Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker (review)

Ditching his hated summer camp, eleven-year-old Ware finds an adjacent ruined church with the potential to become a castle. There he encounters Jolene, who is using the abandoned church parking lot to plant papayas, which she sees as a financial opportunity. Dreamer Ware and feisty Jolene clash initially, but they make the church and lot their own and build a friendship as the summer goes on. When they learn the property is scheduled for auction at the end of the summer, cynical Jolene is devastated, while Ware, who loves chivalry, dreams of saving it with the gallantry of a knight. Pennypacker (Pax, BCCB 2/16) fully immerses readers in the experience of an introverted and sensitive character who begins to push back against expectations that he should be more "normal" or "social." The authentic and gradual development of friendship between Jolene and Ware is absorbing, and the book refrains from sentimentality about Jolene, who was abandoned by her mother and lives with her alcoholic, negligent aunt, but whose stubborn commitment to her papaya-growing dream contradicts her cynical dismissal of Ware's optimism. Ware's video about their haven may inspire readers to dream of their own cleaned-up urban spaces and creatively transformed materials. This story gently rejoices in two charismatic young people whose dedication and compassion illustrate what it means to be heroes in the real world.