*Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* I must confess, I expected to like this book more than I did. It is set in the US during WWII and that is a time and place that greatly interests me. And there were parts of the book that held my attention, and I enjoyed the window into this era. However, I did find that the jumping between perspectives so frequently made the narrative a little hard to follow at times. I was also confused as to why the author had all dialogue written in caps lock. It kind of felt like the characters were yelling at each other throughout the book, which they were clearly not. However, don't be put off by my review - I am a few decades older than the intended audience for the book.

A sweet story written from three different perspectives. It made me think about how we all can be in the same situation yet we all have different aspects and perceptions as we process.
A sweet story for a young reader that would teach them about history of that time.
Thanks netgalley and the publisher for
An advanced copy.

When sisters Julie and Martha discover a baby on the steps of the new town library, they're not quite sure what to do next. Their search for the best solution starts a backwards story of the past summer at Belle Beach and how they met their neighbor Bruno.

The stream-of-consciousness writing style got a little old. Otherwise, this was a relatively quick paced historical fiction novel with some touching elements about grief, families, and relationships during World War II.

This sweet novel proves that sometimes children’s books are wasted on children. That’s not a curmudgeonly attack on kids; it’s just that there are children’s books in which only adults can pick up on the nuances. Amy Hest’s The Summer We Found the Baby is such a book.

It would be too easy to reveal too much. Just let me say that when headstrong 11-year-old Julie discovers a foundling in a basket at the public library she snatches it up and makes off with it, followed by her 6-year-old sister Martha and her nemesis, 12-year-old Bruno. Each of the children take turns advancing the plot. The book provides more surprises than I ever imagined; it’s one I’ll long remember.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book.

I liked the style of the writing, but felt that the story was only okay for me.

Told through three narrators of different ages against the backdrop of World War II-era Long Island, a pair of sisters find an abandoned baby. Julie (11 years old), her sister Matha (6 years old), and Bruno (12 years old) are the narrators in this slice-of-life story. The author captures each narrator's voice is extremely well; however, what is not done as well is the stylistic choice to have dialogue in all-caps with no punctuation. I enjoyed the ending of the book and how everything came together. Overall, the book was 3.5/5 stars.

CHILDREN'S

The Summer We Found the Baby by Amy Hest; Candlewick Press, 192 pages ($16.99) Ages 10 and up.

In this sweet, poignant story of family, set in the Long Island summer resort community of Belle Beach, acclaimed author Amy Hest offers the voices and perspectives of children whose older brothers and neighbors are off fighting in World War II.

On the very day the new Belle Beach children's library is to be dedicated, 11-year-old Julia Sweet and her six-year-old sister Martha find a baby in a basket on the library steps and take off with it. This interrupts the plan of 12-year-old Bruno Ben-Eli to travel solo by train to New York City on an important, confidential mission for his soldier-brother, Ben.

The narration alternates between Julia, Bruno and Martha, as a wonderful secret is slowly revealed in the course of the story in clues the attentive reader might pick up on.

Hest's novel celebrates the childhood joy of summer at the beach, while never condescending to her young readers. Julia has already experienced personal loss in the death of her mother; she has been a mother to her little sister. The harsh realities of war are dealt with in a way young readers can understand: Julia cries at the sight of badly wounded soldiers at nearby Camp Mitchel; Bruno cries during a memorial on the beach for his best friend's brother, killed in the war.

Julie and Martha are summering at Belle Beach during WWII while their father finishes his book about the American soldiers. Their next door neighbor is Bruno, whose brother is off fighting in the war. The day of the opening of the new Children's Library wing, Bruno is trying to get to New York City on a mission from his brother when he sees Julie and Martha scurry away from the Library holding a new baby. He immediately assumes they are kidnapping the baby and follows them. As the story comes together from the three children's viewpoint, the baby finds its home, Eleanor Roosevelt attends the Library Grand Opening, and Bruno is able to complete his mission without going to New York City.

This was a very simple, sweet story that carries undertones of the fears that soldiers will not return home, grief, and the spirit of hope.

Told in three voices, The Summer We Found The Baby is set on Long Island during World War II. Julie, her younger sister Martha and the Bruno, the boy next door, share experiences but perceive them in different ways. A story of the ups and downs of friendships, Amanda life in general, this is a quick, enjoyable read for middle grade students.

