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Author
Laurie Gray
Publisher
Luminis Books

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12-year-old Matthew is convinced that this summer will be the worst summer ever. His best friend Kyle is spending the summer on a farm over a hundred miles away, his younger brother Mark has surpassed him in size and athletic ability, and his mother is pregnant for the fifth time. The eldest home-schooled son of a preacher, Matthew plans to spend his summer in the library, immersed in books about the speed of light and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to see if he can prove his own theory about the dilation of time. But instead, Matthew befriends Dinah, a homeless teenager seeking a different type of refuge at the library. Although from very different backgrounds, Matthew and Dinah come to realize that they have a great deal in common: their love of music and books, olives and potato chips…and maybe even their love for each other. As he helps Dinah avoid Child Welfare, Matthew struggles with his feelings for his family, his guilt of hiding his friendship with Dinah from his family, and his worry for Dinah’s safety. But in the process, Dinah helps Matthew discover that even the smallest acts of kindness can make an incredibly big difference. A realistic and moving tale about a homeless teen and the boy who helps her survive the summer on her own, Summer Sanctuary is a powerful young adult novel about how even the people who seem the most dissimilar can form the strongest, most meaningful, bonds. With a keen eye for detail and extraordinary character development, novelist Laurie Gray delivers a captivating story about friendship, discovery, and hope.

Reviews

Facing a summer without his best friend, Matthew decided on a summer project using the speed of light and the theory of relativity to try and prove his own theory about the dilation of time. Using the library resources on a daily basis to prove his theory, he met a girl that turns out didn’t really have anyplace to live or anyone to watch over her for a while. Sharing lunch with Dinah everyday, he would bring sandwiches and she would contribute anything she could find, even if it came from the supermarket dumpster. Wanting to help, he found a way to get her a warm, dry and safe place to stay - in his church basement. Discovering a friend who had a different back ground, a different family dynamic and outlook on life was one way for them both to grow and learn about thing from astrophysics to poetry, from each other and from themselves.

The tenderness and the acceptance that these kids show each other is very touching. If only there were more people that could be so different from each other and yet still help one another learn from those differences. This is a quick and easy story to read, it did have a lot of sitting around a tree talking, some religious overtones (Matthews father is a preacher), a little science and even some music. These kids are gentle and kind, they show warmth and encouragement and all of this in a young, pre-teen boy who is finding his own heart full of friendship and good will toward someone he has only just met. Sad is some parts but over all an uplifting story that could be read by any age group. The science gets a bit technical in places and then the end is abrupt, leaving just a small piece of me wondering if that was it.

Reviewed on 06/26/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Debbie Berry

My Take: I really enjoyed this book. I was curious about it when I first read the summary because I homeschool my daughter and homeschooled my two older children all the way through school. Beside a few spots where the author made Matthew a little naive ( seemed that he was that way because of his being homeschooled, Most homeschooled children that I know are more away of the entire world than the average child their age) I thought that the author portrayed a homeschooled child very well.

I was touched my how willing that Matthew was to watch after Dinah and how he tried to come up with solutions to her problems. They made a fine team. I was disappointed that he felt he needed to hide Dinah from his parents because I am sure that something could have been worked out that she wouldn't of had to go into child welfare.

Over all I thought this was a very enjoyable books and I am going to give it to my daughter to read next.

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Summer Sanctuary

Reviews

Reviewed on 06/26/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Debbie Berry

Reviewed on 05/14/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Mindy Detweiler

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