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Reviewed by:
  • The Summer of Moonlight Secrets
  • April Spisak
Haworth, Danette. The Summer of Moonlight Secrets. Walker, 2010. 273p. ISBN 978-0-8027-9520-5 $16.99 R Gr. 4-6.

Eleven-year-old Allie Jo considers the Meriwether, a hotel in Florida that was once quite impressive, the perfect place to grow up, even if it often means being lonely since she doesn't quite fit in with the town kids. She has the staff, and her parents, and the hotel guests as company, and in one lucky summer, there are three kids near her own age at the hotel. One teen, Tara, seems to arrive out of the blue, with [End Page 132] no family or luggage, and with a mysterious secret about her past. As Allie Jo and her new friends bond with Tara, she slowly reveals her secret—that she is a selkie, whose skin has been stolen by a cruel man who is now pursuing her. Of course, the kids are galvanized into action, and on the path to saving Tara, there is a little romance, a great deal of growing up, and a few history lessons on Florida along the way. Haworth ably balances magic with realism, tourist information with gritty detail, and the small everyday insecurities of her protagonists with their life-changing quest. The inevitable missteps on their way to heroism add depth to the characters, as do their realistic occasional squabbles. Tara herself is teasingly introduced, in lyrical short chapters describing her own interpretation of the unfamiliar world around her. Young fantasy fans will certainly be entranced, but the equal focus on the kids themselves may snag realistic-fiction readers as well.

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