Review: My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: May 2012
List Price: $15.99
ISBN-13: 9780547577395

Review: 'Take Back Vermont!' Seeing signs just like this all over town is very scary, especially when they're about you - and against you. It's kind of hard having two moms, especially after no one in your town is used to the new law allowing it. In the story My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari, June Farrell has to put up with this torture daily.

June Farrell is not an average 12 year old girl. For example, June's mom isn't your regular everyday mom. June's mom - also known as MJ - is different than most moms because she is of a different gender. This makes everyone else in their town angry because there has been a civil union law passed recently that allows people of the same gender to get married. No one in town likes this law or this idea. Therefore, they try to make people who have chosen an alternate lifestyle feel bad. This is a real problem for June and her family because her mom and her girlfriend are planning on getting married soon. Because of this, June is losing friends whose parents are against this law.

All this pressure is really bothering June so, when she has the opportunity, she loves hanging out with her friend Luke and going swimming in Lake Champlain. One thing that June really looks forward to all summer is the fair. This year is the first year that she can enter in the pie competition with her award winning pies. However, June's mom wants here to lay low for a while because of everything else that is going on. Therefore, she will not let June enter in the fair, bringing more disappointment for June.

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari is a very meaningful story. The struggles that June face are not unique struggles. As more people are becoming more open about their alternate lifestyle, children of these homes are bound to face adversity. It doesn't have to even be homosexual parents though. The kind of adversity that June faces could be a result of any number of reasons, making My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer meaningful for all readers. However, I feel that this book is meant for more mature readers due to its age restricted material. That is why I feel that this book would be great for children ages 12 and up. My rating for My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer would be a 5 out of 5 rating. I feel that this story is very thorough and is told from the heart. It takes a great author to create a masterpiece like this!

Review written by Yahvi (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer for this review.

Have you read My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer? How would you rate it?