A Million Miles from Boston

Day delivers a well-paced, realistic "summer of change" story. Lucy's family has been vacationing at Pierson Point in Maine since her father was young, and Lucy, anxious about entering middle school, is looking forward to the kind of summer she's always enjoyed with him, her younger brother, and her faithful black Lab, Superior. Pierson Point also holds warm memories of her mother, who died of cancer when Lucy was six, and Lucy is passionately attached to the Point's comforting traditions and age-worn edifices. This year, however, two figures threaten her peace of mind: Julia, her father's increasingly serious girlfriend, and her aggravating classmate, Ian, from home, whose family has bought a house on the Point. Day (No Cream Puffs) sympathetically portrays Lucy's overriding sense of responsibility for everybody's happiness, especially her father and the kids in the informal "day camp" she runs ("More than anything, I wanted the kids to be happy. I wanted them to have great memories of camp, that summer, the Point"), and Day persuasively renders Lucy's uneasiness with her complex shifting emotions and memories. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)