I'm not sure that this book is quite as compelling as it wants to be. It doesn't balance the two time periods well and there isn't quite as many parallels between the timelines as we'd expect. By attempting to give us both stories in tandem neither gets quite as much focus as it really deserves. The changes in people and businesses are interesting but not enough to carry the book.

I LOVED this story! It was my first time reading a book by this author and her writing is so enjoyable. Many writers can take a brilliant story from start to finish, but then there are those who carry you through the entire thing. One second you’re on page one and the next you’re halfway through the entire book. This was the latter and I loved every minute.

Peyton is a relatable character and she deals with moving away from her best friend and the inevitable jealousy when that friend begins to make new friends. Thankfully, she makes a new friend as well, Lucas, who uses a wheelchair. Lucas then works with her to decipher the message in the box as well as figure out which two girls may have made the time capsule.

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

This was amazing. I love Elizabeth and everything she writes. This was an adorable and heartfelt middle grade novel about moving, making new friends and trying to keep the old friendships alive too. I loved the friendships that Peyton developed when she moved. I loved the going back and forth between the two timelines. Lucas was a great friend for Peyton and I loved the way they became such great friends and worked on this mystery together! I loved the ending.

Adorable, but with real emotional weight, this was a lovely story that mixed the nostalgia of the 90s with contemporary fiction and made for a compelling read with great character development. It was hard to wait to find out what happened!

Great story connecting two time periods. Love the 80's references. Will be recommending to students, they will love it.

It can be hard to keep the readers interest with alternating voices, but this historical/present day middle grade fiction title pulls it off.

Peyton was planning the best summer ever with her best friend Lily, when her parents dropped the news that they would be moving four hours away to accommodate her mother's incredible new job offer. As her parents try to sell Peyton on how great the move will be for their family, ("more family time!" "a house with a yard instead of an apartment!" "the job your mother's always wanted!") Peyton is still miserable. As she is doing a yard work chore one day, she discovers a time capsule buried in 1989. As she begins to piece together the story of the two girls who buried the time capsule, she meets Lucas, a boy her age who helps her solve the mystery of what happened to the two girls and their friendship.

Told from Peyton's story in modern time, and Melissa and Jessica's story from 1989, the parallels of the best friends being separated are drawn. This is a very sweet story of friendship, dealing with unexpected changes in that friendship, moving on, and that the true bonds of friendship can last through both time and changes. There is plenty of diversity in this book and would be a good addition to an upper elementary/middle school collection.

I did not expect to like this historical fiction book as much as I did! I will be recommending as a fun summer read for the whole family!

A child of the ‘80s, I got a kick out of Elizabeth Eulberg’s Best Worst Summer Ever but wonder how the target audience will respond. The present narrative seems a little weak to me? Would middle grade kids really do all this work to figure out what they had found?

This was such a fun book! As a child of the 80's living in the Midwest who is now raising her own children in the Midwest I identified so much with these characters. I loved all the 80s throwbacks and the setting of a simpler time contrasted with today. The characters were all well flushed out and I felt like Eulberg dealt with some serious topics without it becoming a depressing book. Kids and parents will both fall in love Peyton and Mel and their best friends! A great summer read!

The Best Worst Summer alternates beautifully between two time periods (1989 and present day) and the two stories of friendship interweave solidly. When the main character moves into a new house in a new town and finds a time capsule while digging in her yard, the mystery of two best friends in the 80s and what happened to their friendship begins. She sets out to figure it out and finds help in the form of her own budding friendship. What happened all those years ago? An enjoyable and intriguing read!

Time capsules were a big thing in the '80s and The Best Worst Summer reminds us of that as BFFs Melissa and Jessica begin their summer creating one. Jump forward three decades to Peyton, who's devastated to have moved away from her best friend at the beginning of the summer. Things start to look up for Peyton as she finds the capsule that Jessica and Melissa made.

This is a book about friendship and forgiveness and helps readers understand that when situations change, such as friends moving away from each other, adapting can help relationships continue and grow. It also teaches us the very important lesson of not giving up on friends and remembering that things aren't always as they seem. One of the best parts of the book is when a character decides to stand up to a bully after a friend is being treated poorly. In addition to teaching some valuable lessons, you'll love the relatable characters who will likely remind readers of themselves or their friends. We also get to enjoy a little mystery as Peyton tries to decode some of the items found in the capsule. There's like, totally rad '80s references to the max that will be fun for kids to be introduced to, for sure. If you enjoy these references don't skip the acknowledgements. There's so much to love about this novel and it will be enjoyed by both male and female middle grade audiences who like reading a relatable story that could happen to them.

