Ice Cream Summer

Gr 3–5—In this series opener, Sarah can't wait to work the ice-cream stand this summer with her best friend, Lizzie, whose parents own it along with an orchard. Lizzie's parents agree that if the girls raise $5,000 at the ice-cream stand, they can fulfill their dream of running a zombie hayride in the fall. When twins Olive and Peter move to town for the year with their dads, Lizzie invites them to work the ice-cream stand, too. Sarah immediately disapproves of this idea, as she fears losing her best friend. She becomes jealous when Lizzie bonds with the twins over their mutual love of old movies. To make matters worse, a couple of weeks into summer, Sarah goes to count the money in the safe to see if she, Lizzie, Peter, and Olive are on track to meet their goal and discovers all the money is gone. As the four work together to solve the mystery of the missing money, Sarah learns what it means to be a good friend. Each chapter starts with a full-page illustration and a silly ice-cream flavor that riffs on the plot. The town is comprised of diverse characters. Readers looking for friendship stories will relate to Sarah's fears about growing apart from her best friend, but those hoping to find a mystery will be disappointed that the missing money plotline is secondary and is resolved unsatisfactorily. Additionally, the book doesn't have a clear audience. The drama is fairly light and will appeal mostly to a lower elementary audience, but the length of the chapters and book as a whole, combined with a large cast of characters, will be intimidating to all but the strongest young readers.