A Summer of Sundays

August 5, 2013
Eland (Scones and Sensibility) crafts a graceful, leisurely paced story about 11-year-old Sunday Fowler, who yearns to stand out in her large family. Eclipsed by her two glamorous older sisters and three ebullient younger brothers, the often forgotten Sunday tries to make her mark the summer her contractor father and family move to a small town to renovate a library. The family's unwieldy but realistic dynamics are tinged with humor, even as Sunday's insecurities ramp up: her family forgets her at a rest stop, and she's iced out when her siblings choose rooms in their new house. When Sunday, a voracious reader, finds an anonymous manuscript in the library basement, she and her new friend Jude set out to locate the author. Eland crafts a memorable cast of small-town child and adult characters and effectively integrates their story lines. While the novel can be a bit slow, readers' affection for Sunday won't waver as this independent protagonist finds a way to balance her desire to be noticed with a growing maturity. Ages 8â12. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

August 1, 2013

Gr 4-7-Sunday Fowler, nearly 12, feels nearly invisible, stuck in the middle of six siblings who always seem to get noticed by their harried parents. She sees her chance to make her mark when her father, who has been renovating a library several hours away, makes arrangements for his family to stay with him for the summer as he completes the job. Many moments of hilarity and conflict in the large family are nicely captured, but there are just too many of them. Readers may be initially sympathetic to Sunday's plight as the middle child, especially after she is left behind at a rest stop, but her constant tallying of slights quickly grows wearisome. She also comes off as a user. The friendships she strikes up are means to an end, and the mild mystery she tries to solve feels contrived. Also, it's a bit of a stretch to accept that the children would be allowed access to a construction site where no qualified personnel are working and be expected to pitch in and help one moment, and then be allowed to range freely around town the next because it is convenient to the plot. Other details that don't add up include sending Sunday down darkened stairs to an equally dark basement with a flashlight to count lightbulbs or having the ability to view activity on the front porch of a house from its third-story window.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

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