Heart and Salsa (S.A.S.S.)
Grade 7-10–Cat's mother has remarried, forcing her family to move from Scottsdale, AZ, to Boston, where the teen can't seem to make connections. She hates the weather, she refuses to resume her old sport of diving, and her friends are dropping off the map. Then her best friend, Sabrina, offers up a summer trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, for Spanish credit, and Cat jumps at the chance to get away. Once they arrive, however, Sabrina surprises her by having a boyfriend along, preventing the girls from finding those much-needed moments for reconnection. Refusing to let this get in her way, Cat makes new friends, absorbs the environment around her, takes in the cultural studies, and gets to know her host family. In branching out, she also realizes that things in Boston aren't nearly as toxic as she originally thought. She returns home with a new perspective and a more positive attitude. At times the characters seem cardboard and their actions forced, but overall this is appropriate light summer reading for the chick-lit crowd.–Emily Garrett, Naaman Forest High School, Garland, TXCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.