Author: Delia Ray
Genre: realistic fiction
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Jelly Bean Summer by Joyce Magnin
Rating:
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| It will grow on you |
Summary (provided by publisher): When Ren sees her mom heading out to dinner with that creep Rick Littleton, she's furious. How could her mom do that to her dad, a soldier stuck over in Afghanistan? Ren decides to run away to the school-turned-boardinghouse in the next town over. Once there, she makes friends with a boy named Hugh, who tells her that the boardinghouse is the site of a mystery. Every night, the owner, Ms. Baxter, searches for a treasure left in the building years ago. If Ms. Baxter can't find it, then the boarding house might shut down for good, and her dream of preserving the town's history by opening a pearl button museum will never come true. By the time Ren, Hugh, and other visitors help find the treasure-a bag of pearls-Ren and her mom also have found a way to forgive each other.
My opinion: At face value, this is a pretty strange concept. It shouldn't work, and at first it didn't. I found the characters initially hard to believe. They grew on me, though. As Ren learned more about the inhabitants of the boardinghouse they, and she, became more believable to me. And along with them so did the hunt for a treasure. We begin to see why opening a button museum might matter to these characters. The conclusion is emotionally and entertainingly satisfying. I wouldn't recommend it to just any kid but might be a good choice for a thinker, an observer.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
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