![The Summer Sherman Loved Me (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage) by [St. Anthony, Jane]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Es73yYAzL._SY346_.jpg)
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-Twelve-year-old Margaret, who thinks of herself as too tall, with-¦no memorable features, describes the amazing summer when her next-door neighbor, almost-13-year-old Sherman Jensen, a boy with the kind of arms that could rescue girls, professes his love for her. She also struggles with her relationship with her mother and her place in the family with a younger brother and three-year-old twin sisters. As the warm days pass, Margaret experiences the threat of real loss, gains some understanding of her mother, and sees friendships evolve. Her narration reveals gradual growth and maturation with both pathos and humor. A serious morning conversation with her mother is lightened up when her groggy brother enters the kitchen, his hair apparently having tried to escape from his head all night. This fluidly told, well-paced novel is set in a more innocent time when kids were allowed to sleep on screened front porches to catch a breath of air, acquaintances still came over to borrow a cup of sugar, and birthdays were celebrated with neighbors in backyards. The emotions experienced by the well-drawn characters, however, remain universal. A fresh and refreshing coming-of-age story with a heroine as likable as Kevin Henkes's Martha in Olive's Ocean (HarperCollins, 2003).-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. When her neighbor Sherman declares, "I love you," across their dark yards one summer evening, 12-year-old Margaret wonders, "Was I supposed to say something? Was this supposed to be a conversation?" So begins this poignant debut novel that quietly articulates the borderland between childhood and early adolescence. As the summer progresses, Margaret struggles with a rush of confusions. The early-1960s setting creates a nostalgic tone, but Margaret's precise observations, written in an authentic voice, will resonate with today's teens. Margaret notices that Sherman's voice has begun to sound "more like his dad's than his mom's when he yells," and she feels frustrated with her close, affectionate family, particularly her mom: "Why couldn't she be the mother I deserved: looser and cooler?" Most of all, Margaret is bewildered about love and how to talk about it. Transitions between scenes sometimes feel disjointed, but St. Anthony tells a refreshingly gentle, insightful story that finds the drama in the small moments that mark a girl's passage into the teen years. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
