If only she’d watched more carefully,
she’d still have her little brother,
still have her mother’s love…

Francesca’s crush is now dating her best friend, the beach is off-limits, Dad’s acting strange around their pretty neighbor – this summer will be terrible.

Then little Frankie Sky jumps into big Frankie’s life, and she hears her dead brother’s voice once more… coincidence??

Just published Tuesday, The Summer of Letting Go  is a handkerchief-required read with a hopeful streak.

Do you know when to let go and forgive yourself?
**kmm

Book info: The Summer of Letting Go / Gae Polisner. Algonquin Young Readers, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk:  When a little boy leaps into the pool, Francesca’s afraid he’ll drown just like her young brother did at the beach. But Frankie Sky is okay and says such Simon-like things that she starts researching reincarnation… anything to keep her mind off her best friend’s boyfriend (or her depressed mom or her possibly straying dad).

Is some of Simon’s soul inside Frankie Sky?

If she can explore tidal pools with Bradley as Lisette swims, if she can hear Simon’s voice again through Frankie, Francesca might return to the beach where Simon was swept away as she watched him, might find some way to move on and love herself again. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)