Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine - ADVISABLE

St. Antoine, Sara Three Bird Summer, 246 p, Candlewick Press, c2014. $16.99 Language: G; Mature content: G; Violence: G;

  Adam and his recently divorced mother, spend the summers at his grandmother’s cabin in the woods. This summer is a defining visit to see if “grandma” is healthy enough to continue living year round isolated on Three Bird Lake. A “new” family has bought the property next to grandma’s and they have a girl Adam’s age, Alice. Together Adam and Alice explore nature native to the lake and solve a treasure map that has eluded grandma since her first love over 50 years before.

This was a realistic fiction that soothes the soul. I encountered no messy family issues, no drugs, no sex, no violence, just comfortable reading. St. Antoine developed characters true to life, a daughter worried about her aging mother, a tween boy coming of age, a feisty grandma who is committed to her independence. Nature is painted in detail from the brightness of the stars to a pair of mink silently moving in the dusk. 

EL, MS – ADVISABLE.  Sandra Doehler, MLIS, Oquirrh Hills Middle School, Riverton, UT