Fourteen-year-old Tracy Forrester is resigned to having the worst summer of her life. Her dad has booked her and her siblings into this weird place in Massachusetts, where divorced parents and their kids hang out with other split-up families. It’s called Farnsworth House, but dubbed the and “Hippie Hotel and ” by Tracy’s dad, mostly due to the fact that long-haired proprietor Sharon Farnsworth really believes in the healing power of togetherness. Tracy doesn`t buy it. and “I think the idea is that if you get divorced kids together with other divorced kids, they won’t feel so bad about being divorced. So far it hasn’t worked. and ” Ever since her parents’ split, Tracy has gained 15 pounds and a terminal case of low self-esteem. At Farnsworth, she’s terrified of Beka who smokes and only listens to punk, and her mother Lorraine, who seems to have designs on Tracy’s father. She likes Kelsey, who’s also there with her dad, except she’s so cute she makes Tracy feel even plainer by comparison. But things start looking up when she catches the eye of Kevin, a cute local, discovers that Beka is more bluster than bite, and that Kelsey really is as nice as she is pretty. Suddenly, the Hippie Hotel is actually and “not-so-terrible and “–in fact, it’s kinda great. A solidly written story disguised as a frothy summer read, debut author Rosemary Graham’s gentle, funny tale about family life after the big and “D and ” will be eagerly embraced by middle-grade fans of Judy Blume and Barthe DeClements. (Ages 12 to 16) –Jennifer Hubert

My Not-So-Terrible Time at the Hippie Hotel by Rosemary Graham (2003-06-06) PDF

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