Chapter Books for Young Readers — Review

Somebody Else’s Summer

by Jean Little
Viking Canada, 2005
ISBN 0-670-04466-0
$20, 192 pp, hardcover, ages 8–10
www.penguin.ca

Despite the rather shabby treatment of young children by their parents—seemingly necessary to set the stage for this story—Jean Little has produced another engaging tale for readers in the eight to ten-year-old age group. Two ten-year-old girls meet by chance as they board an aircraft to take them across the country to spend time with strangers while their parents pursue other interests (do real parents do that?). Initially wary of one another, the two exchange stories and realize that they would much rather be spending the summer with the other girl’s host family. Because they’ve never met the people they are going to, they reason that it would be possible to exchange identities without detection. So they switch names and are welcomed into the waiting arms of their families, who, it turns out, live quite close to one another. As the summer unfolds, the two become friends and share various adventures while enjoying the time with their chosen host families. Eventually, of course, the truth will out and their ruse is discovered. All turns out well in the end as veteran author, Jean Little, brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.

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