by Stephanie Greene
ages: 10-14
First sentence: “They were two little girls, six and eight.”

I picked this one up at the library because the cover caught my eye. It’s a very cute cover, isn’t it?

But. (You were expecting that, weren’t you?)

I’m halfway through, and I just can’t get into it. I can’t figure out when this is supposed to be taking place — it’s about family on an island, told from the point of view of the third child, 12 year old Cecile — is it contemporary? The 60s? The 40s? And for some reason this fact really bugged me. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters: Cecile is struggling with the loss of a relationship with her older sister, Natalie, and with the impending doom of puberty and is alternately cute and really annoying. Natalie is, however, a royal wench. I loathed her. And their mother. I know women can really be like her, but I really wanted to throttle her. And halfway through, the plot consisted of Cecile whining and trying to enjoy the vacation on the island, and everyone else being different than before. Not much to keep my attention, especially when Percy Jackson is beckoning.

And then there’s all this sub-plot stuff that I kept reading into it: why was the oldest boy, Harry, banished to Canada? Are the mom and the next door neighbor on the island, King, having an affair? Really, do I care that much?

For the record: when I announced at breakfast that I was abandoning this one, M looked a me, kind of sheepishly, and said, “Well, I thought it was good.” So, there. Someone in the age group it’s targeted for liked the book.

That’s probably a better recommendation than I could give, anyway.