Somebody Else's Summer

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

Samantha and Alexis meet on a flight from Vancouver to Toronto. Tall,
athletic Samantha is going to spend the summer with a family friend
while her father is in South America and her grandmother has hip
surgery. Shy, book-loving Alexis is going to a horse farm to learn how
to ride while her mother and stepfather are travelling in Australia. As
they talk, they realize that each would rather be doing what the other
is supposed to do. By the time the plane lands in Toronto, they have
decided to change places for the summer— the people they are going to
visit have never met them, while their own parents are far away.

What seems at first to be an impossibly complicated masquerade
eventually has a somewhat unexpected ending, tinged with some sadness.
Both girls are lovely and somewhat needy, and both generally interact
well with their “wrong” families, despite the challenges facing
them. Their relationship with Mr. Carr becomes their anchor, his house
and garden the place where they can be themselves, which is where the
sad element of the ending comes in.

The many little twists and turns in the plot, while often requiring the
reader to suspend belief, also make for quick and easy reading. This is
not one of Jean Little’s best books, but it is likely to appeal to
preteen girls. Recommended.