The structure of this novel interests me far more than the actual content. It's almost told in reverse. The time line jumps around a little can can be somewhat hard to follow. And I find it hard to imagine the children who will engage with this plot. I found it hard to grasp the protagonist and her motivation. How much harder will it be for young readers?

I adore books and read many genres. Books written for the middle grade audience are some of my favorites, and The Summer We Found the Baby has just been added to my middle grade favorites list. The book is written in the voice of three characters: Julie, her younger sister Martha, and their summer neighbor Bruno. It’s sort of a stream of consciousness book in that as the three tell the story, their narratives are random memories…like you get three different points of view of the same event. It works so well. Julie (11) and Bruno (12) are about the same age; however, how a girl sees something differs from how a boy sees it. And Martha is 6, so, of course, her narratives are more about how things happening affect her.

Bruno’s brother Ben is overseas serving in WWII, and when Bruno talks about Ben in relation to his mom (getting letters, not getting letters, worrying), I can’t stop the tears. The uncertainty of your child’s safety…I know all moms feel it, but moms with kids in the armed services during a war…I can’t imagine. The author does such a brilliant job of portraying that feeling through the narrative of a 12 year old boy!

The patriotism that was profoundly evident during WWII is remarkably depicted in this book. I hope it doesn’t take another war or tragic event for this country to remember how lucky we are to live here. Just reading the little bits and pieces about how everyone did their part to show “the boys overseas” how proud we were of them made my heart swell with pride.

The Summer We Found the Baby is a must read for those 8+. If your child hates reading, read this to them. I think it would make a great resource for teachers as well. I highly recommend it!

Plot:

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, but the plot was a little meandering (granted, I read a review copy, so it might be a little more tightened up by now). The story begins with the scene in the description, right before the the children actually find the baby, but then it sort of skips through time, dropping in several seemingly unrelated events from earlier in the summer and even a couple things from before the summer started. It was a really interesting technique, but because of the way it was done, it was also a tad confusing: all the flashback scenes were sandwiched in the middle with little return to the actual occurrence in the title. It took a while before I understood how all of those ideas would connect to the actual baby, and, to be honest, there were times when I just wanted it to get back to the original story.

However, I will say that as we did come around to the end, I could see where those scenes that had seemed sort of random were actually vital to tying the climax together (and those final scenes used to return the flashbacks to the present are quite lovely). It was a very lifelike style of storytelling, that specific placement of seemingly random ideas that end up compiling the essence of what the story will be. But I do still think it would have been better—especially for that middle-grade age group that the book is meant for—if the flashbacks had been sprinkled more throughout the story, as opposed to having around 40 pages about the morning they found the baby, 100 and some about the past, and then tying it all together at the end. I think it would’ve been easier to keep the reader’s attention if it had alternated the flashbacks with the present instead.

Plot: 3.5 stars out of 5.

Characters:

Okay, these characters made the book! The story is told through the POV of three young children, so that alone gives it a very different perspective than what I normally read along with a heaping load of spirit. I loved how accurately Hest captured the voices and mannerisms of each age group and how each POV read a little differently than all the others. You had Julie, being very motherly, as close to an adult as she knew how to be; yet still, she was very much a child, holding onto all the beliefs and dealing with all the problems that made sense for her age. Then Bruno, being curious and candid as young boys can be, but still very kind (though confused by both the adults and girls around him). And then there was Martha with all the innocence a 6-year-old should have, really just searching for someone to call mother in the midst of all of this.

It was especially fascinating to see the contrasts in the way that Bruno or Julie or Martha would understand a scene, and then a couple of pages later, I’d get to see how one of the other children had viewed the same event. It was a very full view at the world of the story and it gave me a lot of perspective on what was actually going on, quite before the characters themselves could figure it out.

Characters: 4 stars out of 5.

Writing Style/Setting:

The beachtown setting was very cute, a perfect backdrop for this story; the descriptions were painted in vivid strokes and they placed you in the story in a very gentle, pastoral painting sort of way.

