This Close to Home

(Hardback)

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Description

A young girl aims to revitalize her lake towns annual festival to reunite her family and honor her moms memory in this tenderhearted middle grade novel for fans of The Summer of June and Violets Are Blue.

Brookes mom always used to tell her, Its just a game. But now that moms gone, Brooke is finding it hard to keep softball as just a game, when so much of her moms memory is woven into her favorite sport. And it doesnt help that her older sister, Calla, has started avoiding the field, and Dad doesnt have as much time to toss the ball in their backyard or go to all her games.

Then Brooke and her best friend, Derek, come across an album full of photos from when their town celebrated its annual Lakefest, a summer picnic that brought the whole community together at Brookes parents lake houses. When she brings up the idea to revive the event, Dad and Calla shut her down, but Brooke is certain that Lakefest can bring joy back to everyone in her town.

And maybe if her team of Derek and an unexpected classmate can pull off the picnic, her family can learn to heal and grow and create new memories, and Brooke can discover that shes capable of more than she ever imagined.

Reviews

"What makes this book stand out is its skillful highlighting of tween girls confusion around changing expectations and emotions. These are real experiences told honestly, with empathy and insight...asensitively told story with thought-provoking social commentary." -- Kirkus

Author Bio

Beth Turley is a graduate of the MFA in creative and professional writing program at Western Connecticut State University. She lives and writes in southeastern Connecticut, where the leaves changing color feels like magic and the water is never too far away. She is the author of If This Were a Story, The Last Tree Town, The Flyers, and This Close to Home. Visit her on Twitter @Beth_Turley.