Encapsulating the noise, chaos, mess and love that are all parts of being in a large family, this novel shows how some “not all right” predicaments turn out “all right” in the end. Kiara Jones-Birkell knows a lot about the Birkell side of herfamily, and nothing about the Joneses. Ben’s misgivings about being embraced (figuratively and literally) by relatives whom he barely knows will draw sympathy from readers, as will his misfortune at getting stuck having to entertain the least appealing member of his new family-gloomy Great Aunt Nora-at a family reunion. That Fernhill Summer by Colby Rodowsky available in Hardcover on, also read synopsis and reviews. Some events-like traveling overseas to pick up baby Maudie Mingmei-turn out to be exciting for Ben, while other occurrences (such as having to vacation with his new relatives instead of attending soccer camp) are not as fun. And to make things more complicated, his father and Casey decide to adopt a baby from China. Ben is soon overwhelmed by the aunts, uncles and cousins who are now part of his family.

Ben, whose birth mother died when he was a baby, thinks it is “cool” that his father is marrying Casey, the proprietor of a bakeshop, but that’s before he realizes how many new people are destined to disrupt his contentedly quiet life. ) comically depicts how the world of her 10-year-old protagonist is turned upside down when he becomes part of a “sudden, too big” family. Told from the point of view of a teenager with spot-on observations and hilarious insights, this is the story of three generations of stubborn - and charmingly funny - women.En Mitchell’s philosophy that “some things in life are all right and some things are not all right” holds true in this slice-of-life novel, as Rodowsky ( That Fernhill Summer Kiara can't understand what Zenobia could possibly have against her - is it simply the fact that her skin is dark like mocha latte, while all her cousins are white? Or is there, as Kiara's mother keeps hinting, much more to the story? There she meets Zenobia, the world's most stubborn grandmother, who is as eruptive as Mount Vesuvius. Suddenly Kiara finds herself on a train heading for Baltimore - and her mother's secret past. So it comes as quite a shock when Kiara learns that the grandmother she never knew she had is expected to die at any moment. The one time she tried to ask about her mother's relatives, her mom turned a spooky greenish-white color and refused to talk to anyone.

Kiara Jones-Birkell knows a lot about the Birkell side of her family, and nothing about the Joneses.