This is another excellent Young Adult book that I listened to on CD while making dinners and washing dishes. The book takes place over the summer and into the fall of Fern’s (the main character) twelfth year. She has all the usual problems of a young adolescent, feeling over-looked in her family – being the third of four children. She is less loud and less needy than her siblings, particularly her three-year-old brother, Charlie.
While her dad is busy running and planning on how to make Harry’s, the ice cream restaurant he owns more profitable, her mother retreats to the office to meditate. Fern’s older sister Sarah makes out with the busboy and her brother Holden runs off to be with his boyfriend Grey. All this leaves Fern to watch and take care of Charlie.
At first I thought this book would be about Fern’s problem of being overlooked and ignored, but then we find out that her brother Holden is gay. Okay, I thought, then this is it. But no, and just when I wanted to shake their parents and scream “Pay Attention!” the worst thing possible happens. I won’t tell you what that is, just that Fern’s friends and her brother and sister come together to help her in the best family way possible.
A good read, sad, but just like life. This book was well written and rang true with Fern’s perspective on life sounding just like a twelve-year-old girl. I highly recommend reading it.
Dewette Decimal Reads 