Mama checks into a mental hospital after one of her occasional spells turns into something deeper. It’s two years after the accident that killed her son and changed the family forever. His sister, 13-year-old tomboy Buddy, cannot understand why her family will not discuss the situation or their feelings, but does recognize the embarrassment they may face if their 1960s small town finds out. Buddy’s exciting summer before her first year of high school turns into dealing with her mother’s “selfishness” and inability to heal immediately, her father’s lack of emotion, and her boy-crazy friend Ginger’s attempt to make her over with makeup and padded bras. Borrowing from her grandmother’s patience; her free-spirited, caring, young aunt who becomes a live-in big sister; and another friend, Verna, whose poverty, polio-stricken mother, and unconventional father draw ridicule throughout town, Buddy learns that everyone has their idiosyncrasies. Her father is sensitive and dedicated to the family; community is about helping, not rejecting, members in need; and a crush may lead to potential romance. Most of all, Buddy succeeds in coming to terms with her true feelings about her “perfect” big brother, letting her mother—and herself—take on life one day at a time, and realizing that mourning is not forgetting, but keeping memories alive. While first-time author Fritz marks the time period with references to lunch-counter sit-ins, soda fountains, and Elvis Presley, she also shows that the need for friends and family remains timeless. Although the ending, a little too neat and tidy, also arrives too quickly, readers will be drawn to Buddy’s frankness and compassion and how one family copes with problems that continue today. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7868-0790-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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