Summer of Yesterday

Gr 9 Up—Where better to fall in love than the Happiest Place on Earth? Where better to travel back in time than the Magical Kingdom? Seventeen-year-old Haley would much rather be at summer camp with her best friends Eva and Brianna, but her dad insists that she accompany him, his new wife, and their preschool-aged twins to Fort Wilderness, a campground that is part of Disney World. Haley is feeling less than magical until an ill-advised scavenger hunt takes her into River Country—the abandoned water park where her parents met in the eighties. One seizure later, Haley awakens to River Country in its heyday, along with all of the cultural references and feathered haircuts that went with the 1980s. As Haley attempts to piece together the events that led to her time travel, she must also sidestep park security and figure out how to survive for as long as it takes to get back into the 21st century. Jason, the adorable towel boy, comes to her aid and, little by little, she finds herself falling in love not just with him but also with the water park that holds so much history for her parents. Are Haley's efforts to elude park security plausible? Not really, but if readers have already committed to time travel a little creative license with theme park security measures isn't likely to trouble them. This cute coming-of-age romance that deals with grown-up feelings of love and loss may just be a bridge over the generation gap.—Jodeana Kruse, R. A. Long High School, WA