Nicholas, from NYC, is sent to spend the summer with his uncle (who is distractingly named Nick) in a small town on a lake in Ohio. He immediately befriends a girl named Charlie and they are connected at the hip the rest of the summer, making one wonder if Charlie was friendless before Nicholas arrived. Nicholas finds an incomplete film that his father made when he was 14 and a love letter from Charlie's mother to Nicholas' father, which leads the two to investigate a series of events that happened in town at the time their parents were teens. Events that involved the making of a film, budding love, and sunken sailboat, and who was responsible for its sinking.
It took a little while to get into this one. It is very plot focused, with minimal insight into the emotional lives of the characters. While the plot was fairly interesting, I never felt any deep kinship or emotional attachment to Nicholas, Charlie, or Nick, and all of the other characters were little more than sketches.
Perhaps recommended for fans of kid's summer adventures or sailing fanatics, but for anyone else it doesn't quite meet the bar. ( )

Read this for a review journal. It's not something I would have normally picked up, but I enjoyed it. There's a bit of a nostalgic feel to it - city children spending their first summer in the county, learning sail and ride bikes. There was enough action and adventure (mishaps when taking a boat out alone, making a monster movie, discovering hidden relics/messages) to hold the interest of most readers. Overall, good clean fun. ( )

Great summer story! Reminds me of the kind of book I would have loved when I was a kid. ( )

12 year old Nicholas Mettleson and his younger twin sisters have been sent to spend the summer in Demming, Ohio where their father spent summers growing up. It's a different world from NYC, but "Uncle Nick" - who doesn't have a tv - turns out to be a really great guy and soon he's teaching them how to sail on the lake. Nicholas makes friends with a girl named Charlie who can throw a curve ball no one can hit, learns how to ride a bike, and discovers a secret compartment with an unfinished movie called "The Seaweed Strangler" that his father was making when he was 14 years old and spending the summers there. But they soon discover other secrets - secrets some people would prefer to leave alone - and summer in a small town turns out to be anything but boring.

Although the "mystery" about their father and the seaweed strangler drives the plot along, it's really more of an old-fashioned story about growing up and spending the summer away from parents and home. It's the kind of book I loved to get lost in as an 11 or 12 year old, and always made me wish I had someplace like that to spend the summer. It doesn't go overboard and try too hard to keep kids reading with thrill-a-minute adventure, but charms with a slower and easier pace and a beautiful setting that will make kids wish to be there. The characters are all likable and act like real kids that age, like sometimes annoying each other, and dealing with issues like divorced parents. Still, it's a clean book (there might have been a couple of very mild profanities) and reminded me a little of Gary Schmidtt books, although much more low-key. My advance copy didn't have the artwork, but I looked at it online (through the "look inside" feature) and it looks really nice. A very nice read. ( )

12 year old Nicholas Mettleson and his younger twin sisters have been sent to spend the summer in Demming, Ohio where their father spent summers growing up. It's a different world from NYC, but "Uncle Nick" - who doesn't have a tv - turns out to be a really great guy and soon he's teaching them how to sail on the lake. Nicholas makes friends with a girl named Charlie who can throw a curve ball no one can hit, learns how to ride a bike, and discovers a secret compartment with an unfinished movie called "The Seaweed Strangler" that his father was making when he was 14 years old and spending the summers there. But they soon discover other secrets - secrets some people would prefer to leave alone - and summer in a small town turns out to be anything but boring.

Although the "mystery" about their father and the seaweed strangler drives the plot along, it's really more of an old-fashioned story about growing up and spending the summer away from parents and home. It's the kind of book I loved to get lost in as an 11 or 12 year old, and always made me wish I had someplace like that to spend the summer. It doesn't go overboard and try too hard to keep kids reading with thrill-a-minute adventure, but charms with a slower and easier pace and a beautiful setting that will make kids wish to be there. The characters are all likable and act like real kids that age, like sometimes annoying each other, and dealing with issues like divorced parents. Still, it's a clean book (there might have been a couple of very mild profanities) and reminded me a little of Gary Schmidtt books, although much more low-key. My advance copy didn't have the artwork, but I looked at it online (through the "look inside" feature) and it looks really nice. A very nice read. ( )