You Know It's Summer When...

...there's a traffic jam in the library parking lot. At our library, parents can’t check out loads of books fast enough for their children to read on vacation. Teens are usually the most difficult for parents to please with books, so maybe this will help--an absorbing story that was recommended to me by a group of writers who specialize in imperative books--books to be read NOW.

THE SPLENDOR FALLS by Rosemary Clement-Moore, Delacorte Press, 2009.

If you’re into standing on the roof and announcing, “Calling all girls who love a mix of mystery and romance,” go ahead and shout about this one. Members of a writers’ listserv said they couldn’t put it down. I would certainly call it a good way to spend a couple of summer afternoons, with a sunburned nose in a book and the rest of the reader curled up on a porch swing or maybe lounging beside the pool when it’s time to enjoy the shade.

I can't count the number of stories I've read about an injured football hero who must face being out for the season or maybe be forced to accept that he has no bright future in the pro’s. Well, something like that can happen to girls, too.

Sylvie is the youngest ever principal dancer for the American Ballet. Her time in the spotlight comes to a terrible end when she falls during her debut at Lincoln Center. The shocked cries from the audience carry over into her tortured dreams and Sylvie begins to wonder about her own sanity when she goes to her father’s ancestral home in Alabama for a summer of healing that stirs up ghosts.

Is there a love interest? Of course! There are two boys and only one Sylvie. Just one more reason to keep turning those pages, all 513 of them. Other reasons: ghosts, spectres, a hidden journal, and an eerie but unexplainable cry piercing the night-shrouded woods.

The author has written 3 other novels for young readers. Her website is www.readrosemary.com

Guys might call this “chicklit,” so you might want to look for something with more action for the boys at your house. I’ll be hunting on their behalf, too.

In the meantime, you won't be hearing much from the girls for a couple of days--except the turning of pages.