Two Summers by Aimee Friedman - ADVISABLE

Friedman, Aimee Two Summers, 368 pages.  Point (Scholastic), 2016.  $18.  

Language: PG (13 swears, 0 ‘f’).

Summer’s parents have been divorced since she was a little girl.  This summer her father has invited her to France to visit for the summer, even though Summer’s mother doesn’t want her to go.  As Summer is about to step aboard the plane, her phone starts ringing.  Ignoring it, she boards and finds out that her father isn’t at home, but there is a woman and a girl supposedly visiting for the summer.  OR --- Summer answered the phone and finds out that her father doesn’t want her to come and stays home for the summer, causing problems with her best friend, who had very different summer plans without Summer.  In both “dimensions” Summer finds out that her mother and father having been hiding a very big secret from her. 

While Friedman did a skillful job of showing the different details of each plotline and managed to integrate them at the end, I almost wish she had used her talents on two different books, as each plotline could have been a novel in its own right.  Summer’s situation on both continents is painful, but Summer grows into her challenges, which is very refreshing.

MS, HS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher