2018 School Spending Survey Report
Second Chance Summer
468p. CIP. S & S. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9067-3; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4391-5752-7. LC 2011052241.
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Gr 8 Up—This will be a bittersweet summer for 17-year-old Taylor Edwards, whose family has retreated to their beloved cabin in the Poconos for a few final months of togetherness as Taylor's father slowly succumbs to stage-four cancer. Her older brother, Warren, a socially inept genius, and younger sister, Gelsey, a budding ballet star, feel at home in the friendly summer community, though they haven't been there for the last few years. The book occasionally inserts the pre-teen Taylor's memories of delightful times with former BFF Lucy, flashing a secret code to each other across the lake from their respective docks and hanging out with Henry, Taylor's first boyfriend. In the present day, things are different. Taylor and Lucy had a falling out five years ago, and haven't spoken since, and Henry has matured into a hottie. Most readers will deduce the event-which is frequently alluded to and revealed late in the story-that destroyed the girls' friendship. The characters are true to life, and Matson acknowledges the maturing physical attraction between Taylor and Henry as they spend sleepless nights on the dock, looking at stars. Matson has blended romance, humor, teen angst, boring summer jobs, and a truly tragic event into a wonderfully readable story, told in a manner that trusts teens' intelligence. Jenny Han's and Sarah Dessen's fans will gobble this up.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TXAt her family's lake house five summers ago, Taylor abandoned her best friend and her boyfriend without any explanation. Now seventeen, she's fulfilling her dying father's wish and confronting her past. But making up for lost time isn't easy. Sympathetic, well-drawn characters lure readers in, while a vivid setting and bittersweet tone carry them through.
A warm, engaging, summer love story. When Taylor arrives at her family’s lake house, a palpably awkward run-in with Henry, the boy next door, sets up a reconciliation—and, eventually, a charming romance. The novel is also a poignant, eloquent account of Taylor’s affectionate relationship with her father and her grief and confusion over his illness. “Everything had changed,” she says. “Or, more accurately, everything was going to change. But nothing had really changed yet. And it made the condolences odd—as if people were saying how sorry they were that my house had burned down when it was still intact but with an ember smoking nearby, waiting.” With an eye for enchanting details, Morgan Matson creates an immersive sense of place in the Pocono Mountains vacation town where Taylor and her family stay for the summer. A cast of lively supporting characters, including a love-struck snack-bar employee and a goofy screenwriting couple, add to the fun. As Taylor finds a fulfilling summer job, repairs her relationship with her ex-friend, Lucy, and grows closer to Henry, she finds much-needed confidence and comfort. Then her father’s condition rapidly worsens. Matson elegantly draws the plot’s multiple threads together to achieve a moving and uplifting conclusion.
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