Welcome to Dog Beach

February 17, 2014
Change upsets contemplative Remy, and she’s up against a lot of it during her 11th summer on Seagate Island, where her family vacations. As Greenwald’s novel opens, Remy is facing her first summer without her dog, Danish, who recently died. Her relationship with her two best friends is also in flux: Micayla has new friends (and a new crush), and Bennett, who Remy realizes she likes as more than a friend, is busy hanging out with a boy who’s new to Seagate. Starting a doggy day care business together eases Remy’s pain over the loss of Danish and bonds the three friends and two newcomers. Greenwald (My Summer of Pink & Green) gives Remy a candid and relatable voice in this first book in the Seagate Summers series. Reflecting on her confusion over her shifting friendship with Bennett, she says, “I feel like I’m bursting with feelings, like I’m carrying balloons under my shirt and I have to let them out.” This involving summer read probes genuine adolescent transitions with insight, poignancy, and humor. Ages 10–14. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group.

February 1, 2014
A characteristically sensitive exploration of the emotional life of preteens from Greenwald. Eleven-year-old Remy relishes her summers on Seagate Island with her best friends, Micayla and Bennett, and begins her first-person, present-tense story emphasizing her resistance to change. By summer's end, she has moved to an acknowledgment that change can be positive, even becoming an agent for change on her beloved island. Remy's grandmother, a year-round Seagate resident, died three years ago, but the death of Grandma's dog, Danish, occurred more recently. Remy discovers a way to grieve for Danish with her first real summer job, as residents happily use her dogsitting expertise. Meanwhile, Remy slowly adjusts to the warm welcome Bennett gives to new kids on the island, eventually relinquishing her label of "the downers" for twins Calvin and Claire and even figuring out a way to honor the twins' grandfather at an annual Seagate celebration. The book starts out slowly, but readers who continue with the story will find reward as they become familiar with an endearing protagonist, her human and canine friends, and the other residents of Seagate Island. The gentle humor and acceptance of the strong emotions that can arise from fairly benign situations--particularly in the world of preteens--are evocative of Beverly Cleary's novels, with a comfortable injection of 21st-century technology. Remy's quiet tale of change and growth marks a promising start to a new series. (Fiction. 8-11)

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April 1, 2014
Grades 4-8 For 11-year-old Remy, Seagate Island, where her family vacations every year, is perfect because summer after summer, it always stays the same. But this summer is different. Her beloved dog, Danish, has died, and Remy misses him terribly. Her best friends Micayla and Bennett are branching out from their trio: Micayla is spending more time with Avery, who lives on the island year round, and Bennett is doing dumb boy things with new pal Calvin. Plus, jokes from adults about Bennett being her boyfriend are starting to feel strange instead of stupid. Remy's love for dogs puts her in the ideal position for a summer job dog-sitting the island's canine residents, but she worries this, too, will take her farther away from her friends. Greenwald's gentle read is tailor-made for those on the cusp of friendship misunderstandings, burgeoning popularity awareness, awkward crushes, and the wobbly feeling that can come from deviating from comfortable routine. All of Remy's worries are soothed eventually, and happiness is well earned. This sweet series opener promises an agreeable journey.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Eleven-year-old Remy has spent every summer on Seagate Island; this year, as her friends mature, she is caught between preserving their summertime traditions and letting herself evolve. Greenwald's grasp of social nuance is strong, but her idealization of Seagate wears thin. The cast of characters provides some diversity, however, and this new series promises breezy (if low-tension) beach reading.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)