The Girls of Skylark Lane, by Robin Benway (Harper Collins, 272ppHB, ages 8-12, grades 3-7, $19.99, 2024) Review by Skye Anderson
Off to a slow start, but keep with it: it will be worth finishing! And, after a couple of mentions (hints), the crisis at the end was not a surprise, but how a couple of the characters deal with it is rewarding. It is also surprising to the extent the plot accelerates perhaps too fast towards the end.
Skylark Lane? You've got to be kidding! That sounds like a book for teen girls in the 30s or 40s but the social situations are certainly 21st century issues.
Modern Day Plots and Characters
We have middle-school twin girls (and the chapters alternate), one of whom is growing apart from the other because she is growing up faster. We also have a friend whose father passed away last year so she lives with her grandmother, we have a girl whose parents are separated, a girl whose parents are divorced, a girl whose mother is a TV star, a little sister, parents of the same sex, a girl who makes a mint selling lemonade, a cute boy, adoption - what more could you ask for in a modern-day novel for pre-teens? But, not to worry: it is not too much (for most of the book).
The neighborhood girls have a softball team and practice every day. So far, no games though.
The twins and their dads have just moved to a 'burb of LA and one of them is being bullied. They have separate bedrooms (a great idea!) and I love those names - Agapanthus (Aggie) and Jacaranda (Jac). They definitely are besties and their dads are to die for. One is Dad and the other is Papa, together making the Dads.
And Don't Forget the Plots!
It's all about an unusual family that you will grow to love. It's all about the usual twins-growing-up and -apart crises - being cranky, is one of them. Stubborn, another.
At the end, you will hope that this is the first of a series!
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