The Summer We Found the Baby
By Amy Hest
Hi! Have you ever been annoyed with someone? Well, in this story, Julie is really annoyed with Bruno. He did something to make her mad. However, this series of events she goes through with him may be just what they need to pull their friendship back together.
This story goes a little bit out of order in events – so, it starts at the end and then, in the middle, it states the beginning, and goes all around! Even if you’re a little confused in the beginning, stick with it! It’s a great book!! I am going to go a little out of order from the author’s order of this book. I’m going to put the events in order of the way they happened.
Julie and Martha Sweet had come to live in Belle Beach for the summer. Their father was an author, and he wanted to concentrate while he was writing his next book. They rented a home right next to a boy named Bruno Ben-Eli. At first, Bruno had tried to call their dog, George, over to his house. George went over to Bruno. Julie then tried to get George to come back home, but he wouldn’t. Despite a rocky start, Julie and Bruno became friends.
Bruno had a very show-off personality. He liked to brag and show off the stuff he could do. Julie had a very bossy personality. Things had to be just perfect and she would tell everyone how to do their jobs perfectly, and make sure that they did!
The neighbors grew even closer to each other, and Martha (Julie’s little sister) started going over to the Ben-Eli’s house. Mrs. Ben-Eli was the closest thing they had to a mother. Their mom had died while she was giving birth to Martha. One day, Julie was assigned a soldier pen pal. She was supposed to send letters to a soldier who was fighting for America overseas. At first, she was disappointed because her soldier wasn’t writing back. But then she decided to send him another letter. However, she did something embarrassing. She cut out a picture of a pretty girl from a magazine and put her name on it. She wanted the soldier to think she was pretty and she didn’t really like her own looks. Martha took the letter out to the beach. She was just going read it and bring it right back, but the wind picked it up and it flew away. She raced after it and finally caught it. And then Martha saw that Bruno had been following her.
She showed Bruno the letter, and that was, unfortunately, right when Julie walked out. Bruno saw the picture of the girl from the magazine with Julie’s name on it and he started laughing at her. Their friendship was broken, and Julie didn’t talk to him for a while.
Now, it’s sixteen days later and it’s almost time for the library grand opening. Julie went to the library and saw a baby on the steps. That’s right when Bruno ran out because he had important business to do for his brother, who was a soldier. There, he saw Julie carrying a baby out onto the beach.
What will happen? Will Bruno go tell on Julie for taking a baby that wasn’t hers? Will he be able to finish his project for his brother? Will Julie be able to find a safe home for the baby and find out where she came from? Or will everything collapse and break apart? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 0
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 2
I give this book 5 wands.
This book was amazing! It was a little shorter for me, but I loved it! It showed adventure and friendships that need to be remade. I would suggest you read this book – right away!
Source: Review Copy
