Book Review: Three Bird Summer

Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine

Not a perfect book, but it hit all the right notes for me, and I read it in a day. Then I passed it to my 12 year-old daughter, and she read it in one sitting. This story is told by 12 year-old Adam, who heads with his mom to spend the summer at his grandmother's lake cabin in Minnesota. This yearly tradition is profoundly different this year, as his parents divorced, and the many cousins from his dad's side won't be coming this year. Adam, like most 12 year olds, is trying to see how he fits in, and navigating his way through boys "who turn into total jerks whenever girls were around," and girls who "move in careful packs, like wolves." He relishes the quiet and independence of the summer, and much of the charm of the book is found in the celebration of nature and old fashioned cabin life on the lake (lazy days on the dock, exploring the lake by canoe). He begins a tentative but true friendship with Alice, the girl next door, who seems like she should be like the aloof, popular girls, but who is making her uncertain way through middle school just like Adam. Independence is an important theme in this book: Adam, at 12, wants and needs more, and his mother reluctantly acquiesces. His grandmother fiercely protects her independence, but with erratic behavior, unreliable memory and declining health, she needs more care and supervision. Adam and Alice figure out how to be themselves, independent of labels, cliches, cliques, and packs. When Adam's grandmother starts leaving mysterious notes in Adam's room, Alice is the only one he can confide in, and together they help solve a decades-old mystery. A sweet, satisfying story -- makes me want to spend a summer on a lake:)