Summer at Forsaken Lake

May 1, 2012
Summer is indeed a time for mystery and adventure. Instead of spending the summer with their divorced father, 12-year-old Nicholas Mettleson and his younger, identical twin sisters leave New York City and head to rural Ohio to live along Forsaken Lake with their great-uncle Nick, an arm amputee who never misses a beat. It's not long before Nicholas teams up with local star baseball player Charlotte "Charlie" Brennan, and the pair discovers numerous mysteries. These involve an unfinished Super 8 film entitled The Seaweed Strangler, a sailboat that eerily appears each morning at 2:53, a boat accident that caused Nicholas' then-14-year-old dad never to return to Forsaken Lake and a letter that hints at a long, unrequited love between Nicholas' dad and Charlie's mom. Reminiscent of Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks (2005), the charming narration has a timeless quality as Nicholas and Charlie involve the small-town community in completing The Seaweed Strangler and investigating the now-infamous boat accident. Also drawing from Arthur Ransome's 1937 children's nautical adventure, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, the novel features its own sailing hazards and thrills. Ultimately focusing on what's right rather than the truth, the appealing story leaves one big mystery unsolved, promising a sequel and more summer magic. (Artwork not seen.) (glossary of sailing terms). (Mystery. 9-12)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 3-6-At first, 12-year-old Nicholas and his twin sisters, Hayley and Hetty, are not happy with being sent to spend the summer with Great-uncle Nick at Forsaken Lake. But when the man promises to teach them to sail, things begin to look up. Add a mysterious homemade film about a monster, an old letter found hidden in the attic, a mystery involving the children's father from the time he spent summers at the lake, and a ghost ship, and the kids have a recipe for adventure. The story has a nostalgic feel: city kids in a country setting where everyone knows everyone else and the town librarian can recommend just the right book to each person who comes through the door. There is enough action and adventure to hold the interest of most readers once they get past the introduction, and the story is good fun.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
Grades 4-6 When 12-year-old Nicholas and his younger sisters leave New York City for a summer-long visit at their great-uncle's lakeside home in Ohio, he doubts that his experience will live up to his father's fond memories of summers spent with Uncle Nick. Before long, though, Nicholas befriends Charlie ( a cute girl with a wicked curveball ), learns to sail, works to finish a boat that his dad had built, and delves into troubling events dating back to his father's long-ago visits to Forsaken Lake. Usually in the background, a thread of mystery winds through the story and ties the intergenerational story together. In the foreground, Nicholas thrives on meeting the new challenges. Meanwhile, his twin sisters provide comic relief, often annoying Nicholas by dropping British phrases picked up while reading Arthur Ransome's We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (1937). An unsolved mystery leaves the door open for a sequel to this engaging chapter book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013
Twelve-year-old Nicholas and his younger sisters leave New York City and head to small-town Ohio. Sailing (their great-uncle teaches them how), friendship (with Charlie, a girl with an amazing curveball), a mystery involving an old reel of film about the "Seaweed Strangler," and an old love letter from Charlie's mom to Nicholas's dad add up to a satisfying summertime story.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)