Publisher’s Description
Alex has always known her best friend and next-door neighbor, Will, will be there for her. That’s just how it’s always been. Until a girl from the pool named Rebekah comes over to them and says hi. Suddenly, Will is changing his clothes, restyling his hair, and breaking all of their summer plans and Alex is not happy about it.
Every summer, she and Will come up with a new challenge. This year, it’s a treehouse. Now Alex is wrangling up summer jobs and keeping tabs on the new girl, hoping that in completing their treehouse, she can keep from losing her best friend and her summer from falling apart.
Rebecca’s Thoughts on BEST FRIENDS, BIKINIS, AND OTHER SUMMER CATASTROPHES
This book kicks off with drama at the town swimming pool. Alex’s best friend Will ditches her for their cool classmate in the green bikini, taking her raft own with him when he does. The BFF tension spirals from there.
On top of the friendship drama, Alex must deal with feelings about her grandpa’s developing relationship with a new woman a year after Grandma died. Everything seems to be going wrong this summer.
The author deals with the awkwardness of first crushes and Grandpa’s new girlfriend with an honest realness that makes the feeling of being forgotten, like someone else has a magic you don’t have hit home. But she also shows the way through Alex’s relationship mishaps.
This story of friendship, family, and the politics of negotiating relationships at the town pool will feel real to middle graders, helping them to negotiate the challenging relationships in their own lives.
Highly recommended.
An arc of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Best Friends, Bikinis, and other Summer Catastrophes was published on May 17, 2022. You can add it to your “want to read” list on Goodreads, or order on Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.
If Best Friends, Bikinis, and other Summer Catastrophes sounds good, here are a couple more recent recommendations to check out:
The Way I Say It by Nancy Tandon
To Tell You the Truth by Beth Vrabel
Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca
Cole Champion Is Not Super by Rebecca J. Allen
