Ready to Go Steady
Started: February 16, 2026
Finished: February 17, 2026
Series: Happy Days
A super-quick read. This didn’t quite feel like an episode of the show – but there were definitely moments where I thought “the studio audience would be laughing at this.” This is a first novelization of Happy Days that I read (and discovered existed thanks again to a BlueSky post from the “I Read Movies” podcast.)
This book was published back in 1974, when the show was still finding it’s footing. Joanie was mentioned, but not seen or heard from. Chuck was still in the family, but had just as much to do in this book as he did with an episode of the show back then.
However, Chuck STILL had more to do with this story than Fonzie. Yes Fonzie, who is on the cover of this book, conveniently went hitchhiking over the summer and was not a part of this story at all.
What makes it worse is, while the cover that I see mostly on this book says it’s “Book 1” – the cover I had in the copy I found on the Internet Archive says it is “Book 5” and instead of “Happy Days” being the big headline, it was relabeled as “The Fonz” – and again he is not a part of this story at all!
Ralph and Potsie were more supporting characters – but had some fun moments. There were a bunch of other kids that they Richie palled around with that I don’t believe were ever a part of the show.
The main story is – a new girl moved into the neighborhood and Richie and her start spending time together. At the same time Richie has a summer job and meets an older guy who talks about how great married life is. It seems to really resonate with Richie and before you know it, he and this new girl Emma are planning a wedding.
Some hilarity does ensue, and most of that is thanks to Howard Cunningham.
He was the star of this book to me. Marion had some nice moments too. Richie was the overall focus on the book – but Howard shined. I could picture Tom Bosley’s deadpan responses to Richie and Marion. That was my favorite part of this book.
I’ve found five other Happy Days books and I intend to read them all this year. Hopefully at least one of them will give me some moments between Richie Cunningham and Arthur Fonzarelli (and I don’t count anything I read in this “what if” book…).