Parents' Guide to

Pulled Under: Sixteenth Summer, Book 2

By Kate Pavao, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Surfer girl fears first-love wipeout in sweet romance.

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PULLED UNDER provides a good primer to surfing -- as well as navigating the rocky waves of a first romance. In addition to learning about what it means to pearl and aerial, readers will really get that Ben cares about Izzy, supporting her in all sorts of ways: He's happy to spend a date night playing charades with her family and even dresses up in a coconut-shell bra and grass skirt to shake her nerves the day of the big surf competition. Her friends are equally awesome, boosting her confidence, giving her advice about surf moves and romance, cheering her successes, and not being afraid to cut loose and perform stupid dance moves in public.

If there's any criticism here, it's that everyone acts a bit too perfectly, and things seem to work out really, really well for Izzy and her friends and family. But readers swept up in Izzy's romance -- and the quaintness of her sweet beach town -- will happily root for this sweet narrator throughout her awesome summer.

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