cover image Someday I'll Laugh about This

Someday I'll Laugh about This

Linda Crew. Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, $14.95 (165pp) ISBN 978-0-385-30083-4

Each summer 12-year-old Shelby and her cousins vacation at Sea Haven, the family beach cottage. Shelby and cousin Kirsten are always together, talking, laughing and exchanging school stories. But this year is different: all of a sudden, Kirsten has grown up. She has a boyfriend, wears lots of make-up and befriends Tanya, their chic, snobby neighbor, whose father wants to build condos on the beach. Suddenly, everything and everyone around Shelby seems to be changing--Kirsten, Sea Haven and, most upsetting of all, Shelby herself. But since she can't be ``packed off to Camp Awkward Stage'' as she wishes, Shelby must live through the uncomfortable, unsettling stirrings of adolescence. And much to her surprise, she seems able to survive. With insight and sensitivity, Crew captures the pain of growing up, along with its inherent humor. Lively, believable characters, universal experiences and Shelby's own honest narration of her summer highlight this uplifting story. Ages 10-14. (June)