Monday 19 August 2019

To Night Owl From Dogfish

This book, described as for children, aged 9+, is a collaboration by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer. It's delightful and will be recognised by any parent of a 12/13 year old. 



Amazon UK link

Amazon US link

Book description

Avery (Night Owl) is bookish, intense, likes to plan ahead, and is afraid of many things. Bett (Dogfish) is fearless, outgoing, and lives in the moment. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and their dads are dating each other.
Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same camp for the summer vacation. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends – and possibly, one day, even sisters.
Against all odds, the girls soon can’t imagine a life without each other. But when the worst happens, and their dads break up, Avery and Bett must figure out a way to get them to fall in love again. Is keeping a family together as easy as they think it is?
From two extraordinary authors comes this moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters.
My review 

Two twelve year-old girls resent being pushed together on a summer camp by their fathers. The dads are long-distance boyfriends intending to become one big family and would like the girls to feel like sisters. If you have, or have had, pre-teen girls, you’ll be aware that you can’t make them behave as you’d like. The book takes the form of emails to and from the girls (and a few others) and brilliantly portrays the bookish Avery (Night Owl) with her anxiety and phobias and the irrepressible Bett (Dogfish) with her rebellious nature. I could see children I knew in these characters. The girls’ outrage at being expected to make friends, their excitement when things go their way and their subsequent scheming are a delight to read. I enjoyed this book immensely. It’s supposed to be for young people but I’m certainly not that. It’s a story for everyone and I read it in a day.

About the authors

Holly Goldberg Sloan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Counting by 7s and Short, among other novels. After graduating from Wellesley College and spending some time as an advertising copywriter, she began writing family feature films, including Angels in the Outfield and Made in America.

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The InterestingsThe UncouplingThe Ten-Year NapThe PositionThe Wife (recently a major feature film), and Sleepwalking. She is also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar. Wolitzer lives in New York City.

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Just a thought

An unread book does nobody any good. Stories happen in the mind of a reader, not among symbols printed on a page ― Brandon Mull

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