Forever This Summer: Love Like Sky, Book 2
Girl helps friend discover her past in heartwarming tale.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Forever This Summer, by Leslie C. Youngblood, brings back the main characters readers met in Love Like Sky, 11-year-old Georgie, her parents, her sister, Peaches, and her best friend Nikki. Georgie and her mom, Katrina, are in Bogalusa, Louisiana, for the summer, getting Katrina's Aunt Vie's affairs in order. Aunt Vie was proprietress of a popular restaurant, but now she's declining from Alzheimer's. Georgie befriends Markie, a girl with a limb difference who's living in a foster home and is on a search for her biological parents. A woman with Alzheimer's dementia slaps her caregiver, her adult niece, across the face. There are a few mentions of the KKK, which the children understand to be scary, but there are no descriptions of violence.
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What's the Story?
When FOREVER THIS SUMMER BEGINS, 11-year-old Georgie is with her mom, visiting their ancestral hometown in Louisiana. Her great-aunt Vie owns a popular restaurant but has rapidly progressing Alzheimer's disease, so Mama is stepping in to help get the family's affairs in order. Georgie is bored at home, and Mama won't let her do much of anything, not even watch Aunt Vie by herself. Then Georgie meets Markie, who works at the restaurant. Markie has a limb difference. More important, Markie is a foster child on a quest to find her birth parents. Hanging out with the daring Markie gets Georgie into trouble sometimes, but the whole community is there to help keep them safe. As the two girls investigate Markie's history, they discover a secret about Georgie's family. When Georgie's best friend Nikki comes to visit for a few weeks, the girls put on a talent show to benefit Alzheimer's research and services.
Is It Any Good?
This is a complex and heartwarming book. In Forever This Summer, author Leslie J. Youngblood takes on a number of issues young readers might find confusing or scary: an older relative with Alzheimer's, a sibling who goes to the hospital with a serious illness, divorce, a new baby, and even why the grown-ups are mean to the nice woman with dual-race heritage. She does a great job of introducing these topics the way an 11-year-old might discover them and puzzle together an understanding. The number of these topics can get a little overwhelming. Sometimes the book feels packed with too many things at once. Other times, it feels like an interesting subplot is moving along too slowly as the next topic takes the foreground.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the theme of loyalty in Forever This Summer. Have you ever felt conflict between your loyalties to different people or values?
Friends can help us see the world in new ways. What's the most exciting thing you learned from a friend?
How do you think kids can help make the world a better place?
Book Details
- Author: Leslie C. Youngblood
- Genre: Family Life
- Topics: Activism, Brothers and Sisters, Friendship, Great Girl Role Models
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: July 12, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 336
- Available on: Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (abridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: August 2, 2021
Our Editors Recommend
-
Love Like Sky: Book 1
Moving story of girl adjusting to being in blended family.
-
Marcus Makes a Movie
Story of friendship and filmmaking has humor and real depth.
-
The Summer of Lost Letters
Engaging summer romance uncovers long-buried family secrets.
For kids who love stories of friendship and families
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