Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Cousins Jax and Avery barely know each other, let alone anything about their extended family--or the incident that led to the brood's estrangement years prior to this book's start. The tweens are also unaware that the family owns an island until their aunt Robbie issues an invitation for everyone to come together at the generations-old cabin on Crooked Lake. Upon arrival, Aunt Robbie reveals that she summoned the family to help her restore the dilapidated property, which she intends to sell. Trapped on Crooked Lake with the squabbling adults--including their own parents and two other aunts--the cousins seek to uncover the secret that tore the four siblings apart. Throughout, Jax and Avery contend with self-image issues stemming from their own fraught nuclear family dynamics. While the pair's inquiry is initially propelled by the possibility of unearthing intriguing generational secrets, they soon learn to love and understand more about their family and themselves. Soderberg Downing (Duck, Duck, Peach) utilizes alternating first-person perspectives to craft a relatable and realistic drama. Descriptions of the adults' childhoods play out across anonymous diary interstitials. The family reads as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret. (Sept.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3--7--Aunt Robbie calls her estranged siblings and their families back to Crooked Lake for a "last-chance summer" with grim news: she wants to prepare the island with its ramshackle cabins for quick sale before she succumbs to recently diagnosed ALS. Cousins Avery and Jax may be near-strangers, but both recognize this rare reunion could be their only chance to understand why their extended family shattered. Coventry gloriously captures every beam of Avery's "full-strength laser lemon and shocking pink" energy, even when she longs to be "quiet, tan, and soft cornflower blue" so she could "just blend." Cross also poig-nantly embodies observant, thoughtful Jax, silenced by his father's disappointed surveillance. Between their "she said/he said" dynamic are the scattered diary pages the cousins discover, tenaciously voiced by Morris, revealing the fateful "Then" that broke the family--until now. VERDICT A virtuoso trio who connects then and now with gratifyingly healing results.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
At their family's summer island home, two cousins unearth a mystery. When Aunt Robbie asks her estranged siblings to return to their estate, the site of childhood vacations, 12-year-old cousins Avery and Jax face intriguing questions. What happened to the aunt whose long-ago death is a forbidden topic? What will become of the island, which Grandma, who passed away two years earlier, bequeathed to Aunt Robbie? Who wrote the mysterious note describing all the siblings--perhaps a page from a diary?--that Avery found in her mom's stuff at home? Sleuthing for clues while the adults sort through the accumulated family belongings, Avery and Jax discover more pages of the journal hidden all over the island, with clues to their aunt's tragic death. A surprise discovery just before leaving the island forces the cousins to decide whether confronting the harsh truth will bring healing or more pain to the family, especially in light of Aunt Robbie's disclosure that she's dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Told in first-person chapters that alternate between Avery and Jax and interspersed with entries (entitled "Then") from the journal, this cross between a mystery, family drama, and coming-of-age story is believable, insightful, and well paced, with genuine dialogue. Avery's and Jax's growing appreciation of each other's self-described "faults" is an affirming central theme, alongside self-acceptance and forgiveness. Characters present white. A compelling summer mystery, with emotional depth and life lessons to boot. (crafts instructions)(Mystery. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
