Swing Sideways

May 9, 2016
Steveson debuts with a empathic summer-of-change story in which panic-attack-prone Annabel transforms from a skinny, anxiety-ridden bookworm into a healthier, stronger, and braver girl. She and her parents are spending the summer at their lake house, as usual, but Annabel's therapist has insisted that she have an unstructured schedule with plenty of independence, instead of living by her controlling mother's spreadsheets. Befriended by the local hermit's free-spirited granddaughter, Californiaâwho explains that she is visiting to help her grandfather recover from his chemotherapy treatmentsâAnnabel renames herself Annie and throws herself into "the Freedom Plan" with a vengeance. Before long, however, she is in over her head, involved in California's questionable adventures, lying to her parents, and sneaking out at night (to tend to a sick, abandoned dog). Steveson sets up a promising portrayal of intriguing dynamics in both families, but Anna's transformation happens so rapidly as to not be entirely believable, and late-arriving revelations make the ending seem of a different spirit than the rest of the book. Ages 8â12. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House.

March 1, 2016
An anxious girl makes a mysterious summer friendship in this middle-grade debut. After a school year of panic attacks and increasing anxiety, Annabel has been promised a summer free from her professor parents' overscheduling and demands. They stay as usual in their upstate New York cottage, but instead of spending her days at tennis camp and sailing camp, Annabel (now calling herself Annie) secretly befriends the visiting granddaughter of their reclusive farmer neighbor. Both girls are white. California (her grandfather calls her Catherine) explains that she's staying for the summer to see her grandfather through a cancer drug trial. California's mother and grandfather have long been estranged. California believes that the ponies her mother showed as a child are still alive, on the farm, and that if she can find them, her mother will come back and be reconciled. It's an odd conceit--there's no real explanation why California's grandfather wouldn't be up-front about the ponies. By the end of the summer it's clear that California, not her grandfather, is the one who's sick. Annie has put her anxiety aside in order to be a more outgoing friend. Unfortunately, the novel trades more in melodrama than believable relationships. Annie's mother, California's mother, and her grandfather all seem to act and react in order to further a plot rather than authentically, and Annie's own personality is a sum of unsubstantiated fears. Too much telling, not enough truth. (Fiction. 8-12)

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February 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-Complicated family problems become more manageable when shared between friends. Every word, every gesture, every disagreement registers on the internal Richter scale as two friends negotiate the highs and lows of true friendship. Annabel and California forge a deep bond. Annabel, the tween from the city, and California, who arrives from a rural environment, find each other at the perfect time. Plenty of problems accompany each girl-illness, panic attacks, a hovering mother, an estranged family, and more-but all of these conditions pale beside their love for each other. They idle away the hours during a long summer on an idyllic farm complete with fields of corn, trees to climb, lakes for swimming, and endless time to talk, plan, and try to resolve issues. California is sure her mother and grandfather can become reconciled if only she can find the two missing ponies her mother once rode. Annabel, meanwhile, struggles to overcome her panic attacks and learn to eat normally again-if only she can maintain distance and independence from her helicopter mother. Together, the girls uncover dark family secrets and learn to be brave under pressure. This is a summer neither Annabel nor readers will ever forget. VERDICT A strong addition to most middle grade collections; recommend to those who enjoy a good cry.-Lillian Hecker, Town of Pelham Public Library, NY

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2016
Grades 5-8 Annie needs a therapeutic summer in the countrymore fun and fewer schedulesas she tries to recover from an eating disorder and anxiety attacks, made worse by her mother's intensely controlling ways. Unexpectedly, summer turns out to be kind of magical as Annie makes a friend, California, at a nearby farm. The two embark on escapades brimming with intrigue and excitement, but it turns out that both have serious agendas: Annie needs to recover her emotional health before starting the new school year, while California desperately wants to reconcile her mother, Piper, with California's grandfather. California is desperate to break the years of estrangement that have hobbled the familyfor a reason that becomes gut-wrenchingly evident later on. This powerful tale of friendship and hope, made especially poignant by each girl's struggle to repair family relationships, will capture hearts. Add an injured dog, a search for mysterious ponies, woods made for adventures, and heartbreak that never becomes mawkish, and you have a story about so much more than summer fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
This novel about a young girl's summer of self-discovery stands out for its original treatment of two familiar plot lines. First, Annie's eating disorder is caused by panic attacks triggered by her mother's rigidity, not food or body image issues. Second, Annie's friend is dying, but Annie doesn't learn that until the last thirty pages of the book. The story has heart but isn't fully developed.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)