. It was a bit frustrating, TBH, and part of me just wanted someone to say it out loud and in a totally non-judgmental way. But I get it was much harder to do that in the 90s, and I figure Scholastic had some guidelines the series had to abide by.

This is also the final book in the series so it was kinda nice to see the other characters' storylines be resolved. (Maggie finally forces her dad to do an intervention for her mom's alcoholism, and the mom checks into Betty Ford. Amalia who'd seemed to want distance from her boyfriend Brandon seems to be more open to getting closer, and Brandon seems better at giving her space. Sunny seems to at least be healing somewhat from her grief over her mom's death. And Dawn never really had any big problems in the first place, so she's fine.)) SamanthaAuthor 33 books30

So this is the end of the California Diaries, and I admit it's a bummer. I never finished them as a kid, and I feel a little salty that they just stopped here. However, I guess for an abrupt sort of ending it was pretty good.

Sunny kisses Ducky in this one, and Ducky freaks out. He loves Sunny, but not that. It drops a lot of hints toward his being gay, a fact which we never find out for sure if it's true. Gonna be mad about that until my last days. Anyway!

It ends with the friends + Brendan all together at Ducky's for an end of summer party. It was pretty fitting, and I think it wrapped things up as best as they could be wrapped considering. I wish they had continued with these, they had a great target audience of young girls (and some boys too!) who grew up with the BSC and were reading these and seeing their own feelings and situations on the page. It was nice.

Alas, I am now 32 and I'm still mad about it.childhood-throwback favorites Leigh974

I wish this series could go on throughout high school for these kids. But sadly this is the end. It didn't quite sound the same Ducky from previous books but was still good. Sunny kisses Ducky and leaves him conflicted. The book and entire series sort of dances around it without saying it. Bit their friendship is strong enough to last. Maggie's mom has a meltdown forcing her kids to flee to Ducky's house in the middle of the night and Maggie to fight with her dad to get him to cone home. The book ends with all the friends toasting their futures at a party. But still I want to know more about how Sunny and her dad carry on without Mrs. Winslow, I want to know how Maggie's mom does in rehab, hiw Amalia and Brendan do, if Ducky comes out officially. Dawn I don't care but this is the end so I guess that's all.2022 fictional-series friendship ...more Carley Adair273 3

Not as good as the babysitters club but still fantastic.

I Ducky .Sunny is too young for him and I’m glad he realised that.They are good friends and that’s ok.Poor Maggie had a hard time in this book.Zeke is such a cute kid.A good series . Kate258 17

Man, what a cop out. Let Ducky be gay, you cowards!children middle-grade young-adult Amanda Del Brocco825 37

This was a disappointing end to the series and didn’t really seem to fit with the rest. Meg GlitteryOtters666

3.5 stars Kiana1,023 48

Concluding a series is always difficult—especially in the case of California Diaries, which had five central characters with boatloads of issues—but Ducky, Diary Three still doesn’t feel a closer that does these books justice. Something about this installment felt off in a way that none of the other diaries did—I blame the ghostwriter, who had never worked on another California Diaries book. Ducky’s voice reads a shoddy impersonation of the Ducky from his previous two diaries, which made it pretty impossible to get invested in the book—I kept thinking, Ducky would never say that or That’s a random tangent that adds nothing. It just feels out of place compared to the naturalness of the rest of the series, especially in the ways that it tries to tie up every other character’s story through Ducky’s experiences (such as Ducky’s involvement with Maggie’s family fiasco or advice to Amalia and Brendan about their relationship). The way Diary Three absolutely glosses over all mention of Alex is particularly galling, considering how much the events of Ducky, Diary Two visibly messed up Ducky in subsequent books—you’d think he would factor a little more into his daily thoughts, even if he wasn’t around all the time.

However, I do agree with other reviewers that this book strongly implies that Ducky is gay, or at least not strictly heterosexual. You could easily overlook this—and I was certainly unaware of it until this reading—but I feel the hints are too consistent to just be coincidence. I admire the book for it—it’s probably one of Ducky, Diary Three’s best qualities—as well as its portrayal of a guy and girl who really are just friends, even after one misguided kiss. Sunny and Ducky’s relationship was too special and carefully depicted for it to be quashed into a “best friends who fall in love” stereotype—the same way that Jo March and Laurie were never meant to be together (but I digress).

This was far from the best way to finish off the series, mostly for the jarringly different voice and clumsy patching together of past plot-lines, but it’s still thoroughly readable and good entertainment (it probably would have looked better had the superb Sunny, Diary Three and brave Amalia, Diary Three not so closely preceded it). Still, even though Dawn had her weak entries, I’d probably call it the worst installment.

2.75 stars. childhood contemporary mental-health ...more Amanda671 43

This is the last book in the California Diaries series. I have read 1-15. Out of all of the characters I Ducky best. I really wish there was more book because there are still things I wonder about will Alex ever get better with Ducky and Jay be friends again, What happens to Maggie's mother after she gets out of rehab?

All of these questions I know don't have answers and they never will. I suggest you read these book because they are really good, and a fast read about 3 a night. But be prepared for some unanswered questions.4-star-books young-adult Nikki Boisture620 26

Another read for the blog book. I wanted to it more because of how much I love Ducky. But, this was the only Ducky book not written by ghostwriter Peter Lerangis, and you can totally tell. Nola Thacker couldn't quite get his voice down right. Also, the fact that the word gay is never used in the book is really, painfully obvious. read-for-the-blog ya-books BunTheDestroyer469 6

I’ve been reading these forever even though i’ve never read BSC. I hate reading a series based on which ones my library had (#13, #29, #40) so i didn’t start. But i didn’t know that some of them were ghostwritten by someone other than Martin - i just found this out from Logan’s review YESTERDAY (thanks logan!!) - and it definitely explains why this one has always sucked so much more.

Sad day. Laura881 16

For some reason the font didn't drive me nearly as crazy this time as diary #2. I enjoyed the book about as much as the others in the series, but am kind of glad to end it here. If I want Ann M Martin I think I'll stick with the BSC. Anna436 37

39. 5/11/09: California Diaries #whatever, the last Ducky book: I d it, and Ducky is clearly gay. Too bad this is the last book of the series and that never got followed up on. Brittany1,195 27

I really enjoyed this whole series of books. (I'm a sucker for books written as diaries). Alex5,635 1 follower

Ducky and Sunny? Ew. But it was the last book of the series, and it ended well. books-i-loved-when-i-was-younger Ashley45

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