The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean

This worthy winner of the Kelpies Prize offers the story of 11-year-old Lily, twin brothers Bronx and Hudson, baby sister Summer and formidable teenage sister Jenna, all living with their Mum in a tiny council house which is bursting the seams. So when Lily is offered a week’s holiday with her Gran, she jumps at the chance of peace and quiet and a room of her own. To further add to her delight, she will miss her junior school Leavers’ Dance, an event she has been dreading, since she has neither the clothes nor the requisite social skills to cope with the charade.

Her only source of concern is the disembodied voice which has suddenly materialised and constantly pleads with her not to go on holiday-and when she does, the voice reappears, this time with a shadowy body, to warn her to avoid water at all costs. This is disconcerting, to say the least, as she cannot confide in either family or her best friends David and Rowan, for fear of being thought delusional.

Littleson cleverly weaves themes like threads-constantly there, but some more prominent than others. Lily’s concerns about going to secondary school are writ large, for she knows she will be perceived as strange and worries that Rowan, a hugely popular girl, may tire of her and find friends who are more socially adept. Lily’s mother does her best to cope, but is often overwhelmed by the demands of 5 children, a full-time job and a violent, alcoholic ex-husband. Lily and her Gran are her bedrocks-filling in the gaps she is forced to ignore.

Lily is a thoroughly engaging narrator-honest, kind and wise beyond her years and this makes the end of the book particularly moving. The almost-disembodied voice proves not to be a ghost from the past, but, as in A Christmas Carol, a warning from the future, for it is the grown-up Summer who Lily hears, telling Lily that she will drown if she does not heed her advice and describing the shocking disintegration of the family after her death. Lily heeds the warning and refuses a boat trip with her friends, only to slip on the jetty and fall into an icy sea. Rowan and David’s swift reactions save her, however, and prevent the tragedies which Summer has foretold befalling the family.

The theme of friendship is, thus, the strongest of all, saving lives and heart and minds. This is a gently thought-provoking book, beautifully paced and cleverly structured and it should be on the shelves of every junior school library.