Friday, May 14, 2010

Summer Sanctuary by Laurie Gray


I received this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.

From Goodreads.com:  Matthew knows that this summer is going to be the worst ever. His best friend Kyle is gone, his younger brother Mark has surpassed him in size and athletic ability, and his mother is pregnant for the fifth time. The eldest home-schooled son of a preacher, Matthew plans to bury himself in books about the speed of light and Einstein's Theory of Relativity to see if he can prove his own theory about the dilation of time. Instead, he befriends Dinah, a homeless teenager seeking refuge at the library. Although from very different backgrounds, Matthew and Dinah come to realize that they have a great deal in common--their love for music, and for cans of olives and potato chips found in a supermarket dumpster that are just past the sell-by date . . . and maybe even for each other. Matthew struggles with his feelings for his own family as he helps Dinah avoid Child Welfare. And in the process, Dinah helps him discover that even the smallest acts of kindness can make a very big difference. 

My Take:  I really enjoyed this book.  I was curious about it when I first read the summary because I homeschool my daughter and homeschooled my two older children all the way through school.  Beside a few spots where the author made Matthew a little naive ( seemed that he was that way because of his being homeschooled, Most homeschooled children that I know are more away of the entire world than the average child their age) I thought that the author portrayed a homeschooled child very well.

I was touched my how willing that Matthew was to watch after Dinah and how he tried to come up with solutions to her problems.  They made a fine team.  I was disappointed that he felt he needed to hide Dinah from his parents because I am sure that something could have been worked out that she wouldn't of had to go into child welfare. 

Over all I thought this was a very enjoyable books and I am going to give it to my daughter to read next.        

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