One thing I found really interesting was that even though there was the overarching idea of the war, I didn’t get a super strong sense of “the past.” I mean, yes, it was World War II, that was obvious: the train was the only way to get anywhere; Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lady, etc. There were the overall details, but in the day-to-day life events, I don’t remember getting a very strong sense of “a long time ago.” For their everyday life, this could’ve just as easily been a small beachtown from the 80’s or 90’s (mostly due to the lack of smartphones). And that’s not at all a bad thing, or even necessarily a good thing, just something I found really interesting. Things have changed, certainly, but perhaps people really haven’t.

Writing Style/Setting: 3.5 stars out of 5.

And so we come in at about 3.5 stars out of 5. Overall, this was a really sweet, quick read with a few good hints of mystery. It did take a little while to get going, which might prove confusing for younger readers, but once I neared the end, I did like it. 🙂

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from Amy Hest and Candlewick through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a great, young adult, historical fiction story, told using three different children's points of view during World War II. I love how each child viewed each event differently and that this book talks about different aspects of war and how it affected the people on the home front.

It is opening day for the new Children's Library in Belle Beach, Long Island. That isn't the only thing happening though. When eleven year old Julie Sweet and her little sister arrive for the opening they find a baby in a basket on the steps of the new Library. While that happens twelve year old Bruno Ben-Eli is heading to the train station on a special mission from his brother who is a solider across sea in WWII. However he sees Julie take the baby and that distracts him from the mission because what he just witnessed makes him think Julie Sweet is a kidnapper.

Told in three point of views of the three children this is a really amazing historical fiction middle grade story. While the children have varying degrees of awareness of the war that is happening. You hear bits and pieces of what they think and the emotions they feel. I thought it was a wonderful view point between the different ages and families. The pacing of this story was brilliant. Even though I know I am not the intended audience I think any audience could quickly get into the book and enjoy reading it fairly quickly. Getting involved with the characters, their stories and the mystery of the baby.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes middle grade already or is interesting in exploring this age range of stories. For those who want to explore some historical fiction that is a little lighter than the stories of WWII adult fiction.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an eArc. All opinions and review are my own.

A poignant and well written story that I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters are fleshed out, the historical background is vivid and the plot flows.
It made me smile and moved me, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.
The story is told from three perspectives, and the chapters are quite short. However, every chapter doesn't seem to connect with the last one, and it seemed a story in its own. This made it very hard for me to read, and I didn't enjoy it at all.

I love reading books seasonally and this one is a great summer read for elementary children. Older reluctant readers will enjoy some historical details about WWII and a cameo by a First Lady. And younger readers will appreciate the very short chapters. This would be a perfect book to transition into reading to oneself. Although it could still be a wonderful read aloud for the family.

There is a bit of mystery involved; the main element of which is introduced in the first chapter and not fully explained until the end. The book offers a unique 3-person perspective to the story: Bruno, Julie, and Martha (the latter two sisters) take turns offering their thoughts and some of the dialogue they have with one another or family members. Dialogue is written in caps (instead of traditional use of quotation marks).

The whole thing reads as though you were observing three chatty children on a summer day. The mystery that opens the book as well as their relationship to one another reveals itself in slow layers. It is interesting to see how each child reacts to the mystery. Adults are sort of in the background, their presence only filtered through the children's minds.

I'm hopeful that the final edition will have illustrations included. Given the reading level and brevity of chapters, the target reader would still expect (and delight in having) illustrations. The book touches on war in a very child-like way and could provide a spring board for some history discussions between parent and child. This would make a great companion read for a day trip in the car or an afternoon at the beach.

I received a free digital copy of The Summer We Found the Baby from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received.

"The Summer We Found the Baby" is an entertaining historical fiction story suitable for elementary readers. Told from three different points of view, we follow Julie, Martha and Bruno as they solve the mystery of the baby left at the library. Through their eyes, we learn about the importance of friendship and family during World War II.

Spending a wartime summer in a small beach town, two sisters find a baby on the library steps as their next door neighbor goes to deliver an important letter to his brother in the armed services. Quick assumptions complicate the plot. Warm and caring family and community insure that all works out for the best. A lovely story to read and share in these troubled times.

This was a cute WWII historical fiction about two sisters who find a baby on the steps of their local library. I think this book is a wonderful way for young readers to explore many aspects of the world during this time period. I would absolutely buy it to read with my own children!

Thank you to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the advanced copy of The Summer We Found the Baby in exchange for my honest review!