An 11-year-old Black girl makes the most of a strained family summer away from home in this sincere and enthusiastic middle-grade novel.
Georgie (who prefers this more grown-up name than her family nickname, G-baby, thank you very much) has been dragged to her mom's hometown, Bogalusa, La., for the summer. What can she possibly find to do when her mom doesn't want Georgie traipsing about town, yet spends all of her own time caring for Great-Aunt Vie, whose memory is failing? Even Vie's popular diner isn't the sanctuary it once was, and Georgie feels even younger and more out of place when she meets Markie, who works at the diner though she's only slightly older than Georgie. Markie has more than one chip on her shoulder: as Vie's former foster daughter, she resents having to live with a new guardian, and she doesn't like people taking too much--or too little--notice of her limb difference. (The description and cover art suggest symbrachydactyly, though it's not named in the novel.) Like many tween relationships, Georgie and Markie's frenemyship is shakily forged, but their love for Aunt Vie and desire to learn more about their family histories connects them and drives them to plan a talent show to raise funds for Alzheimer's research.
Forever This Summer is a sequel to Leslie Youngblood's debut, Love Like Sky, but can be read as a standalone. The overly large cast of characters makes for less than smooth reading, but the emotional conflict is heartfelt and not melodramatic, and the setting is wonderfully rendered and detailed. --Sarah Hannah Gómez, doctoral candidate, University of Arizona