June has been content living with her mother on the shores of Lake Champlain, spending her time baking and selling sweets at the Stillwater Marina, and swimming with her friend Luke. This summer she is dreaming of what pie she is going to enter in the Champlain Valley Fair. It seems pretty ideal, yes?
It is pretty ideal except for Eva. Eva has just moved in with June and her mom. It's not like June didn't know that her mom was gay, but having Eva living with them is making June uncomfortable. After all, June and MJ have always had a rhythm, and Eva just doesn't fit. Now that Vermont's civil union law has passed, Eva and MJ are even talking about getting married!
But not everyone in their town is happy with the idea of civil unions. In fact, someone even had the nerve to put a "Take Back Vermont" sign on their front lawn. June isn't even sure what that means, but she doesn't stick around to find out. After Eva tears up the sign, June takes off with Luke to see the secret blueberry bushes that he found up by the jumping cliff. June can't wait to come back the next week to pick some for her pies. Before she and Luke leave, however, June's friend Tina's brother Sam and some of his friends show up. Sam calls June a "lezzie" for being too scared to jump off the cliff, and June starts to wonder if Sam put up the sign on her lawn. And does Tina feel the same way her brother does?
Soon the "Take Back Vermont" campaign starts to take off in town. Folks stop coming into the marina, and June starts to worry about her mom. But there are others who are willing to stick up for June, Eva and MJ, and June starts to realize that she needs to stick up for her family as well.
Overall this is a coming of age story that easily could have turned into a didactic piece about marriage equity. Gennari has managed to balance the discussion with June's struggles with friendships, her blossoming crush on Luke as well as the everyday growing pains that families go through. I am always on the look out for LGBT books to put in our collection, and honestly ones that fit the tween audience are hard to come by.
My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer fits nicely into not only the LGBT collection, but into tween summer reads as well.
Stella is spending the summer living with her Great Aunt Louise on the Cape. She is going to help Louise tend to the summer cottages adjacent to her little house. Louise isn't a big one on emotion, and Stella is surprised when after talking to Louise about her mother and blueberries, Louise wraps her in a hug. This pleases Stella, because she loves the idea of ties between people. Since her own mother isn't exactly dependable, Stella likes the even nature of Louise and her clean house and tidy garden. She even is trying to find a way to get along with foster kid Angel, who Louise took in thinking could keep Stella company. The two girls couldn't be more different, and Stella can't imagine why Louise thought having two girls was a good idea.
The thing is, Louise is older and she's not well. Angel and Stella make a gruesome discovery when they come home from school one day, and they have some heavy choices to make. Can they make a go of the summer on their own? Should Angel run? What will happen if folks find out they are living without any adult supervision? And what are they going to tell George - the local who is supposed to help Louise take care of the rentals? Most importantly, what are they going to do with Louise?
The girls decide to make a go of it, and have to figure out a way to get along. Their differences turn out to be a good thing as Stella could use some fire and Angel could use some forethought. Readers see the girls deal with bills, finding food, lying about Louise's whereabouts, and dealing with their own guilt. All of this is wrapped up in Sara Pennypacker's rich prose, describing the Cape, the cottages, the beach, as well as the interconnected nature of life. "I like to imagine the ties between us as strands of spider silk: practically invisible, maybe, but strong as steel. I figure the trick is to spin out enough of them to weave ourselves into a net." (p.1)
Readers will be left wondering what they would do if they were ever in Stella and Angel's predicament. Honestly at first, I was wondering who I would give this book to. It's clearly not for the same audience as
Clementine. There are heady issues in
Summer of the Gypsy Moths, and at times the bigger ideas are a little scary. Ultimately, however, this is a story of friendship, survival and hope, and thoughtful tweens will be ready for the serious nature of Stella and Angel's situation.
