Twelve-year-old Missy McKenzie does not want things to change but
in the year after her parents’ divorce that is what is occurring. Her fourteen-year-old brother Patrick, once her main support, is changing. He is conscious of his physique and is trying to bulk up to lose that ‘stick boy’ nickname. He is interested in clothes and a girl, Shauna, he met at the McKenzie’s summer jobs picking blueberries on a local farm. Missy’s friends have outgrown the ‘3-D glasses without lenses’ that they made and decorated. Her father has decided to remarry. Regardless of how much she wishes, things are changing. The place she feels the most comfortable is on the blueberry farm, owned by Moose and Bev, communing with nature. However, there, too things are changing and secrets are being let out. The unexplained blood feud between Moose and his brother Lyle is consuming the imaginations of the young blueberry pickers.
The Secrets of Blueberries by Sara Nickerson is a new twist on growing up. It is difficult for a younger sibling to watch an older one venture out on his/her own. It is even harder when friends mature a little faster. It is rare that a suburban tween can experience farm life and feel bound by nature. Nickerson does a fine job of reminding readers that our food does not grow in cans and plastic wrap; there are dedicated farmers who grow these crops. Missy’s growing pains will strike chords with young female tweens and provide an enjoyable read.
The Secrets of Blueberries is a cute read.
Two Heads Together 