Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Coming of age story that links two generations. Set in Bogalusa La, we follow three young ladies as they face getting older, summer plans, and long kept secrets. You'll be able to relate to many characters. You'll laugh and cry, may even get upset. It is a one sitting read that will keep a family entertained, and stir up various conversations.

Leslie Youngblood deserves more press! She is such a talented writer and she is rocking this series.

The characters are layered, navigating multiple feelings/wants/needs. She does a beautiful job writing the pushes and pulls of relationships, and especially shines writing that in friendships. She’s a must have middle grade writer and I’m so excited this series is continuing. This one was fun with the three girls being so different from one another.

Love it. Definitely snag it for your classrooms for next year!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great book showing how a determined young girl, Georgie, and a foster girl, Markie Jean, help each other when things get tough. Georgie’s Aunt Vie has Alzheimer’s, and Georgie decides to hold a talent show in their small town to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Markie Jean helps, and they find a lot of support from family and the community.

Fantastic middle grade title about family, friendship, and standing up for what’s right. The characters are immediately relatable and engaging. This title will appeal to a wide variety of young readers and would be an excellent choice for a read aloud.

this was a cute middle grade book. I didn’t know that this was a sequel to a book in a series but you didn’t have to read the first book to understand much. In this story you follow Georgie and she goes out of town to visit her Aunt. Little did she know her Aunt battles with Alzheimer’s. All during the summer Georgie tried to come up with a way to make a fundraiser for her Aunt Vie. Along the way she meets a girl named Markie who has a mysterious connection to Aunt Vie. This book touches on found family and learning about mental illness. This book truly read like a middle grade so at times it read kind of childish but it was still enjoyable.

I've received this book for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I'm so happy to see African-American children represented in this book it was beautiful engaging and so close to my heart. The characters seem to really match together really well.

After the events of Love Like Sky, Georgie (who still struggles with family members calling her G-Baby) finds herself traveling from her suburban Atlanta home and all of her summer plans to Bogalusa, Louisiana to help her Great Aunt Vie. Vie runs the local, popular diner, which Georgie's aunt and other friends and relatives have been helping to run since Vie is suffering from Alzheimer's, which is getting worse. Georgie hopes to work in the diner, but instead gets stuck do household chores. When she goes to the diner, she find out that Markie is working there. Markie is a tiny bit old than Georgie, was born with a limb difference, and was in foster care with Vie, but is now with a woman named Roselle. She's not quite sure what happened with her mother, who abandoned her as an infant. When Georgie's best friend Nikki comes to visit, the two want to help Vie, and decide to put on a talent show to raise money for Alzheimer's research. This takes a lot of time, and Georgie is also helping Markie find out about her mother, consulting the library as well as local residents who are familiar with the town and the people in it. When Georgie and Markie's family lives turn out to be connected, will this change Markie's future?
Strengths: It's good to see extended family portrayed in middle grade literature; all too often, books are limited to children and parents, with the occasional grandparent. Georgie's parents' situation is also a good inclusion-- there are not many books depicting parents who have remarried and have other children, although many of my students have family dynamics like that. The small town setting reminded me a bit of Strong's Just South of Home, and Georgie's visit to the mayor's office to ask for a permit for her talent show was fun. Marki's limb difference is handled sensitively, and her reactions to how others treat her seem accurate. I appreciate that she is shown on the cover; I've had several students with limb differences, and can't think of any other middle grade books that portray this. A great sequel to a strong first book.
Weaknesses: I had a bit of trouble keeping Markie and Nikki straight-- the names are so similar. I would have liked to see more of the family dynamic with the father and stepmother, since that was so interesting in the first book. We do get a little bit, and Peaches makes a brief appearance.
What I really think: The first book has circulated well, so I'll definitely purchase this second one.

This book was a fantastic sequel to Love Like Sky but would also be a great read if you hadn't read the first book. It tackled so real issues, was engaging and showed the complexity of families, adolescence and ultimately showed how one young girl came together with her friends to make a difference for a cause that mattered to by putting on a talent show. The story shows not only how a girl is dealing with her great aunt having alzheimer's and moving to a new town for the summer and in the process she makes a friend, Markie, that will change her life. Markie was born with on arm shorter than the other but never lets her disability get in her way. She was abandoned by her mother as a preschooler and while she wants to find her mother she has learned to take care of herself. The two girls realize they are a lot more connected than they once realized and this connection will change both of their lives forever.

Middle-grades readers will enjoy this story built around the themes of friendship, trust, and courage.

Forever This Summer
by Leslie C. Youngblood
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Children's Fiction
Pub Date 25 May 2021



I am reviewing a copy of Forever This Summer through Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Netgalley:


Georgie has no idea what to expect when she, Mamma and Peaches are plopped down in the middle of small town US, also known as Bogalusa, Louisiana, which is where Mamma grew up and Aunt Vie is in need of constant care.



Georgie wants to be able to help out at her once favorite dinner that served celebrities like the Jackson 5 and the Supremes, unfortunately everyone is too busy to show her the ropes and Mama is treating her like a baby, not letting her leave her sight. When she is finally allowed to leave on her own, Georgie makes friends with Markie, a foster kid who'd been under Aunt Elvie's care--who has a limb difference and a huge attitude.


After Markie asks Georgie to help her find her mom, and suddenly summer has a real purpose. But when Georgie and Markie's histories begin to entwine, Georgie becomes more desperate to find the truth. But after words are spoken they cannot be taken back and once Georgie knows the truth, she may even find a way to right past wrongs and help Aunt Vie and Markie out after all.



I give Forever This Summer five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I don't usually read kids/YA books but for some reason this one caught my eye. It is set in Bogalusa, which is about an hour and a half from my home in suburban New Orleans. Bogalusa is a relatively small paper mill town and you catch an air of the town's main industry as you drive into town--like a paper company executive one told me "Smells like money to me"--and stinks to most people.

The characters are all African-American but the writing and dialogue in the book is standard English. The story includes features of African-American culture such as step dancing, silk sleeping bonnets, castor oil for hair, and extensions with long braids. It sees the "bad" side of the small southern town through the eyes of those who live in it--and of course it isn't really bad, just poorer than the White side of town and of course, the people who live there are Black. They stick together and look out for each other, in a way that puts many of us to shame.

On the other hand, this book shows that Black culture is not monolithic any more than White culture it. Georgie lives in Atlanta, which is a far different world than the Black side of Bogalusa. In the opinion of this late middle-aged White woman, Leslie Youngblood did a good job of of showing Black culture without turning it into a caricature of itself.

The climax of the story is a fund-raising talent show put on by the girls and while it seems a little far-fetched that such a complex show was put together by some twelve year olds, it wasn't just the girls, it was the community coming together to take care of their own.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. Grade: B+

This is a middle grade book that has so much important things in it, and this is the second book in the Love Like Sky series. I have not read the first book in this book series. This is a heart felt story that shows that young kids can change and bring people together. The characters just are so great in this book. This book storyline is driven by the characters in this books. I also love the writing in this book. This was a cute and fun book to read. I think so many young kids will enjoy and learn so much for this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) or author (Leslie C. Youngblood) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that. This book is schedule to be release on May 25-2021.