A REALLY WEIRD SUMMER

by Eloise Jarvis McGraw ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 1977

A conventional but well-made psychological fantasy (light on the psychology), which strikes no vibrant chords but tells a satisfactory story. Twelve-year-old Nels, a ""wool-gatherer"" in his mother's words, is the oldest of four children sent to spend the summer with Mother's aged aunt and uncle in a former inn. The parents are breaking up and all the children are feeling insecure; Stevie, the next oldest, clings to Nels but is met only with irritable withdrawal. Then Nels begins to disappear for whole mornings and later days; he has discovered, behind a pivoting bookcase in an unused bedroom, a whole tower apartment inhabited by Alan, a teasing but eager boy his age, and Alan's nice, smiling parents. Nels has never got along better with another boy (""We're on the same wavelength, thought Nels comfortably, and felt he had put his finger on it""), and together they play board games, experiment with ciphers, and build a spaceship mock-up. But at last, guilt about Stevie moves Nels to resent the other boy's callous mischief, and a struggle with Alan who wants him to ""stay forever"" ends in a suitable climax with Nels trapped all day behind the bookcase, which seems in the end to be the only ""real"" element in the whole adventure. Nels' repetitious agonizing over neglecting Stevie and his sober awe toward the secret tower are unnecessarily heavy--like the whole apparition, less substantial than appearances would suggest. However, Alan is a distinctly projected figment as such inventions go, and daily life in and around the inn has a drab, aptly detailed reality that contrasts effectively.

Pub Date: April 15, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION