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The Summer of Moonlight Secrets by Danette Haworth. Walker Books for Young Readers, Bloomsbury. Publication date June 2010. Review ARC from publisher. Middle Grade.

The Plot: Allie Jo, eleven, lives at The Meriwether, an old hotel in Florida that used to be five-star and is still pretty famous and interesting. Chase, thirteen, is visiting The Meriwether with his travel writer father. Tara is a girl with a secret -- what is her secret? And what can Allie Jo and Chase do to help?

The Good: The Meriwether is an old resort, a bit run down perhaps (some of the top floors are not just unused, windows are missing and rooms unusable), but still popular and still serves its Famous Blueberry Pancakes. Since Allie Jo lives at the hotel, it's her personal playground. While guest rooms and kitchens are off limits, she can eat as many Famous Blueberry Pancakes as she wants and take the secret hidden staircase up to the abandoned fifth floor. Haworth weaves interesting historical tidbits into her description of The Meriwether, such as secret staircases for nannys and porters and fainting couches.

Allie Jo's best friend is away for the summer. Soon she and Chase, as well as Sophie, twelve, another summer guest at the hotel, are friends. I love the easy friendship these three fall into. Chase and Sophie fall for each other, and there is a cute kiss and holding hands. What is great? Is that Allie Jo doesn't care. There is never a hint of jealousy on Allie Jo's part, and Chase and Sophie don't do anything to seriously exclude Allie Jo.

And then there is Tara. Tara, mysterious, nice, gracious, and a few years older than Allie Jo. Allie Jo, despite living in a hotel surrounded by people, is actually a pretty lonely child. She is friendly with the staff of the hotel; has great parents; at school, it is different. She is mocked as a "hotel rat" without money and has only one friend. Chase and Sophie become Allie Jo's friends, but Tara -- Tara is different. Tara is Allie Jo's secret; Tara is Allie Jo's puzzle; Tara is secrets; Tara is someone who trusts Allie Jo, and sees Allie Jo as a wonderful person and friend. Allie Jo begins to see Tara as not just a friend, but as something even more special. Knowing that Tara has run away -- not sure what parts of Tara's story to believe, Allie Jo, begins to see Tara as a potential sister. Allie Jo has a tape recording made by former guests at the hotel, two sisters, and she replays this tape recording of sisters over and over. A sister, who wouldn't go away, who would always be there. After all, Chase and Sophie are only at the hotel for the summer. Is Tara her answer?

I don't want to give too much of Tara's mystery away. She trusts only two people to see her -- Allie Jo and Chase. When she tells the story, her language is a bit off, her observations a bit odd. Where is her family? Is she a runaway? When she does reveal her secret, will Allie Jo and Chase believe her? Will they betray her?

Haworth does a terrific job of balancing Allie Jo's independence and autonomy with caring parents, inc

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. Little, Brown. Publication Date June 2010. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.

The Plot: Seven years ago, the March sisters were attacked by a Fenris -- a werewolf. It killed their grandmother and then went after Scarlett, 11, and Rosie, 9. Scarlett fought back. She lost her right eye; she is scarred from the attack; but Scarlett saved her sister.

Seven years later, Scarlett is dedicated to the hunt. Hunting the Fenris, protecting a world of people that don't even know they are hunted. Rosie, loyal to her sister, also hunts. Rosie wants something out of life . . . . Something more than fighting. What, she doesn't know because she hasn't even dared dream of another life.

Then Silas returns to town. Silas -- Scarlett's hunting partner and best friend. Silas -- the son of the man who helped raise Scarlett and Rosie after the death of their grandmother, who taught all three about the Fenris and hunting and fighting and killing. Silas. For Rosie to fall in love with Silas would betray Scarlett, in every way possible. It would mean abandoning Scarlett... it would mean taking Silas away. Scarlett sacrificed her face for Rosie; should Rosie sacrifice love in return?

The Good: Love, love, love.

This is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Both Scarlett and Rosie have red names; the color red attracts werewolves; Scarlett hunts and hides her scars by wearing a red cape with a hood. Silas, like his father before him, is a woodsman. Silas's name has meaning, also; it means "man of the forest." Scarlett's and Rosie's grandmother was attacked and killed by a wolf/ Fenris.

Scarlett and Rosie, growing up, ignored the two years difference between them; ignored the two different fathers; and saw themselves as almost-twins. Rosie explains: "When we were little, Scarlett and I were utterly convinced that we'd originally been one person in our mother's belly. We believed that somehow, half of us wanted to be born and half wanted to stay. So our heart had to be broken in two so that Scarlett would be born first, and then I finally braved the outside world a few years later. It made sense, in our little pig-tailed heads -- it explained why, when we ran through grass or danced or spun in circles long enough, we would lose track of who was who and it started to feel as if there was some organic, elegant link between us, our single heart holding the same tempo and pumping the same blood. That was before the attack, though."

This duality carries throughout the entire book. Scarlett, Scar-red, whose scarred face ensures that she remains separate from the world and thus an almost perfect hunter. The only thing in her life besides the hunt is her sister, Rosie. Rosie keeps Scarlett part of the world.

Rosie, unscarred, owes her life, her existence, to her sister. Like Scarlett, she hunts. Like Scarlett, she is tough and good at what she does. Unlike Scarlett, Rosie has

Stranded by J.T. Dutton. HarperTeen. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. Publication date June 2010.

With great reluctance, fifteen year old Kelly Louise and her mother are leaving Des Moines for her mother's hometown of Heaven, Ohio.

Kelly Louise -- named for Tina Louise, of Gilligan's Island fame -- tells of being dragged back to the small town her teen mother escaped from years ago, to live with her cleaning-obsessed Nana and religion-obsessed cousin Natalie. Natalie, fifteen, seems to love unicorns and Jesus equally. Her mother promises it's just temporary, but it's the middle of the school year! It's going to be that much harder for Kelly Louise to get a boyfriend.

Kelly Louise tells this story; and her voice makes this fresh and different; she's funny and amusing, self-centered and a drama queen, and, like Lola from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Alice from Alice, I Think, you're going to alternate between cringing, laughing, and loving her.

But there is a seriousness to this novel; a gravity. Because Heaven is best known for the recent news story about Baby Grace, an infant abandoned in a cornfield.

Dutton's story of the unthinkable -- a baby left to die -- is told against a setting of lost family farms, alcoholism, and second generations of teen pregnancies. Kelly Louise's voice brings humor, and she thinks of herself, first, most of the time. But she also thinks about Baby Grace, and family secrets, and what it means to do the right thing.


Teaser: A mini post about a book I've read that won't be published for several months. The full review will be posted closer to the publication date.


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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy