Summerhouse Time Book

Every year a rented pink cottage full of family, swapping stories, and riding waves mean Summerhouse Time for Sophie. Best of all is sharing a room with her favorite cousin and laughing and trading secrets like two happy peas in a cousin pod. Sophie can't wait! But when she asks the now-a-teenager Colleen if she's looking forward to their time together, Colleen just says "I guess so."

What? It's the best time of the year, the time they both love. In just a little bit, they will all be together in the cottage on the beach. Will this year be just as wonderful, just like always?

Accompanied by charming black-and-white illustrations, classic growingup experiences radiate throughout the pages of this sunny, anytime story.

Children's Literature

Eleven-year-old Sophie Bolton excitedly waits for the family vacation in August. Sophie, her parents, and the pet cat Orange stay at a rented cottage by the beach with her relatives—aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. There are many fun-filled summer memories and traditions that the family shares at the summerhouse, making August her very favorite month of the year. Sophie especially loves spending time with her fourteen-year-old cousin Colleen. Sophie can hardly wait for the vacation at the beach to tell Colleen about liking and meeting Jimmy, the new boy in the neighborhood. Once at the cottage, Sophie is confused by Colleen's lack of enthusiasm and her desire to be off by herself. In a house full of relatives, the traditions continue, but not everything is exactly the same. Besides Colleen's dark cloud attitude, Sophie's father is not quite his usual self at times, and her aunts and uncles have their problems. The past August summers do not seem like this summer; things are changing. Sophie's summer story is a collection of free verse poems that moves through her summer vacation at the beach.