This book does such a great job in showing the importance of the work that goes into being a good friend. The characters were well done and the struggles they faced in trying to be a good friend under different difficult circumstances was so well written. The characters dealt with bulling, secrets, and long distance and how this affected their friendships. I also enjoyed how the flashback scenes were done. They were filled with fun 80s references that really captured the feeling of that time period and how different it was while also showing the things that don’t change. It was so cool seeing the details like the same great burgers still being served. The mystery element was really done and I was impressed with the ways they used the clues they had and help of the community to find the truth of what happened. All around it was a well written book.

As a child of the 80s who loved both Joey and Jordan from New Kids on the Block, I may be a bit biased in my review, but this book was fantastic! Moving between present day and 1989 gives readers a really strong sense of the characters and provides some much-needed historical information. I loved the evolution of Peyton's character, from petulant tween to compassionate and curious detective/friend, and her new friend Lucas added the perfect amount of humor to some rather serious moments.

What a darling book!!! I absolutely adored it and can’t wait to share it with our middle grade book club this summer. The transition between modern day and the 80s was smooth and not confusing at all and I quite enjoyed the little jokes about how “old” things like cassette tapes are. I would recommend this book to kids who love realistic fiction, friendship stories, mysteries, and joyful endings. Despite some serious undertones about moving, divorce, and domestic violence, it is handled in a way that is serious but doesn’t make the book too sad or too mature for the intended reading by age.

After moving to a new town away from her friends, Peyton is expecting to endure the worst summer ever. Little does she know that finding a box buried in her new backyard will lead her to a mystery that will fill her summer. The box contains a cryptic message that is begging to be solved. With the help of Lucas, a new friend she meets in the library, Peyton uses the ancient artifacts from 1989 that she finds in the box to piece together the story behind it. Meanwhile, back in 1989, Melissa and her friend Jessica plan to have the best summer ever. The chapters alternate between Peyton’s and Melissa’s experiences as Peyton closes in on solving the mystery of the box. Readers will enjoy solving the mystery along with Peyton and Lucas as well as the friendships depicted between the duos in the different time frames.

I received an electronic ARC from Bloomsbury USA Children's Books through NetGalley.
A trip down memory lane and a touching look at today. What more could you ask for in a novel told in two time frames. Peyton's family has moved to a small town for her mom's career. She's feeling particularly lonely as both of her parents are working long hours to settle in and her brother is happily playing with his virtual friends. The story really starts when she digs up a shoebox as she's weeding the garden. It turns out to be a time capsule from 1989. Readers then see a scene change and the next chapter jumps back to Melissa and Jessica during the summer of '89. Two friends who are excited to spend the summer together. From here, Eulberg tells the intertwined stories in alternating chapters. Peyton meets a new friend, Lucas, and they work together to solve the mystery of Melissa and Jessica while readers see it all happen in real time.
Tender look at how young teens cope with life circumstances now and how they managed then. The story flows smoothly and readers will connect with at least one of the characters' lives. The underlying message to fight for friendships even when they evolve is an important one to learn at the middle grade age.

The Best Worst Summer by Elizabeth Eulberg is a lovely contemporary / historical fiction mashup. Peyton is angry! Her family has just moved from a big city to a much smaller town and she has had to leave all her friends and her life behind. Her mom is always working, and her brother is more interested in his phone than anything else. Then she finds a time capsule buried in her backyard with a cryptic apology note inside, and her summer gets a lot more interesting. At the library, she meets Lucas, and together they decide to solve the mystery of who left the capsule and what they were apologizing for. The other half of this story takes place in the 1980’s, told from the perspective of the girl leaving the capsule.

This book was adorable start to finish. While it did make me feel very old reading the 80s as this far off historical time, that is the reality for middle grade readers!
The root of this book was friendships and how to make them, keep them, and cherish them. That is an important lesson no matter what decade or age. I loved the back and forth timelines and the relationships between the girls, their parents, their siblings (or lack thereof), and their friends.

CW: allusions to domestic violence, feelings about trans-racial adoption

This was a really fun, nostalgic book. It is told in alternating voices of Jessica & Melissa in 1989, and Peyton & Lucas in the present day. Peyton has just moved and has to leave her best friend and all she knows behind. One day she discovers a time capsule in her backyard that a Melissa & Jessica left behind. Only, she’s not sure they are still friends from the messages and items left in the time capsule. Peyton goes on a quest to find out who these girls are and what happened to them. Along the way she meets Lucas and he joins her hunt for Melissa & Jessica and what really happened to them.

This was a fun read & definitely made me reminisce about my childhood. Growing up in the 80s, I knew every song and reference that was mentioned! NKOTB, anyone?