Learning to Swim

June 1, 2007
Gr 8 Up-It's summer and Steffie is working at a country club on wealthy Jones Island, MD, where her only friend is 60-something fellow-maid Alice. When the 17-year-old nearly drowns, she is saved by hunky lifeguard Keith, who offers her swimming lessons. At this point, it becomes evident how predictable this title will be: Keith slowly falls in love with Steffie and breaks up with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Steffie's mom, Barbie, suffers from what her daughter terms "love lunacy." She continually falls for married men, gets ditched, and then they have to move to avoid the man and his family. This has happened 14 times already. The teen fears that she is repeating her mother's mistakes and worries that, regardless of how things pan out with her relationship, she and her mom will be moving soon anyway. While Klam's debut chick-lit novel falls prey to some sloppy writing in the first half, and a somewhat silly premiseBarbie forbids Steffie from learning how to swim because her own parents drownedthe antics between the two maids are endearing. Nevertheless, some of the referencesespecially to clothing brandsseem off the mark from what contemporary teens are after, and may date the book. Authors like Sarah Dessen manage similar topics with tighter writing and more feeling, making this an additional purchase for most libraries."Jennifer Barnes, Homewood Library, IL"

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