Family Reunion

 

By Caroline B. Cooney

Shelley is a young teen who is on summer vacation with her father, her younger brother Angus and her step-mother Annette. Her mom has moved to France, a move that Shelley has been having a hard time accepting. She feels that her mother abandoned her children to be with her lover in France, across the ocean from her children in the US.

Shelley's family spends their summers at a vacation home in rural Vermont. Her father, Charlie, commutes between there and the city. Annette, who has only been married to Charlie for a couple years, has charge of Shelley and Angus. A third child, the oldest, is spending the summer in France with the mother. 

Charlie's sister, Maggie, has invited their family and friends to a family reunion to be held at Maggie's home in the Midwestern US. Maggie is known for her perfectionism, which has earned her family the nickname of the Perfects, a play on their last name, Preffyn. She and her spouse have two kids, Brett and Carolyn. Brett in sixteen and Carolyn is the same age as Shelley, fourteen.

Shelley rather envies the Preffyns organized lifestyles. Maggie always seems to have everything organized and in control, including her kids. Whereas Shelley's family seems to be rather lost and disconnected, with the three kids giving their step-mother a bit of a hard time. Nonetheless, Shelley is looking forward to spending time with her aunt and uncle and their kids, along with her dad and Annette and Angus.

Of course, things are not quite as nice as expected when they arrive for the family reunion. Brett had an unfortunate incident while driving his vehicle and got into a big fight with his mom and has left home as a result. And it turns out the family reunion was actually supposed to be a surprise party for brother Charlie, with lots of guests from Charlie's school days. But Charlie wasn't able to come, he has to attend a mandatory work event instead. All Maggie's party plans fall apart, with no guest of honor attending.

Shelley has always been a bit intimidated by her cousin Carolyn. But the two girls have a lot of fun together and Shelley finds that Carolyn is just a teen girl like herself. As the days go by, she also realizes the Preffyns are not Perfect, but an ordinary family like her own. 

This was an OK read if rather boring. I'm not sure how I came to own it, but after finishing it, I looked it up and discovered it was intended for kids, 10 to 15, or there about. So, not surprising I found it rather dull. Also no surprise that all the family problems are resolved by the end of the story. 

However, it started out much more interesting than it ended, thanks to the little brother, Angus who is quite the mad lad. Unfortunately, most of his hijinks tapered off a bit once they were visiting the relatives in the Midwest. 

Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.