YOU MAKE MY HEART SWING SIDEWAYS- Nancy Turner Steveson

Annabel (Annie) has just finished seventh grader. Her parents are both college professors, her mom is a helicopter parent who schedules every minute of every day. This summer, though, is going to be different. Annie has just finished a horrible seventh grade year, complete with fake friends and panic attacks, and has been promised a schedule free, demand free summer by her parents.

On her first day at their summer home, Annie meets California. California is staying with her grandfather, who is ill, on his farm.  Years earlier, when she was a teenager, California's mother had a falling out with her father and left the farm. California is convinced that if she can just find her mother's prize show ponies, who she believes are roaming somewhere on her grandfather's farm, her mother will return to the farm and resolve the relationship with her father. Annie agrees to help California with her search, and the two embark on an epic summer of adventure and friendship. When he summer takes an unexpected twist, Annie is forced to learn new and unexpected lessons.

People are comparing this book to BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA and WALK TWO MOONS. Definitely worth adding to a shelf of books about friendship or loss.

Review copy provided by publisher.