Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord (review)

Twelve-year old Lucy Emery has just moved to a New Hampshire lakeside cottage, the latest target of her photojournalist father’s wanderlust. A work assignment soon takes him away for the summer, leaving Lucy and her mother to once again settle into a new home without him. Her own love of photography helps her channel her hurt over her father’s enthusiastic departure, and she decides to anonymously enter a photography competition he’s slated to judge, determined to win his approval through images that offer thought-provoking interpretations of the contest’s mandatory prompts. Luckily, she has help from her new friend, Nate, whose family summers at the neighboring house owned by his naturalist grandmother. When Lucy joins him on daily “Loon Patrol” kayak trips to track the hatching and growth of loon chicks, she discovers unexpected fodder for photographs and friendship and keenly feels how much she needs both. Lord offers a tender treatment of early adolescent needs and struggles in this thoughtful coming-of-age novel. The book sensitively depicts the complicated feelings and competing desires that afflict even ostensibly happy, middle-class families, understanding that things can be painfully amiss even when nothing big is wrong. With subtle but effective imagery (including the touching, recurring use of a loon call) and a relatable protagonist, the title speaks to both human loneliness generally and the plight of a young girl in need of friendship. Put this poignant and restrained novel in the hands of a preteen girl who has it all, or just seems to.