Timeslip Tuesday- Magical Summers

Garrett, Camryn. The Forgotten Summer of Seneca

April 15, 2025 by Amulet Books

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Rowan Robinson is still struggling with the death of her father, and is not happy with her mother, who is making her spend the summer with her Aunt Monica in Manhattan instead of being at home on Long Island. She maintains that she can stay by herself while her mother works, but her mother knows that she will just mope in her room. Previously, she has enjoyed being in the city, and her aunt supplies her with lots of craft materials, and the two eat out and see the sights on a regular basis. Now, even though she has a therapist to help her deal with her grief, Rowan just can’t enjoy doing things, always thinking about her father. When she takes his old school camera out into Central Park to take pictures, she has an odd experience, and travels through a portal to meet Lily, who lives in Seneca Village. This is based on a real place that existed from 1825-1857 at 85th Street and Columbus Avenue, but it is a different version where the residents all have magical skills. When Rowan went through the portal into this world, a girl from the village, Sage, disappeared. This is a problem, since she was in charge of keeping the portal safe. There is a well founded fear that people from the modern world will manage to get into the village and cause problems. As Rowan goes back and forth between hanging out with her aunt, and going to the village, she tries to figure out where Sage has gone, and how to protect this new world that she finds so intriguing. A friend of Aunt Monica’s has studied Seneca Village, and Rowan (and the reader) learns how this thriving Black community was sacrificed in the name of progress to provide green space for wealthy, white New Yorkers. She also brings Lily to visit Manhattan in order to find Sage, and the two get to see the Metropolitan Museum. Will Rowan be able to help keep this magical version of Seneca Village safe?
Strengths: This is a great virtual trip to Manhattan, and yes, I looked up the address on Google Earth and am a bit jealous of Rowan getting to spend her summer there with her aunt! I appreciated that the author also lost her father, and used the writing of this book to work through her own grief; this adds a level of understanding of loss to the story that most middle grade books that use this trope do not have. Actually, there was less about grief in this book than in many similar titles! I’m always a fan of a time slip, and I want so much more information about Seneca Village after reading this.
Weaknesses: Seneca Village is such an interesting historical place that I wish the story hadn’t included as much magic. There’s plenty of information about the village and Central Park, but the inclusion of the magical elements makes it seem less like a real thing.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like books that include hard to find information about Black history, like Cumming’s Trace, Rhodes’ Treasure Island, or Watson’s Some Places More Than Others.

Greenwald, Lisa. The Summer of the Fortune Tellers #2

May 6, 2025 by HarperCollins

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

After their COVID adventures in dealing with the lockdown and trouble with their private school, Bea, Nora, and Millie have made amends, and have frequent sleepovers. For the summer, Millie's mom has arranged for the three girls to babysit the triplets of a neighbor, Roberta, a single mom by choice who works as a nurse. They will be staying at the Sheffield Shores cottages that the family now runs. This means a month long sleepover! Millie is still happily dating Rodge, whose father has gotten work locally as a chef, and has to spend studying for her bat mitzvah, but is excited to have her friends visit. Bea is a little worried about leaving  her twin, Danny, and her Aunt Claire, who is still suffering from seizures. Nora's friends are obsessed with boys, and she herself is interested in Jeremy back home, but open to a summer fling as well. She's a little worried about her mother, who will be alone while her sister Penelope is with their dad. The three make summer goals (having a first kiss, eating french fries), and jump right into their summer, meeting Rodge and two of his friends at the beach. Of course, Bea is drawn to the quiet Connor, whose father runs a local hardware store. Nora is smitten with Greg, and is sure that she is in love with him. The triplets, Audrey, Pearl, and Helen, are in third grade, which is how old Millie and her friends were when they discovered fortune tellers, so in addition to going to the lake, making a group cheer, and doing other "camp" activities, the girls introduce their charges to the joy of making fortune tellers. These also magically appear at opportune moments, with messages like "Be here now". Millie is sometimes overwhelmed by being around people all the time, and Nora and Bea sometimes struggle with homesickness or concerns about school or friends, but they all get along fairly well, and do a good job babysitting. There's also a LOT of time spent hanging out with the boys, eating burgers, and sometimes kissing. When a developer threatens to bring luxury homes to the area, which might cause the Sheffield Shores area to change dramatically. The girls decide that saving the community is the goal that the fortune tellers have been compelling them toward, and with the boys' help, they organize speeches, petition signing, and other members to try to that's the developers. Summer doesn't last forever, and soon it is time to return to "real life". Since the girls' destiny is to improve any situation they are in, will we see mover of this positive impact in another book?
Strengths: If authors really thought back to their own middle school experiences and calculated how much of their thoughts revolved around romance, I think we would see a LOT more of it in books! Are the girls "boy crazy", or are they just at a developmental stage where they are thinking a lot about kissing, and even about marrying when they are older? This strikes me as absolutely realistic. As someone who spent a lot of time babysitting at this age, the inclusion of a summer job watching triplets also makes perfect sense. Add a bit of social activism, and set all of this against a background of a summer lake community where there are plenty of hamburgers and ice cream, and this is a perfect book for readers who want to vicariously have the best summer ever. There are still real life concerns like family and friends, and some anxiety over being away from home, but that, too, is to be expected. I usually don't find sequels to be as engaging as first books in a series, but I might have enjoyed this even more than Fortune Tellers. Will the next book in the series have a pink or a pale blue cover? 
Weaknesses: We don't find out what happens with the development! There are enough signatures on the petitions, but we have to wait for a vote. If development in the Berkshires is anything like it is here in Ohio, I don't have a good feeling about what will happen at Sheffield Shores. 
What I really think: This is a great series for readers who love Greenwald's writing (Her TMI series has been flying off the shelves this year!) or books like Nelson's WISH titles or Shroeder's Lucky Charm Books.