Gennari, Jennifer. My Mixed-up Berry Blue Summer. Fic. Houghton, 2012. 119p. $15.99 978-0-547-57739-5, PB $5.99, 978-0-544-02273-7. ADDITIONAL. GRADES 4-7.
June has always known that her mom was gay, and she’s fine with that. What she’s not fine with is her mom’s new girlfriend moving in with them and changing their lifelong routines. Furthermore, when her mom plans to marry her girlfriend in a public wedding ceremony, many of the townspeople openly discuss their disapproval in front of June, putting June in the awkward position of wanting to stick up for her mom but also kind of agreeing with them that things should stay the way they are. June takes comfort in perfecting her pie-baking skills and working to win the local fair’s pie competition, but when her mother’s store is targeted, June can no longer ignore the prejudice and must take a stand. June’s initial resistance to her mother’s marriage—not because of anti-gay feelings but because of a fear of change in the household—saves this book from being merely didactic. Though the story is slight and the ending too tidy, compelling middle-grade reads about households with gay parents are still rare, so this may worth adding to your collection for that reason alone.
Sally Engelfried, San Jose State Univ, Student