A beautiful, evocative summer novel. ( )

Although it’s not explicitly described this way, SDSN is a love letter to middle children everywhere. The Starr family live in and run the beautiful cottages at Sandy Shores, a resort in the Muskoka region, north of Toronto. For protagonist Reenie, this is the only home she’s known—the only place she could ever imagine calling “home”. But even the picturesque beaches outside her front door are not enough to drive away the pains of being a teenager. She’s too young to play games with her older brother, Bo, or even to be let in on the secret of his night-time adventures, but she’s old enough to be held responsible for her six-year-old sister, Scarlett, who enjoys cuddling with her in bed and following her everywhere. When a family friend, Gwen Cates, comes to Sandy Shores, Reenie is excited to have someone a few years older than she is to talk with, hang about, and even look up to. But she gets more than she hopes for, for the arrival of the ballet student from the city kick starts a summer of intrigue, self-discovery, and a few skeletons in the family closet.

Reenie is a great character to befriend. She’s authentic and down-to-earth—qualities that too many other characters of similar age lack. VanSickle truly captures the daily dilemmas of being a new teenager and a middle child. Who wouldn’t feel annoyed at being of an age where you are given responsibilities but are still questioned all the time? Who wouldn’t feel left out with a mom who decides to spend more time with visitors than you? And who wouldn’t be gobsmacked at discovering something at the last (and very wrong) moment that has been right before your eyes the whole time?

Summer Days, Starry Nights is one of those books that shines quietly in the corner but will grab hold of you as you spend the summer with Reenie. By story’s end, you’ll be like me, looking online to see if Sandy Shores exists, and wondering if somewhere near Orillia, there really is a resort full of the promise of summer days, starry nights, and scintillating magic.

A complete version of this review can be found at http://squinklebooks.wordpress.com. ( )

An engaging and highly readable novel for middle-school girls, Summer Days, Starry Nights tells the story of thirteen-year-old Reenie Starr whose family owns and runs Sandy Shores, a resort near Orillia, Ontario. Set in 1962, the book details the Starr family's efforts to rescue the failing resort by bringing in glamorous seventeen-year-old Gwen Cates, a trained ballerina from Toronto, to teach dance classes to visitors who stay at the resort. Reenie is dazzled by Gwen, daughter of Grace (Reenie's mom's best friend), who has apparently been banished to the boonies because of wild behaviour in Toronto. Influenced by Gwen and wanting to be regarded as a responsible adult herself, Reenie hatches a plan to throw a big concert/party--complete with a secret guest band--to put Sandy Shores on the map. Things go very wrong, however, and Reenie inadvertently ends up exposing both her mother's and Gwen's secrets, ironically wishing she could return to the childhood innocence of yesteryear. This is a quick read, and one that I think would be well-received by teenaged girls who are not quite ready for Sarah Dessen and her ilk. ( )

Vikki VanSickle's YA novel Summer Days, Starry Nights was published by Scholastic Canada Ltd. on June 1st, 2013. This novel has been commended for OLA Best Bets 2014 and also has been commended for CCBC's list of Best Books for Kids and Teens 2013.

Summer Days, Starry Nights is a charming summertime read, set in cottage country Ontario. Filled with colourful characters who struggle with typical teenage conundrums such as identity issues, disapproving parents, relationships, and family drama, readers both old and young will find themselves falling in love with the story. Moreover, they will find a piece of themselves in this book.

Young girls everywhere will see themselves in Reenie. We all want to be treated like an adult as we enter our teen years. The book forces us to see the wise truth of the matter, which is that being an adult and knowing about the adult world is not a wonderful thing. Ignorance is bliss. Knowing about marital problems, the complications of love and sexual relationships, of knowing your parents' secrets... all of this knowledge comes with growing up. And all young girls, like Reenie, want to grow up too fast. Sometimes it's easier to be happy and young and free of the pain of growing up.

This is a beautiful novel from a masterful Canadian storyteller, and I was surprised by how easily and how quickly I fell in love with this book. I've never read anything else by Vikki VanSickle, but I can now agree that she's a brilliant writer and she deserves all the acclaim she's received and more.

Summer Days, Starry Nights is a fantastic choice for classrooms and libraries. The story is so beautifully crafted and reads so eloquently that teachers and librarians will find this YA novel offers substantive value to their classrooms or collections, while also speaking volumes to its young readers.

4.5 Stars ( )