Carolina Autumn
Carol Lynch Williams
Starting high school and having a real boyfriend is unsettling enough for fourteen-year old Carolina, but she’s still trying to cope with extreme changes from the last year. First her father and sister went on a trip and never came back. Then she and her mom moved to a different house, and her mom seemed to forget Carolina was there. But it’s new neighbor Garret who becomes a real boyfriend, and thank goodness for her friend, Mara—at least she’s been there for support. When Carolina, Mara, and Garret sign up together for a photography class, Carolina doesn’t need the camera’s lens to see that Mara intends to add Garret to her “other-girls’-boyfriends-I’ve-stolen” list. Her mom wants to reconnect with Carolina’s life, too, and Carolina isn’t sure she even wants that. With “Notes to You” sprinkled throughout her story, Carolina gradually reveals to the reader where and why her father and sister went away. Carolina is bruised by her family and friends, but she is not broken. The reader will root for her as she picks herself up and faces the changes in her life.